Blinded by the screen (please)

Oh my. As my mind is made up that I want a caesarean section, and my overactive imagination/madness/heart rate monitoring has baby distinctively not head down - whatever the midwife says - I pondered as to how they get a baby out in a section if it's not head down. As I am now at the watch-all-birth-programmes-incessantly stage of pregnancy, I've seen footage of a fair few c-sections, which go as follows:

Cut through outer mother then inner uterus etc and tear membrane. Allow waters to gush out. Grab baby's head and tug until entire baby comes out. Stand by with sucker to clear airways. Snip cord, make sure baby is breathing and something a lot closer to pink than blue.

So, if head isn't first, which I actually have no reason whatsoever to presume (other than it would be useful for argument's sake if baby wasn't cephalic on Friday), what happens?

I did a silly thing to find out. I asked the Internet and found icky YouTube footage of caesarean delivery of transverse lying babies.

Yuk.

Most of the procedure is as above, except the bit where they ease the head out. If there isn't a head there, the surgeon appears to plunge his hand in, rummage around until he finds some part of baby, then tugs on that. Often the head will then be last out, and the baby is invariably more blue when this happens. It does not look nice, thank heavens for the screen that stops visibility to the mother - and father who is forbidden and unwilling to be at the action end.

I console myself that a) obstetricians tend to know what they're doing, b) both twins were breech so were probably head last, there was two sets of limbs etc to be tugged upon, and they were fine and c) there is no reason to think that baby isn't head first.

People do always say that c-sections feel like someone washing dishes inside you, so I guess there's always an element of rummaging. I so don't want to see it happening to me, it does not ever look reassuring. The commentary from the anaesthetist is far nicer.

Incidentally, the babies that come our the conventional route don't look any healthier or less blue and the mum looks considerably less healthy. I have not been put off.

I was asked today if I was hoping baby'd come early and naturally and I said no. But if she did, and it was quick, and therefore successful, then yes I do. What I don't want is an unsuccessful labour.

Baby's a go go this evening!! Whatever position she was in she sure isn't in it any more!