Stellas Birth

This, the story of how I met my little girl Stella. She is my 1st baby, and I am a Midwife. During my pregnancy I dreamt of my labour, re-writing my bag checklist over and over. I prepared my body by going to a physio and chiro. I stocked up on rasberry leaf tea and dates, and began antenatal expressing at 36

weeks.

However, this was not how my story unfolded. When i was 18 I fractured my pelvis, and after a long consultation with my medical team, I decided that the risks of re-fracturing it during a vaginal birth were too high for me. I chose to have an elective caesarean section. It took me a couple of days to reconcile this in my head, and almost mourned the fact that I wouldn't get to experience labour.

I arrived at the hospital at 6am, and checking into my room. My husband and I had surprisingly slept well the night before and arrived excited. My birth experience was everything I could have asked for and more. The team looking after me made me feel special, safe and like childbirth was the most natural thing in the world- even though i needed their help for my girl to arrive safely. The moment we heard her cry for the first time was overwhelming, I remember crying with relief. My midwives took photos of us as we heard her cry on the other side of the drape and I will forever be grateful to them for capturing those emotions. I do not feel like i missed out on anything by having a caesarean section.

My recovery has beeb great, and we have settled into life as a family of 3 really well. I was really well supported postnatally and established breastfeeding has been a lovely journey for us.