To Caesar or not to Caesar

With the media’s recent focus on the ‘too posh to push’ trend, especially amongst celebrities, we can be driven to think that having a Caesarean is the lazy way to give birth and we should be ashamed of ourselves to even consider this as an option.

Our class on this topic has dispelled a lot of the myth of Caesarean birth for me and I feel a lot more opened to the idea that this may be a real possibility for my own labour (given that about 1 in 3 births in Australia results in a Caesarean).

Under normal circumstances, a woman is encouraged to have a vaginal birth as that is how our bodies are designed to work. But sometimes, this is just not the way it works out. Maybe she’s had previous complications/surgery which would make it dangerous to give birth naturally, or maybe somewhere along the line of the labour something goes wrong. It is such a routine procedure that the risks to mum and baby are minimal.

There are also some advantages such as:

• No pain
• Quick delivery – it takes 5 minutes between the time of the incision to when you meet your baby
• Baby born with perfectly shaped head – as it doesn’t have to pass through the birth canal or have bruising from forceps or vacuum
  

As we wrap up on the birth itself, we started to learn about taking care of the baby after birth. We were advised of the immediate tests and injections for the baby (the Apgar Score – test of baby’s reflexes and general wellbeing, Vitamin K shot – to help baby with blood clotting). We were also shown some normal yet unusual things we might find on the baby (rash, blue hands and feet, pimples etc) as well as a quick run down of breast feeding (I will be attending a separate class on breast feeding).

But nothing was as interesting as seeing photos of what you can expect to find inside baby’s nappy during the first week. Basically its bowel movements changes from thick black tar, to dark green lumps, to brown mush and then to mustard yellow poo. We were even given a ‘poo chart’ to put on the fridge for a quick reference! I’ve attached this chart in this post for your enjoyment :) Now you’ll understand the reason that on Funniest Home Video they always show clips of dads trying not to vomit while changing baby nappies!

Next class will be our final one. I hope we’ve learnt enough to at least understand what is going on with the labour and those initial days with baby. The rest is up to us – what a daunting thought.

Update on baby – he/she should be around 38 cm from head to toe and weighing about 1kg. Baby should now be responding to light and sound a lot more, and while it practices breathing it may start to hiccup (I’m feeling baby’s hiccups at least once a day now).

Update on baby shopping – cot has arrived and we’ve picked a spot to place it in our room – at the end of our bed for easy access. Still undecided on the pram, the latest one we’re leaning towards is a Bugaboo Bee (see here). It’s a bit pricey but has everything we want whilst being light weight so it looks like a winner. Plus we can get it in a bright yellow colour, how uber stylish is that?!

Until next time…

Love, Viv + Baby

P.S. Can daddy David please write the next post?