Birth Stories by Dani

I have type one diabetes, which I have had for over half my life now and also was diagnosed with PCOS at around aged 18. Otherwise young and helathy.

I was told at that initial GP appointment that I wouldnt likely be able to get pregnant naturally and if I did it was going to be a highly hard pregnancy and risky birth and that I should start young because pregnancy is hard on normal womens bodies, even harder when you are already battling health conditions... imagine being told this at 18 when all you want out of life is to be a mother …..

I ended up having 2 beautiful babies (one more on the way as I type this). Conceived naturally. Fairly low fuss pregnancies.

BABY NUMBER 1:
Because I am a type one diabetic we had planned a 38 week c section. We were admitted the night before to be monitored and have some steroids for baby in case she had lung issues.

We had known from probably half way through the pregnancy that the baby was going to be a big one and from around 28 weeks we tracked her growth which was off the charts and trending upward as we progressed. That was another reason for having a c-section and not a vaginal birth. 

Baby girl was born the next day, 30.10.13 at 4.19pm at 10.2lb (4620g), 48 cm long, healthy and strong. Very calm, the doctors remarked how calm and alert she was already.

She was delivered by the same obgyn that delivered me when I was born.

She was able to stay with me in my bed for cuddles while I went to recovery which was lovely, although a reaction to some morphine made me feel sick and dizzy. She roomed with us afterwards, with no need for special care, and we established her on the breast as soon as she was ready, using nipple shields because she was such a hungry big baby, she did not want to work for the milk to bring it down and then when it let down I had so much that she nearly drowned in it, so the nipple shields slowed the flow down for her. 

BABY NUMBER 2:
This pregnancy was also planned to be a 38 week c-section, as once again we expected a big baby – no need to leave her inside growing bigger for those last few weeks.

As we got to 35ish weeks the baby scan machine measured her at over 8 pounds already and we were told that the machine 'does not go high enough to measure anymore' and I was experiencing some low blood sugar levels which at this stage of the pregnancy can sometimes mean that the placenta is breaking down and can potentially mean that the baby can be not getting enough of what they need from me.
At this point, my obgyn had to retire unexpectedly due to his health so from this point on we had a new doctor monitoring our case. We limped through that week and my endocrinologist (diabetic specialist )said that if my bgls dropped too low again in the next 24 hours then we would look at bringing me in to deliver earlier. I ended up having two low blood sugars in that time period and so we were advised to come into the hospital to start the prep for a c section. We prepped in hospital that night again with steroids for the babies potentially immature lungs and monitoring baby and my glucose levels the whole time. 
We made it to 36 weeks exactly. Baby girl #2 was born at 9.35am on 20.01.16 weighing in at 10.3lb (4700g) 49cm long. Drs said that she has broad shoulders and it was a tight squeeze getting her out of the hole he had cut, while pulling her out, the doctor exclaims 'whoa! Shes a whopper!' like a fisherman reeling in the best catch of his life! She had a round fat tummy, which is commonplace for babies of diabetics. This baby was rhesus positive, so I had to have needles for that.

It turned out that the placenta had started to breakdown, so going in earlier was the right choice.
She was born with a low blood sugar, so they placed a sugar fluid drip in her to get her level back up. She spend a few days in the humidicrib in the special care nursery for monitoring more than anything else. She actually pulled her own drip out and when they tested her BGL before re-attaching it, they decided she didn't need it anymore anyway. So for the first few days we had to visit her in the nursery and only touch her through ' portholes' in the side of the crib, and rub her leg. This was extremely hard for us, especially me being post c section, it wasn't as easy for me to get down to the nursery whenever I wanted. The nurses commented how strange it seems because usually they are looking after little babies half her size in these cribs so to them she seemed huge. On day 2 one nice nurse let me have kangaroo cuddles with her and that rises babies temperature better than the humidicrib anyway, and this helped my milk come in so from here on we could feed her my breast milk ( through a nasal gastric tube).

As soon as she could we put her directly on the breast which she took to basically straight away, which was a nice change because it wasn't such a smooth step for our first baby.

I had had a spinal block with both c-sections. Morphine after my first one for the pain afterwards, but it reacted to it strangely so we didn't have that for the second birth.

I was lucky that my husband could be with me the whole time before and after births, we had discussed that if either of the girls needed to be taken somewhere, that I wanted him to go with them. Staying in the same room with me meant he could help me get up to pee or shower. And he could go out and fetch me whatever I needed while I was bedridden post-surgery. This time around it will be different because of COVID-19, there are no visitors allowed in the hospital except the birth partner I believe. So as much as this saddens me that this experience will be a different ( much quieter) one, I am choosing to see the positives in it, being that we can recover (and sleep) more and peacefully.

I recovered well from both surgeries with no complications, possibly even better the second time around.

I am currently in my third trimester with our third child. This time again, expecting a c-section – planning for 38 weeks, but who knows if we will get that far or not. At this stage baby #3 is not huge, but I wouldn't be surprised if she gets bigger like her sisters did before long.

I’m Dani, I’m 32 years old.I’m married for ten years this December. Mum to two beautiful girls, and currently 32 weeks pregnant with our third. Proud and blessed to be a mummy.