April: First and Second Births, Two Emergency C-Sections, Failed Induction, Large Baby, Bonding Difficulties, Birth Trauma, Attempted VBAC
About this episode
April shares her challenging experiences with two emergency C-sections and the impact of birth trauma on her motherhood journey.
She planned a home birth. She hypnobirthed. She did everything right. And after two days of induction at 42 weeks, her son was born by emergency C-section at 10 pounds. She never even got to hold him for the first four hours. April is a mum of three from the East Midlands who shares two very different but equally difficult emergency C-section births. Her first, at 22 years old, left her separated from her baby in recovery, unable to breastfeed, and spending the first six months of her son's life struggling to bond with him. Her second was supposed to be her VBAC. She had done the research, fought her way into the midwife-led unit, laboured in the pool for hours, refused Syntocin, and got to 10 centimetres. And then an obstetrician she had been battling all night took her to theatre anyway. She lost 2.5 litres of blood. She came out with a blood drain in her scar. And she left the hospital knowing she had been let down. In this episode we talk about: What it is like to be 22, in labour for two days, and separated from your baby after a C-section How April fought to access the midwife-led unit for her second birth as a VBAC patient What actually happened in theatre and why…
More episodes of British Birthing Stories
- Gabby: First and Second Births, US Emergency C-section After Failure to Engage, Miscarriage, Successful NHS VBAC, Hypnobirthing
- Rebecca: First Birth, Positive NHS Hospital Planned C Section, Maternal Request, Large Baby Worries, Consultant Midwife Support, Tongue Tie, Delayed Milk Coming In
- Jess: Two NHS Hospital Water Births, Miscarriage Journey, Hyperemesis, Stuck Coil, Episiotomy, TENS Machine, Retained Placenta, Second Degree Tear, Gender Disappointment
- Jo: First Birth, Unexplained Infertility, Adoption Journey, Epilepsy and Chronic Kidney Disease, Consultant-Led NHS Hospital Induction, Five-Day Induction, Labour Stopped Twice, Forceps Delivery in Theatre, Episiotomy, Birth Trauma
- Monika: Two Births, First Hospital Birth, Birth Trauma and PTSD, Planned NHS Home Birth, Precipitous Labour, Born Before Arrival in the Shower, No Midwife or Doula Present, Husband Caught Baby
- April: Third Birth, Positive VBAC After Two Emergency C-Sections, Water Birth, No Continuous Monitoring, Physiological Third Stage, Third Degree Tear
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