My beautiful daughter Tara was born by elective C section ten days before her due date as she had stopped growing in utero, given the fact that my placenta stopped working before full term.
The last weeks being pregnant with Tara were stressful, streets full of ice, getting on tube up to the hospital in North London, and a blur of scans up in Harley Street- ages from where we live in Surrey- each time to check the Doppler flows to Tara’s heart were normal. We had a hazy idea of what any of these scans were for, only that Tara was smaller than average for babies in the UK- just 4 lbs at 38 weeks- and that she had stopped growing due to my placenta ageing early- and we needed to get her out quicker- & not wait for the natural process of labour to begin.
My NCT antenatal classes had prepared me so well for a natural birth and I remember anticipating and being nervous about labor pains in turn, practicing breathing exercises and pelvic floors. Even though I knew I was in favour of pain control, I thought I would at least try to give a natural birth a go and see how I got on. I even remember religiously doing yoga poses to get Tara in the right position for an easy birth! All that came to naught in the end when my consultant advised me to deliver Tara early to avoid any risk to her well being. So one snowy, icy Friday morning at 5 am my husband and I found ourselves in a taxi bound for the…
