I have basically copied & pasted this from my ante-natal thread - I wasn't going to do one of these, but am quite touched to see that I have been missed
Little boy born by elective c-section on Wednesday 26th. I had been hoping for a VBAC, but at 40+1 with pre-eclampsia and a liver complaint, I took the offered section (having already refused 2 inductions and 2 offers of sections during the previous weeks in and out of hospital).
I was pretty scared, as my last section was hideous and took months to physically recover - still bearing some mental scars years later. Had to concentrate very hard to make my hand sign the consent form.
WHAT a difference, though. The whole thing was peaceful, clean, safe, professional. Everyone in theatre was encouraging and kind. Me and DH kissed and cuddled while we waited for me to go numb (which was the main problem last time). Baby came out yelling and I was shouting "I can hear my baby!" over the screen and laughing.
Surgery took 50 minutes from start to finish (as opposed to two and half hours last time). Telling comment from the surgeon at the end - "We've done a bit of sorting out - you'll see a difference in your scar." I didn't really register this until a couple of days later when I braced myself and took my dressings off - WOW again. My scar is smaller and neater than before, and the ends have been kind of tucked in. I imagine that the work inside is of the same high standard, because my mobility is already almost completely back to normal. After my last section it was 2 months before I could comfortably breastfeed in bed - had to do all feeds sitting on a chair with pillows on the table or my lap. This time it was only 5 days before I could roll onto my side in bed to offer a feed.
Spent 7 hours in recovery as blood pressure still a bit dodgy, but again my pain was properly managed, I was reassured and encouraged by midwives and I was given FOOD! Skin to skin went really well and my little one took to breastfeeding straight away. Quite funny, when I slurred after about 10 minutes in recovery "I fink I ready doer schkintoschkin" the 2 midwives literally dropped what they were doing and busied themselves with helping me get a breast out and unwrapping the baby. That was the kind of attention and care I got all the way through.
I was wheeled back onto the postnatal ward by a midwife with a familiar face - an old girlfriend from school, who managed to bagsy me a bed next to a window and a toilet, with a tray of food waiting for me. Naturally she is my new "besht friend."
Here I am a week later in remarkably little pain, feeling like a brave and sensible woman who has safely negotiated a crooked path to deliver a gorgeous baby, rather than a Ginsters pasty which has been tossed off the production line half-baked into the rejects box, like I did last time.
I want to go back in time to my last birth, give myself a hug and say "You're not just being a wimp - you are being treated appallingly, it's not always like this." Last time I felt that I was a wuss who couldn't cope with childbirth, and to top it all I hadn't even done it "properly." Now I feel like warrior woman who has faced up to her biggest fears, beaten them and come out smiling. I really thought that a VBAC was the only way I could lay the ghosts of my last birth to rest; what a fantastic surprise to find that a c-section did that for me after all. It's a revelation to me that a person can have a baby and (first 24 post-op hours on epidural aside!) actually feel a bit better.
Thanks to everyone on here who has supported me over recent weeks, I really appreciate it.