Introducing Goldie Indigo Glenton: A Birth Story

Hello again! It’s been half a minute since I’ve talked about babies and the like… well it’s been the main topic of my blog for the past 3 months but I’m back and with a new addition to the family! Yes Goldie Indigo Glenton arrived on the 7th July 2020 at 11:02am. As with most major things in my life (a birth definitely counts as one), I love to write about it and document it for my future self and for any readers out there. So, let’s get going.

If you’ve been reading my blog a while you’ll know that I had an emergency C-section with my son Jasper and this time round I opted for an elective C-section with the support of my midwives. The idea of another birth was challenging for myself and I’m pleased to say that putting myself into the ‘prepared’ mindset really did help and this birth story is much different to my first.

On the 7th July I arrived at Hull Women’s and Children’s hospital at 7:00am. I’d packed my bag, I’d woken at 5 to take some prescribed medicines before surgery and was yes, shaking like a leaf. I headed up to the floor as instructed and was taken to a day room to wait for a midwife. I was only left around 10 minutes but it felt the longest time. I was wearing my mask and didn’t feel able to breath as easily but managed to calm my quivering legs and inhale some long breaths as the midwife made her way towards me. She escorted me to a 3 bed room where another lady who was on the list for a caesarean was waiting too. I was told there would only be 3 of us and they hoped we’d be finished by 1pm. We were given our own little cubicles and told to shower and change into a hospital gown. Joe was then instructed to tackle the surgical stockings on my ever large calves. Once these were on a bunch of people started making their way around the room to introduce themselves. Firstly the midwives, one who would be in theatre with us and the other who would support us before and after the procedure. Then the surgeon, who examined my stomach and previous scar, talked through the procedure, asked me to sign a consent form and reassured me about any concerns. Finally, two anaesthetic doctors came to talk through their role in the theatre and discussed any worries. Finally I was left to relax with Joe as another lady was before me and I was second in the queue.

The wait felt like forever. Joe fell in and out of sleep as the room was warm and I watched the door to the corridor as people moved up and down working as usual. After a while, the phone rang for the midwife and she was told to take us to theatre. I was escorted to a room to have a cannula put in (which of course failed first time and they had to use the other hand) and given a new surgical mask for theatre. Then the doors were opened to the theatre and I was asked to sit on the bed with my back exposed for the anaesthetic Doctor to begin working on my spinal block. I was told how to sit (imagine hunching over and poking your backbones out as much as possible) and to remain as still as possible. The Doctor sprayed my back with a cold antiseptic spray then placed a sticky sheet over my back to help him localise the area he needed. He then injected some local anaesthetic, which was just a scratch like feeling then began with the spinal.  The spinal didn’t hurt at all but felt weird. Warm fluid was being injected into my back and I heard a second Doctor say “You can go further in, you want to hear a pop” and then he did this, I felt it (again no pain) and then my bum went warm and started to go numb. I half expected someone to shout TIMBER! I laid down as quickly as possible as I began to lose feeling. The surgeons then began tilting the table different ways to spread out the anaesthetic and before I knew it I couldn’t move from the stomach downwards. I didn’t feel scared, it was just weird.

After this, the Doctor began to do tests on me to check they were satisfied with the spinal. This started with a cold spray moving up and down my body and finished with a small needle test. I couldn’t feel any of it. Then a blue screen was placed up, a catheter was inserted (or so I was told) and I had to lay with my arms stretched out so that Doctors could monitor my blood pressure and access the cannula should they need it. The surgeons began behind this screen and I could see a slight reflection of this in the theatre lights so turned my head to Joe to distract myself.

This is were things got a little weird. I assume they made the first incision or something because I suddenly felt sick and dizzy. I felt like I couldn’t get enough air in through my mask and was panicking a little. I tilted my head to the anaesthetic Doctor and told him and within seconds he found a magic substance and squirted it into my cannula. I was feeling more stable. He told me my blood pressure had dropped and I was severely dehydrated (you have to be nil by mouth for procedure so not surprising), he hooked me up to some fluids and I was a-ok.

At this point the surgeon said to me “Oh she’s long” and I laughed cause they’d been commenting on my height since I’d laid on the table, little did I realise they’d already got to baby and were starting to get her out. This is where I started to feel things. It wasn’t painful at all, but I could feel pressure. The surgeon on my right looked like he was resuscitating me as he began to push baby downwards for the surgeon on my left to get her out. I was told afterwards that they used forceps but I was none the wiser. I was too busy staring at the guy pushing all his weight onto me to notice anything else (again no pain).

After a few seconds I heard a cry, and I immediately began to cry. This was something I hadn’t prepared for. I’d always said I was grateful for Jasper’s birth but I did feel robbed of the first few moments of his life that I didn’t hear his first noise. With Goldie, I heard everything. It was beautiful and sweet and magical and everything I’d hoped for. Joe and I met eyes for a moment, both teary and Joe mouthed ‘she’s here’ as the surgeon held her up over the curtain for me to see. They did delayed cord clamping and then Joe was ushered over with the midwife to cut the cord. I lay staring into space coming to terms with everything, and quickly Joe appeared on my right holding her. She was beautiful and I couldn’t believe she had been inside my belly moments ago.

The rest of the surgery seems a blur. Goldie was placed on my chest for some skin to skin. I couldn’t see her properly cause of the mask but I could hear her. I could feel her breathing and her chest rising and falling. I could see little toes and fingers. Joe then held her again for me whilst the surgeons stitched me up. I was then moved to another bed to head up to recovery and that was that.

I spent one night in hospital again as I had with Jasper. The evening was kinda a blur of checks on my blood pressure (which took a while to come back up), pain meds and one thing being removed at a time (catheter and cannula). I was happy to go home the day after and I’ll be writing up about that experience another day.

Violet x