A mom is speaking out after her birth didn't go according to plan — in one of the worst possible ways. When expectant mother Jodie Marsden, 27, first arrived at the hospital to be induced, she wasn't expecting her delivery would end in a C-section. This change may be troubling to some new moms, but it's what happened during the surgery that has left this first-time mom from England traumatized and afraid to get pregnant again. Her epidural wore off midway through, meaning she could feel every agonizing thing.
Jodie and her husband, Matt, first got pregnant unexpectedly after their 2018 wedding.
Although the pregnancy wasn't planned, when Jodie unexpectedly miscarried at seven weeks, it made her realize that she was ready for motherhood. By Christmas, the pair found out that they were pregnant again.
"I've never really been a maternal person. It was never something I had in a plan, and I could never see myself with children, but the miscarriage changed my way of thinking," she told SWNS. "After the miscarriage, I was convinced that there was something wrong with me."
When Jodie found out she was pregnant again, she was thrilled -- but also apprehensive.
"Although I was happy, it was a tough set of emotions to deal with as I was convinced it was all going to happen again," she said.
But this pregnancy was complication-free up until her last six weeks when she developed hypertension. Jodie was induced on her due date, September 11, but her little one was in no rush to be born.
"We said ourselves that he would wait until Friday the 13th to make an appearance, and then we noticed it was a full moon, but it never crossed our mind what would happen," she said. "The whole experience was absolutely terrifying and I am totally traumatized from the birth."
Two days after first being induced and getting an epidural, Jodie had only dilated 6 centimeters.
Jodie said that she felt doctors starting to pressure her into a C-section by the second day. But when her baby's heart and blood pressure started dipping with every contraction, it was no longer her decision, and she was rushed into the operating room for the emergency procedure. Although her epidural worked at first, Jodie described how she began feeling pain.
By the time she realized what was going on, Jodie said that was in so much pain she could barely whisper — despite being able to feel the clamp, suction, "jiggling," and shoving inside her.
"They did multiple checks to make sure I was numb, with an ice cold spray on several areas of my stomach, followed by jabbing me with a needle, and all was fine, I was numb," she said. "For the incision, I just felt slight pressure, but then I felt them actually pulling my stomach apart as they were ripping the muscles, and I was in so much pain."
Jodie immediately tried to speak up but was in so much pain that nothing helped.
"I could feel them juggling about inside my stomach — one person was shoving down on the top of my stomach whilst another was pulling the baby out," she said, adding that the pain of her stomach and muscles being pulled apart was "extreme."
Jodie remembered the anesthesiologist asking her if it was pain or pressure, and although she thought she was screaming in pain, Matt said only a whisper was coming out.
"They could see I was uncomfortable, so they gave me more medication to try and get the pain under control but I was still in pain," she said. "It was agony. I could feel the clamp inside me and the suction going around and I was really struggling to breathe."
Once Arthur was born, Jodie's agony wasn't over with just yet.
Her blood pressure rose dangerously, and doctors put her under general anesthesia after baby Arthur was born to try to prevent her from having a stroke or heart attack.
"When they finally pulled Arthur out, all I remember was hearing this little scream which suddenly stopped. I can't remember seeing him, and I turned to Matt and repeatedly asked him 'Where is my baby?'" she said. "Then it was like an out of body experience, I could hear things but it was like I was just watching from above. I could hear them saying they needed to get the bleeding under control, and then the anesthesiologist said 'We're going to have to send you to sleep.'"
Matt was quickly escorted out, and Jody ended up losing 2.5 pints of blood. She was closely monitored for 16 hours post-op before being able to recover with family.
Jodie was finally able to hold Arthur the next day, but despite a "happy" ending, the experience has left this new mom traumatized.
"It was like living in a nightmare, and I'm definitely not having any more children," she said. "I love Arthur and am enjoying being a mom, but there's no way I'm going through that all ever again. I'm never having another baby ever again, that's for sure."
According to Pinderfields Hospital, where Jodie gave birth, standard protocol was followed during her delivery. In a statement obtained by SWNS, the hospital explained that an epidural can be "topped off" if a laboring mom ends up needing a C-section, but more medicine is administered if she can still feel pain during the operation. And if this still doesn't work, general anesthesia will be given "however the priority is to get the baby delivered if the uterus is open and cord exposed."
