Kirsty’s story

Our pregnancy journeys have not been easy. Our first daughter was born at 33-weeks gestation because I developed eclampsia and was having seizures. She was born under general anaesthesia and we were separated for three days as I was in the ICU and she was in the Invercargill neo natal unit.  

It took a good week for me to feel connected to my body again - anyone that's had to have magnesium sulphate will understand what I mean when I say that! I still credit the fact I was able to breastfeed down to the extra support I received from the staff lactation consultants and the peer supporters - I spoke with them a lot!  

Having a traumatising birth gave me a strong determination to establish breastfeeding - I just wanted one of my birth wishes to materialise! We went on to breastfeed for 13 months until she suddenly self-weaned. We got through so many obstacles though, including me having major spinal surgery when she was six months old. 

In between Rosie and Eden we had Jamie; unfortunately he passed away at 16-weeks gestation so you can imagine how hard it was going into Rosie's pregnancy. 

For the first eight weeks of the pregnancy I couldn't allow myself to feel excited it was like I was guarding myself and preparing to lose her. In hindsight that was pure anxiety; in fact the whole pregnancy was full of anxiety and PTSD.  

We had an incredible midwife who was my rock throughout the whole journey, I'm not sure I'd have coped without her constant support! The fact that she took my past experiences into consideration with my care, and always listened to me and allowed me choice and control over everything, is what sticks out about her amazing level of care. 

The pregnancy was physically good for the most part and I was being watched incredibly closely the whole way through because of my history of eclampsia. We had our sights set on a VBAC*, with the idea in the back of our minds that if my body started showing signs of pre-eclampsia that a c-section would be warranted, and that would also be ok!  

All I wanted was to be awake and aware, and able to latch her, and have that important skin to skin within the first thirty minutes.  

A date had been set for a c-section in the event that I hadn't gone into labour naturally by then. If my blood pressure and blood levels remained stable though, there was the possibility I would be able to go past that date.  

It wasn't until we were in the middle of lockdown (around the 24th August) that the Obstetrician called me to let me know my bloods were now borderline pre-eclamptic and they were a little nervous because of how quickly complications progressed with Eden. I was given the option to bring my c-section forward by a week to have her on the 27th. After speaking with my husband we decided to go ahead with it. My stress levels were through the roof - possibly adding to everything - so at that stage (38 weeks), we just wanted our baby safe in our arms. 

Having a c-section in lockdown was great! It was calm and collected, we were grateful both of us could share in the experience and our lovely midwife was with us, taking so many photos and encouraging me (she knew how nervous I was and could see it without me even saying anything).  

I'll never forget hearing Rosie cry for the first time and crying tears of relief that we had a birth experience we were both present for and able to mostly enjoy!  

The first latch was the best thing ever! My midwife made sure that it happened quickly! Being able to latch efficiently so soon after birth was just incredible and she was all ours - no tubes, no extra medical intervention - just mummy, daddy and Rosie.  

I had to be monitored for 72 hours post-partum because of my history of eclampsia but thankfully we were able to transfer through to Gore the next day.  

The beauty of lockdown was that it was literally just us and baby. The staff were amazing and left us to it as I was quite happy cluster feeding and doing what I needed to do in between blood pressure checks and pain relief. My milk came in properly by day two or three and without the usual visitor interruptions the establishment of feeding was a lot easier for us, as was the c section recovery.  

While another c-section may not be a healing experience for some, our experience was made to be beautiful and we will be forever grateful for the healing that came from our lockdown c-section experience.

*VBAC - vaginal birth after a previous caesarian section delivery