This happened 21 years ago at the birth of our first child, Philip, after a trouble free pregnancy. I was 27 at the time (an older mother in those days), and on the due date for his birth, nothing was happening, and my blood pressure was rising. So it was thought necessary to induce labour with very little effect apart from a lot of pain for me, and problems beginning to develop in the baby. After 15 or so hours, a caesarean was thought necessary, and Philip arrived at 1430, weighing 8lb, with no complications as a result of the lengthy birth. I was in hospital for a long time, about a fortnight I think, and it took me a long time to recover physically. A relative of my husband's (a doctor) wrote down the message about the new child as Philip William Caesar!
We quickly adapted to life with a baby, who soon became a lively toddler. In 1984, our daughter Emma was born. I was a bit more clued up about pregnancy and childbirth this time round, and I had better ante natal classes. The first time felt like being at school, but this time the midwife was friendlier, plus some of my friends were there as well. No real reason was ever given for my failure to proceed with labour so it was agreed that this baby could be born vaginally. On the due date, I am pleased to report that labour started without help, and Emma was born after a shorter labour than last time, weight 9lbs. I needed gas and air and an episiotomy, which was an uncomfortable shock in the days afterwards.
In the years since Philip and Emma were born, there has been much debate about the preferred method of birth. From my point of view, I was relieved when Philip was ok after the emergency caesarean, and his well being was the most important thing at the time. However it did take a while to recover from, and so it was nice to have the experience of a vaginal birth, even though I had to sit on a rubber ring for a while afterwards.
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