Jules's Birth Story

We had chosen to have the twins by elective caesarean. We arrived at the hospital at 7.45 am on the day, expecting to be going to theatre quite early. I was quite anxious but very keen to meet my babies. We waited and waited and were eventually told that there was an emergency caesarean and then another lady before me. In the end we waited until 3 pm to go down and by then I was quite agitated (not being able to eat since midnight the night before or drink any water since 6 am!).

Once we got to theatre we felt completely overwhelmed by all the equipment and the number of people and my husband looked quite traumatised by it all, which didn't help my state of mind! The first thing was the epidural which I was very anxious about, but in the end I didn't really feel anything other than a shooting pain down my right leg which they assured me was normal. Then my bottom started to go warm and they laid me down at a slight angle and kept testing me to ensure I had no sensation anywhere. I started to feel quite excited at this point about meeting our babies.

The curtain was pinned up and my husband was stroking my face as they cut me. I didn't feel a thing!. They told me that my babies would be born now and the next thing I know there is a baby crying, that was my little boy, they showed us him above the curtain then took him over to be checked. I was so overwhelmed I wanted to cry and my husband did shed a few tears and then my daughter was born a minute later, she also cried immediately.

It seemed an age before they brought the babies over to see me and then I was taken through to recovery with one baby tucked under each arm. I felt such immense joy at that point, the memory will stay with me forever.

They promised us we would have our own room on the ward but the first night was spent sharing with 3 others. I can't remember the first night clearly but I know I felt completely overwhelmed with happiness and disbelief that I was now a mum!!!

The first day was a bit difficult as I couldn't move my legs though they managed my pain well and the most pain I actually had was in my shoulder from holding and breastfeeding my babies on that first day! On the whole I was pleased with the caesarean as I had no complications and we were all well and thriving. I was up and about on the second day though actually they kept us in for 3 days because they were born quite small (2 kilos and 2.3 kilos) and they wanted to be sure they were strong enough to leave.

--Jules (talk) 8 May 2013 (UTC)