Delivering your own baby at your C-section
Here's a story of determination and persistence. A mother who had wanted a homebirth for her first birth was anticipating a C-section for placenta previa instead. She asked why she couldn't lift the baby out from her abdominal incision. No one could think of a good reason why she shouldn't do so, so that's what she did.The West Australian News reported:
First-time mum Kiriana said she had planned to have a natural home birth when a scan 20 weeks into her pregnancy revealed she had placenta previa, or a low-lying placenta, which put her at serious risk of haemorrhaging during childbirth.
When she was told that a caesarean section was the only safe option, the trained nurse and her midwife researched a groundbreaking new technique, believed to have been performed only once previously in Australia. It let Mrs Ruffin help deliver her own baby after her obstetrician freed the child’s head and shoulders.
"I looked down and the doctor turned Seth’s head so I could see his face and I just felt a rush of love," Mrs Ruffin said. "I got my hands underneath his armpits and pulled him straight up and on to my chest."
Unlike a normal caesarean when the procedure is carried out behind a screen and the mother might not see her child for several minutes after birth, the 33-year-old was sterilised from neck to knees so she could make immediate skin contact with her son...
"At first I was devastated because I really wanted a home birth, but I really don’t think it could have been any more bonding and special than if it had been a natural delivery. It was amazing."
Mrs Ruffin said she hoped the new procedure would not encourage more mothers to have elective caesarean sections unnecessarily because of the risks of the surgery.
But with an obstetrician, midwife, nurses and anaesthetists hovering nearby, she said she was in the best place to be if anything went wrong.
Two more women are expected to undergo the procedure at King Edward Memorial Hospital in the next month.
Labels: C-section
<< Home