My Birth Story by Peta (aka Pete79)

The birth of the girls was the easiest out of the 3 births I had. Dylans was long and painful, I had pethidine with him, he got stuck and needed to be vacuum extracted out which required a cut and stitches after, I was rather tender and worn out after. My birth with Reagan was a little better then Dylan, only 4 hrs with no drugs. I had many stitches after so was very sore for ages after. With the girls it was a 4 hr labour, Twin B (Mikayla) was born breech. I had to have an epi so I didnt feel a thing and had no stitches after, wasnt worn out or very sore after. It was really a walk in the park for me compared to my others!

My Birth Story by Tania (aka Tanica72)

When my 4th baby, Luke was around 9 months old we decided we would like to try for another baby. We knew we wanted more children and neither of us is getting any younger so we thought we may as well get on with trying. I remember having the discussion with my husband that "twins would be nice, then we'd have an even number of kids". Believing that prayer works, we prayed, "God if you think we could handle twins, we would be open to that". Little did we know that my then 9 year old daughter was also praying for twins. Within a month or so I was pregnant. This pregnancy felt different in that I was so extremely tired. I also suffered quite a few migraines in the first few months. We decided to have the 12 week nuchal scan so we could see the baby. Surprise surprise - twins. We were a little shocked but not totally bowled over. Then began the roller coaster ride of having identical twins - fortnightly scans, fears about TTTS, gestational diabetes and then the various doctors opinions about vaginal delivery versus caesarean. My 4 previous births had been pretty straight forward vaginal deliveries. My main concerns with having a caesarean were the need for an epidural (the thought of a needle in my back didn't impress me) and also worrying how I would cope with the recovery of a caesarean with twins and an active toddler (plus 3 older children).

After much research and discussion with my husband and doctors I decided to go ahead and have a caesarean. I was booked in for 37 1/2 weeks. One day before 37 weeks I went into labour, so we went up to the hospital. Considering one of my labours was only 1 1/2 hours, I didn't want to wait too long before going to the hospital. We went ahead with the caesarean a few hours after arriving at the hospital. The epidural wasn't too bad except that I felt extremely cold during the birth and for about half an hour afterwards and I couldn't stop shivering. My precious babies were born at 4.09am and 4.10am. The recovery from the caesarean was actually worse than I thought it would be. I had several infections and still feel tenderness from time to time. I am 95% sure that our family is complete but if we did end up having a 7th baby I would hope to have a vaginal birth again if all the circumstances were right.

A few days old.

Emotional Recovery by helseyc

I have had caesareans on my mind of late.

Everywhere I look (and sometimes if I just look down) I'm reminded of them. A story in Saturday's Courier Mail, one in Brisbane's Child, hearing it on the radio and TV. Why the focus just now?

I felt like I was reading my own story when I read Danielle Aalders’ Taking A Cut (Brisbane's Child June 2010). She explained the trauma of not giving birth naturally and having no real choice in the matter. I have had two caesareans without any kind of labour. The first was classed an emergency due to pre-eclampsia and a breech baby that we also tried to turn manually, but she refused to budge! The 2nd was classed as ‘elective’ due to pre-eclampsia again and twin A being breech. Like Danielle, I had not ‘elected’ for a caesarean either time. I had always planned for a vaginal birth, but as with my first daughter, I soon learned that you cannot always be in control. I laugh now about a birth plan. Second time around, to be honest, I didn’t bother writing one. Also when I knew we were having twins, I knew the likelihood of me having a caesarean was very high, yet I still hoped that my body would start the natural labouring process that says “ok, we’re ready…let’s go!” But it was not to be. I was more emotionally prepared second time around as I knew what I was in for, but it didn’t make it any easier.

In discussion with a friend just before this article was read, we spoke that the focus is on physical but not emotional recovery for women in our position. I know that I felt great anguish over not experiencing a natural birth. It was as if I had read a book from start to finish, but there were pages missing right before the end. We skipped something important. Yes, everyone’s reply to this is that it doesn’t matter how you deliver as long as you have a healthy baby and mother. To this I agree whole heartedly, but have to be honest that I still feel like I’ve missed out on something special.

Amanda Horswill in her article A cry in the dark (Courier mail  13 June 2010) referred to natural birth as being "connected to generations and to the natural order, to become a warrior woman". But she too was not perpared for, as she put it "the slicing open of my abdomen". Her story is actually about post natal depression but through her writing you can see that the fact she did not labour naturally may have contributed to this.

I can empathise with her to a degree. Although not ever diagnosed, there was a dark time for me too. A time when I knew I wasn't right and I wasn't coping and just seemed to last beyond the normal troughs of life. I couldn't express my pain of not ever experiencing labour or having a natural birth with family or friends without breaking down. I can talk about it now and the tears don't fall anymore...but the hurt is still there.

I've only ever met one or two other people out of all the women I know who have been in my position. Most women I talk to have either laboured before the caesarean or have had natural births previous to or after their surgery.

I am truly grateful for the staff in the theatres, both caesareans, as they were amazing! They could see the first time I was very upset, genuinely shocked, so made me laugh and put music on. Reliving the moment the babies were placed on my chest (the end page of my book) will always be a highlight. I feel very blessed and know that I am very fortunate to have 3 beautiful & healthy girls and if the saying is true, then time heals all wounds!