u/sspaceham

I said in another post that my pregnancy had so far been low risk and super smooth. Well, guess who had an emergency c section at 33 weeks and 4 days?

🙈

I rang triage kind of reluctantly due to lower back ache that hadn't budged since the evening before and after monitoring baby and seeing I was having contractions, they tested me for preterm labour. Doctor said he could feel contractions happening and the test confirmed positive however they noticed my cervix was closed and I wasn't in active labour. They offer me steroids in case he's going to come early and I accept.

They figure i may have a UTI that's telling my body to go into panic mode causing the sort of fake contractions- they put me on antibiotics and say they'll monitor. Skip forward to 5am and the pains are coming back worse enough that they put me on the monitor again, this time, baby's heartbeat is dipping every 'contraction' but again they're confused because my body isn't in labour. They move me to delivery for closer monitoring and things are scary but not urgent scary. A little monitoring and I ask if I can go pee, sure all good, I come back and suddenly his heartbeat is just showing low. Several people check until a doctor is called in and starts telling me urgent c section may be needed and can I sign an agreement in case this comes to this. I sign, ten minutes later he comes back 'further monitoring has shown you need an emergency c section now'.

By this point the waterworks switch on as I am scared. I'm a fully tatted woman who has been in dreadful accidents before now but I've never been so scared as to shake. Luckily husband came as they wheeled me into theatre and aside from being poked and prodded with everything known to man, surgery was a breeze. I was kind of out of it - didnt even realise he'd been taken out of me til the staff took photos and I could hear him let out a few cries. He immediately breathed on his own and weighed 4ib 8 which they think will grow quickly as he's quite chunkier built and is feeding okay.

After getting the use of my legs back and showering we went to see him - i walked up the ward and merrily walked in like 'Where's my bean?' Both the ladies on the ward were laughing like 'girl you had a c section this morning, you should be way more exhausted than this' haha. I honestly feel okay though physically right now, and weirdly like happy? My body hurts a bit but when hasn't it the last few days? I think knowing the trauma of the birth part is over and that he's currently in the best place he can be is keeping me like weirdly reassured? Plus everyone here, I can't fault for a second, they have been incredible.

I got to do skin to skin contact and have never been so in love before. I managed to express a little and I got to change his nappy and be there during his feed. He's having a few issues here and there but they seem really happy with him and have already moved him to the bay essentially like, below, the mega urgent premmie babies.

After seeing him, I went to rest knowing I had more obs at 2 (I had had two hours sleep prior to my c section) and told myself after these ones id go see him again but I'm honestly so exhausted I might try for a few hours more sleep. My catheter is out, cannula is out, new scar on my body but an extremely small sacrifice to know that child I adore is out and doing okay. I'm so grateful things have gone as good as a bad situation could allow and I just know I'm going to love him with every fibre of my being.

Hey! Thought I'd make a post detailing my experience with this as it was slightly different than normal and I haven't seen many others have the same experience. Had the test at 28 weeks, consisted of going in early, having my blood taken, then drinking the drink. The drink was a cup of what I'd describe as liquid sugar. It was okay, kind of warm. Very meh. I managed to down it but wouldn't want to drink it again as it wasn't the nicest tasting thing. I also had to fast since the night before.

So, twenty minutes into the two hour wait (I was in the waiting room and had my Ipad to keep me company), I started feeling extremely shaky, sweaty and sick. There were two other women, I believe, having the same test, who both looked totally fine.

I started going to the toilet just to have a minute alone to breathe and regain my balance. After half an hour, I was still sweating, shaking and feeling very sick. I was a little worried I was overreacting as my mum and sister were texting me telling me it's normal and I'll be fine.

Well, forty minutes passes and I notice other people in the waiting room looking at me. I was too agitated to focus on my ipad, rocking from discomfort, deathly pale and shaking / sweating still. At this point, I went to the reception and told them I was feeling really unwell (I felt awful doing this but they were extremely nice!) They bought out the lady who had done the test and she put me in a room alone, lying on a bed with a fan on me and had gotten me a drink of water. She told me to just nap until it was time to do another blood test. I didn't nap, but lying by the fan made all the difference.

Two hours eventually passed, I had another blood test, then got some food and went home. Even after eating a sandwich, I felt pretty rough.

I got a call a few hours later to basically say that while I didn't have gestational diabetes, I do have hypoglycemia and that essentially my blood sugars had plummeted in response to the glucose which is why I was so poorly. She said my body had overproduced Insulin in response, causing the drop. They had dropped from 5 to 2 (I believe she said). They advised me to basically just eat small and often, watch my sugar intake and ironically enough, if I feel an attack coming on - eat a small sugary thing or drink but otherwise stick to less sugary foods often.

I've only had one attack since and at 33 weeks am otherwise having a healthy pregnancy (don't want to jinx as he has been so good so far lol). So yeah! Hopefully others can learn something from this experience - the main thing I would stress is if you’re having any tests, don't feel like you have to tough out pain or stress / sickness - they're there to literally help you and the hospital staff were amazing with me even when I thought I was just being a little drama queen.

Hope this helps someone else! :)