C-section baby!

Last week I had to return back to the hospital for a chat with the obstetrician.  This, of course, is not normal practice but if you’ve had any complications in previous births as I had had with Grace then a referral is usually made.  I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious as to what this all meant when the midwife first announced that due to my previous circumstances (I’ll spare you the gory details!) I would require obstetric care this time around.  It sounded serious, I thought, but also reassuring that I was to be fully assessed for my forthcoming delivery.

Although my appointment was at a very reasonable 11.10 a.m, I still found myself running tight on time mainly due to some probable unnecessary faffing from myself and a last minute extended toilet visit from Grace!

I rushed the children into the car armed with books and the iPad to keep them amused and made it to the hospital with three minutes to spare.  Unfortunately the closest car park to the entrance (car park A) was completely full which could have meant parking a fair distance away (meaning I would have definitely been late).  I instead found an empty bay in a row outside the main car park. Each bay was marked PTA.  Unsure as to what this meant or if it would be okay to park there I called across to another lady standing by her car just across the way in car park A.  She had a rather official looking ID badge hung around her neck so thought she might work at the hospital.

What followed was for me a rather amusing altercation! I politely asked if she knew if I could park there to which she replied “I don’t know….why are you asking me?!”  I said I thought she might work here but not to worry.  She went quiet and said ‘Well actually I’m not sure you can. You might get a ticket’.  “Oh I know”, I replied in a quandary, “But I’m running late for my appointment.”  She practically bellowed back “Well don’t ask me then if you’re not going to take my advice!!  I was going to offer you my space but I won’t bother now!”  Slightly taken aback but somewhat amused I breezily commented that she was “a little chippy this morning” and “had she got out the wrong side of bed?!”  To which she shouted “I hope you get a ticket!!” and made a point of directing another car to her soon to be free space and slammed the car door shut.  I shook my head and smiled to myself, deciding to take the risk she was so hoping for and dashed inside to the clinic with the children.

We waited longer than we had needed to in the waiting room for my consultation as I hadn’t realised that unlike your ultrasound appointments, your name doesn’t get called and you have to wait instead for your name to flash up on the big flat screen on the wall, which directs you to the appropriate room. It’s like being in the queue at Argos! Once I’d worked this out(!) and after some amount of apologising to the ‘tut-tutting’ midwife waiting to take my blood pressure, the children and I were escorted to meet the obstetrician.

I liked the obstetrician.  He was a very relaxed, confident chap, clearly a family man himself with an informal but professional air about him.  He guided me through my options and told me that I could have a normal delivery and be fine but there were also risks involved that could lead to long term problems.  He offered good, honest advice and said he personally thought a c-section was the way to go as would eliminate any other risks and would be quick and controlled.

To be honest, I practically jumped at the offer, as the alternative wasn’t worth risking and also the planner in me felt this was a perfect solution.  Obviously, there is the downside of the extended recovery period of 4-6 weeks but as my due date is near Christmas it would be possibly the most practical time to have one as will have more support from family during the holidays.  Brett luckily has 14 days holiday left so will be able to take time off from the 10th December until 2nd January which works out brilliantly.

The obstetrician finished by telling me I’d need to come back at 36 weeks for another consultation and discussion but if I did go ahead, I would be booked in anytime between the 10th and 17th December, the 17th being my due date.  With that, he handed me the appointment booking form for the next appointment and we said our goodbyes.  The only embarrassing thing was that as I walked out, busily digesting all the information I had just been given, I forgot that on the blank side of the appointment form, he had been so kind as to draw me a very detailed and intimate diagram of a woman’s lady bits which I then breezily wafted through the entire waiting room, turning what was a very private meeting into a somewhat public affair!  The receptionist and I had a good chuckle about it afterwards.

So, the good news is that the little man will be born in December BEFORE Christmas – hooray! I now feel like I have a real deadline to work towards.  If he decides to make an earlier appearance, I will still be allowed a c-section but it will just be treated as an emergency one.  I actually feel quite excited and also a bit nervous.  So if any of you lovely ladies have had c-sections and would like to give me the ‘gentle’ heads up, please comment away!  Click at the bottom of the post where it says ‘no comments’…

Oh and by the way, nobody in the clinic knew what ‘PTA’ stood for in the car park either and I didn’t get a ticket!!  🙂