"Elective c-section - ended up two weeks early"

We chose St Marys over Tameside as we had a pretty bad experience there with our first - but were referred to St marys for specialist scans/attention and it was fantastic (despite being a grim experience that eventually turned out fine/fell on the lucky side of the odds). We were booked in for an elective at 39 weeks but girlfriend got contractions yesterday morning 3am>5am (37+1) (and from then on - but we decided it wasnt braxton hicks at 5/went to St Marys..) and ended up having a section by 12 mid day. Main thanks has to go to the anaesthetist who really helped calm our anxiety during the official brief and also just as much in theatre - explaining every step - any pains/senations my girlfriend felt he had already called out before the procedure - he stayed close and offered options for levels of pain relief, advised accurately how long each pain would last - advised that a specific type of pain may increase as he observed them administering additional clotting methods as she has slightly above average bleeding... just so impressive/reassuring. Two senior staff also helped distract/reassure my girlfriend and the midwives who assisted us throughout and helped us breastfeed were superb too, we didnt manage to breastfeed our first so confidence was knocked - but the midwives stuck at it for a good 30 minutes and we are now breastfeeding properly. Been on the ward for a while now and constantly checked on / pain meds kept up / given toast / topped up with water / offered advice / checked on feeding. Only slight whine is people staying past visiting time not being kicked out but the staff are busy as it is without being hospital bouncers and its only 30/45 longer than should. 5/5