Zoe Sugg has been sharing details from her C-section experience.
The YouTube star and her fiancé Alfie Deyes welcomed their second child, Novie, into the world in December. They are already proud parents to a two-year-old daughter named Ottie.
As she answers questions from some of her fans in a Q&A on social media, Zoe decided to discuss her birth story and postpartum life.
While speaking with her 9.2M Instagram followers on her Stories about mum-life, the 33-year-old was asked, ‘Why did you have a C-section this time? What was your experience?’.
Zoe replied by reflecting on her first child’s birth story and explained, “I found my recovery from Otties birth pretty hard & long. I had a vaginal birth, was induced at 38 weeks as my placenta basically gave up (non scientific term haha) and her growth was slowing down pretty rapidly”.
“I actually had a really positive induction and loved it, but one of my concerns through my pregnancy was my small frame/pelvis and how that would impact birth! Turns out, it wasn't very easy!”.
“I had episiotomy & ventouse and even then my lovely doctor said it was a VERY tight squeeze and emergency c section wasn't far off. Because of this, I had a lot going on down there in terms of recovery”.
Sugg went on to reveal her stitches got infected, and had “some trauma to my sacroiliac which meant sitting down and standing up from sitting down was painful. (I went to an osteopath for that and it was fully fine by about 8 months PP)... Besides that though, my actual birth was so positive & I loved it, it was just the post partum recovery that felt never ending”.
She continued, “When I got pregnant with Novie, I had this experience in the back of my mind & knowing that second babies tend to be a bit bigger, the thought of doing that again just wasn't something I wanted to roll a dice over”
“It may have been completely different, but I wasn't prepared to risk it for 8 months of osteopath appointments so I could sit down without pain again, so decided to chat to my doctor about the possibility of a planned c section. She gave me the choice and was amazing and ultimately said it was probably a good idea for me”.
Zoe also added that it was ‘such a different experience in terms of not waiting to go into labour’, as she is an ‘anxious human’.
“And in terms of the actual experience, I loved it. It was so calm, positive and quick… I was so incredibly nervous beforehand but Alfie just kept reminding me that nobody would be strolling into a c section worry-free and that it was perfectly normal to feel nervous and scared”.
Zoe went on to reveal, “We had a playlist on (yes I filled it with some Christmas bangers) and everything happened so quickly I almost didn't have time to worry about any of the stages. For anyone worried about pain, I felt no pain the entire procedure”.
“I was a bit apprehensive about the feeling of her being born, but I really didn't feel much”.
“I also watched her coming out which was FASCINATING! Not for everyone but I asked for the curtain to be dropped so I could see her coming out and that was SO amazing. She sort of wriggled her way out by herself!”.
The vlogger closed off by adding, “I know that not everyone's experience is like this with a c section, especially if it's an emergency, but I hope it offers a bit of reassurance to those of you who might need it right now!”.
