Hi mammas. This is a bit of a late announcement, but I really appreciated reading about others experiences when I was feeling nervous, so I hope this has the same effect. Our little girl Nóa was born by emergency c section on the 2nd of August at 39 weeks. She was 3.3kg / 7.3lb.

My waters broke wed evening, but contractions never progressed during the night. By Thursday morning her heart rate showed some distress, and so I was sent straight to theatre for the operation. I was hoping for a gentle natural birth, but ultimately the doctors made the best decision for my baby and I, and I am so thankful to them for it.

I had a spinal anesthetic and so was awake for the section, but the meds really had me calm throughout. My partner was by my side all the way, and the 8 or so doctors and midwives were calm, kind and did a great job. From start to finish I think it was less than an hour.

They quickly put Nóa on my chest for skin to skin contact, where she instantly stopped crying and I could kiss her little cheeks. She fed almost instantly once we were out of theatre. And the scar they left is surprisingly neat in my bikini line.

I am so thankful to the amazing midwives who patiently thought me the techniques needed to breastfeed in those first nights, and for their kindness and support in the difficult moments. We were so lucky to have such a positive experience and wanted to share how happy we were with all the holles Street Hospital staff in dublin Ireland.

Nóa is almost 3 weeks old now and feeding like a trooper. The temporary discomforts of the early days passed quickly, and for now it’s just funny exhaustion that has us 😅😴. But we are even adapting to the lack of sleep now too, which I would never have imagined happening! And it’s actually looking like she might be allowing us 5 hours of sleep a night these last few days!! She is almost 4 weeks old.

I know every experience is so different. But I was quite nervous before the birth as a ftm, so I just wanted to share our positive experience to offer some assurance to others. I would do it all over again tomorrow in a heartbeat. ❤️

I also want to say thanks to everyone in this group. I had so many questions about every pregnancy symptom and concern, and it made all the difference to get the guidance from mammas with more experience. I hope I can pass it on now too, and there’s no doubt I’ll be reaping the benefits a lot more with my first time parenting fears and worries as they crop up from now on. So thanks again for all the support xxx