They had a ventouse, two and a half little pulls at the end just to - she wasn't quite, she was nearly there but not quite, and he didn't want me to, to over do it so [pause] he just assisted a bit at the end.
Had they talked to you about that possibility when you first went to talk to them?
No. No. But I knew what ventouse was. My husband didn't. He was like nodding when the doctor was saying, and then he went, “What's, what's that then, what's ventouse?” I said, “It's basically a, the things that plumbers use to unblock sinks on the, you know.” And he thought I was joking until he saw it [laugh].
And what was that experience like? Was that OK for both of you?
Yeah. I was a bit concerned that she might come in, out looking like an alien with a, you know, long head or something, but she wasn't, she wasn't too bad.
So they, that wasn't something that you'd sort of thought about in your birth plan..
No
..whether you were prepared to have any? Had you thought about forceps or anything either or?
No. The midwife said when the doctor was out of the room - because he sort of was coming and going - that at some stage she said, as we were getting towards when I would need some assistance, she said, “There might be forceps or ventouse. He might consider using one of those, we'll have to see.” So that was the first time that I'd thought about it.
Would you have liked to think about it earlier, or did it not really..?
Not really, actually, probably not, because I'd only worry about it, and then if you, when you have to make a decision when you're presented with the choices then it's sort of easier, really. I was just happy to go with what they suggested, really.
And how do you feel about it now, several weeks on, looking back? Are you pleased that it went the way it did?
Yes. Yeah. I was, I was very happy that I didn't have to have another C-section. I could have done without tearing because I did tear at the end, and the stitches but, you know, a lot of, that happens with a lot of women, doesn't it? So.
Was that explicitly because of the ventouse, or you don't know?
I don't know. No
Did they suggest an episiotomy or anything or...?
He mentioned it and the midwife again said when he was out of the room that it's better in some ways to tear than to have a cut because they heal better, tend, or tend to heal better, so.
Mm. Ok, so you went to, I guess you couldn't feel the tear happening with the epidural?
No, not at the time. Felt it afterwards [laugh].
Yes. Not a nice experience. So, kind of, what were your emotions at the birth? Did it feel different to last time?
Yes. Yes. It was, the nice thing about it was I saw the baby straight away and they put her on my tummy, so that was, you know, nice. That was, that was lovely. Because with the caesarean they sort of, there was a screen across, so I couldn't see what was going on during the operation. And then when she was born they took her and did the checks. So I didn't see any of that until they brought her round to my head, so in that respect it was a lot nicer. I saw her straight away and..
And in terms of recovery, comparing recovering from a C-section with..?
Much better, much easier, even though it was, you know, very uncomfortable with the stitches down below. You know, especially for the first couple of weeks. You know, we're talking weeks not months, really, the difference. You know, I can lift things and - which I couldn't do then - and drive, and I don't feel as, you know, run down. I mean, I've felt run down but nowhere near as bad. So, much better. I'd recommend it. |
