Our Beautiful Upside-down Breech Baby

My beautiful darling, you started off in breech position quite early into my pregnancy and you stayed put. A sign of your tremendous strength and determination I see in your personality still today. Because I had a c-section with your older sister and you were not going to budge from being upside down (and also folded in half!) it was no doubt that you would also be a c-section. I was very relieved at that, as I was always too scared to have a natural birth even with your sister.

The only problem was that you were due on the 7th of January 2020 ( a new decade!) and we had booked in with a private surgeon to do your c-section but nobody at the hospital would give us a date for when It would happen. We did know it would be about a week earlier than the due date so that I didn’t accidentally go into labour early while you were upside down.

The problem with the dates was that one week earlier than the 7th of January was New Year’s, and a week before that was Christmas Holidays, so there was much confusion about when we could actually have the surgery date as a lot of the staff go away on holiday for Christmas! So we didn’t even know what decade you were going to be born in.

On the 23rd or 24th of December we were finally were given the date, the 31st of December 2019. WOW, what a date! The last of the babies for that entire decade in the world to be born! It was a special date. And it would mean you were always to have a celebration on your birthday!

The morning of your birth day finally came around and we had to be at the hospital by 8am. Of course we got there early as we were so excited. We left your sister with my Mum who was going to take her up to daycare for the day so that she could also be around to help if we needed.

They put us into a shared room with a girl who had just given birth, and I wasn’t very happy about that , and her family kept playing loud music on MTV on the tv. The rest of the maternity ward was very empty for some reason so later on, once you were born Nanna asked if we could go into our own room so long as she helped out (as there was only one midwife on the whole ward that night because of the public holiday!) That made me immensely happy!

It came time for the surgery, everything was calm and organised and your midwife was so lovely, because this was a planned c-section everything was planned so well and it was SO easy.

We got into the theatre room and they tried to sit me up to give me an epidural, it took over 10 attempts to try and find the right spot, I got a bit worried that they were going to give up and make me have a general anaesthetic! But they called someone else in who knew what they were doing better and they got it right away. Phew!

My surgeon worked at the same Hospital as Nanna did, so he said to me, would you like your mum to also come and watch, so they called her in and she ran down as fast as Nanna has probably ever run in her entire life so she could watch her first ever C-section. So Nanna was on the back wall with the midwife and Daddy was right next to my head and we were ready to go.

Everything was going well until they got to your head, you came out feet first (GIANT feet too!) and because you were upside down your head got stuck, I didn’t get to see it, but everyone else did and apparently there was a big tug of war between my belly and your big head coming out. The midwife had never seen such a spectacle before.

Then you came out, had a little squawk and I knew everything was alright! Daddy got to see you first, and then he brought you around to me and I gave you a little kiss. You were SO cute. I just wanted to hold you so much but I had to wait.

I finally got to recovery and they gave you to me and I was beaming with pride and love. It was hard to hold you though because I was covered in what looked like bubble wrap to keep me warm.

Everything was so easy because you were a planned surgery and I got to hold you as we were wheeled up to the room.

Then your sister came up to see you that afternoon after daycare, and wow what an enormous reaction of emotions, she cried so much, but with joy, she is a very sensitive soul. And she 10000% loved you from the minute she saw you, you are her everything. We had to take a moment to help her settle before trying again in another room down the corridor. She was only 17 months old so was a bit confused but genuinely happy.

I got to then move into my own room and we settled in there for the night and then the Fire Works went off to celebrate New Years! (and your birthday of course!) It rattled and shook the entire hospital and I was so happy, and I kind of knew what I was doing this time round too so everything was just a little bit easier. I missed your sister terribly by her being so far away back at home, but I had some very special bonding time with you on my own.

We went home a few days later and knew our little family was complete and we had been waiting for you to be the last piece.

xx Mum