Did I Trust My Doctor Completely? My C-Section Story

Its 8 years now, since I delivered my daughter through C-section and yet I always had a doubt whether I needed that surgery or could I have had a normal delivery. But thanks to the campaign by mycity4kids; after watching the videos and reading various articles, all my doubts were cleared. I can’t thank my doctor enough for taking the right decision and advising me to go for a planned C-section.

You can watch the video here:

https://www.mycity4kids.com/parenting/article/c-section-the-new-normal

The link to the articles:

https://www.mycity4kids.com/parenting/topic/pregnancy/pregnancy/csec-or-not/sort:created/direction:desc
And now my C-Section story:

I always had a low placenta from the initial months of pregnancy and the position also didn’t change after 5 months. The doctor never told me that I will have to go for a C-section at that time as the growth of the baby was normal. Also I never faced any problem of bleeding during pregnancy that happens to many women who have a low placenta. However when I went into the 9th month, I let him know that as against the popular trend among women, I am not scared of going through the normal delivery procedure and I am mentally prepared for it. Call it co-incidence, in the next consultation itself he asked me to go for the final ultra-sound test and the reports showed a drop in heartbeat of my daughter.
I still had 2 weeks to complete my term and he asked me to come regularly now to monitor the baby’s heartbeat. These were signs that I might have to go for a C-section and a normal delivery seemed risky. All along I was sceptical about the findings in the tests, as this doctor had an image of delivering only through C-sections. Until he didn’t mention C-section as an option I trusted him completely. The nurses at the hospital told me that after years we are hearing someone say that I am ready for a normal delivery at this hospital. Let me mention here that he is one of the most renowned doctor and we always had immense respect for him as a doctor so I never believed the rumours surrounding him. Rather I didn’t go to my parent’s home for delivery as I wanted to consult this doctor only. I trusted his expertise and never asked him any questions like “What should be the normal heart rate be? “What is the reason for this drop?” I always followed his advice and as he was also my sister in law’s doctor and she had a high risk pregnancy which he had managed very well with his expertise. Yet a faint doubt was definitely created in my mind when he asked me to choose a particular date for a planned C-section on the completion of my term.
So we decided on a date and I got admitted in the hospital. I was given injections to induce pain but to no avail. Neither did my water bag burst nor did I experience any contractions for 6 hours. And so I had to go through the C-section procedure. The surgery went smoothly without any complications. My surgery was so well done that I didn’t experience any pain in the stitches too. However I had major constipation problem post delivery. I suffered from piles too. Though the C-section procedure went smoothly, there are many side effects of the surgery which one should be aware about, is what I learned after watching the video on mycity4kids.
The experts in the video also mention that the doctors are the care givers, so though I respected my care-giver due to his stature but never trusted him completely and the reason of the mistrust was lack of communication. What I also learnt from the discussions that it is very important that we are well informed and well prepared for the delivery in advance which comes with proper communication with your care giver; be it a normal or a C-section delivery.
If only I had clarified my doubts with my doctor at that time, I would not have been guilty of doubting him for all this 8 years. Though I didn’t ask him questions out of respect, I should have asked and clarified with him the reasons of making the decision to go for C-section. Then I would know that he did the right thing. Thus, I recommend all expectant mothers reading my post to not shy away from asking relevant questions so that we are well aware and informed about the procedure of child birth.
Share your childbirth story too and post your feedback in the comments.
Happy Parenting!!
Authors Note: This post was originally published on www.mycity4kids.com for their awareness campaign.

Image courtesy: www.pixabay.com