Eleanor's Story (pip)

What a week! My daughter, Eleanor Gwendolyn, was born on the 17th of May at 39 weeks exactly.

My carefully written birth plan, describing a natural birth with no drugs, never even got printed up! A week before her birth my doctor discovered she was breech, and so a C-section was planned and I spent a week on my hands and knees trying to turn her around to no avail whatsoever. So her birth story isn't much of one. We drove to the hospital at 10am, I was prepped and at 12pm the C-section was performed. I found it absolutely terrifying- so many doctors and drugs and bright lights, DH all outfitted in scrubs, everyone asking questions and talking. I was shaking. When the spinal took effect the numbness went up to my chest and I couldn't feel myself breathe; it felt like suffocation. I vomited the entire way through. But then there was a massive pulling sensation and my baby was there! I didn't get to touch her for what seemed like forever as they vacuumed out her mouth and took temperatures and gave her a shot and cleaned her up. It's all a bit of a blur now but soon we were back in the recovery room and I had her laying on top of me. Three days later we were home and the week since has been a crazy and amazing time!