When my birth story comes up (as it inevitably does any time you are talking to other Mommies!) I often have other moms asking me about my C-section. There are several women I know who have been told that they might have to have a C-section in the future, and they just want to know everything that they can! (Understandably! I would too!) But, there isn't all that much on the internet written about it.... So, I'm going to share our very first birth experience, which was pretty scary for us. Hopefully, it'll help you out so you know what to expect if you are going to have a C-section.
Let's start with the day before Micaiah's birthday... I was at 38 weeks. I went to church with my Mom while Chris took my Dad out to this little congregation that he preaches at. (It is a small group of older people, so my Mom takes my brother and sister to the church where I grew up so that they have bible classes and other kids! But, my Dad loves to preach and he loves the group of people out in Tow, so he travels the hour and a half out there every Sunday to be with them!) I was rubbing my stretched out lil belly, and Mom asked if Micaiah was kicking. No. He wasn't. I didn't think it was a big deal; I was sure that he had been kicking at other times. But, she told me to really try to keep track of his movement, and if he wasn't moving a lot to mention it at my appointment the next day. So, I did. And, he wasn't moving a lot. (I truly didn't think it was a big deal. At the time, I was going to school full time and working and constantly stayed on the go. So, even though I was trying to keep track of it, I was sure that he had been moving a lot and I just wasn't paying attention while doing all of the other things I was doing! I was convinced that he would be two weeks late, since my older sister and I were both later than our due dates, and my sister went beyond her due date with both kids. So, even though I was at 38 weeks, I had fully prepped myself for another 4 weeks of pregnancy.)
On Monday, we went in for a regular check-up appointment. The doctor said that everything looked great, and asked if I had any questions before he let me go. So, I mentioned that I hadn't felt him move much the day before. He hooked me up to a heart rate monitor for about 30 minutes, and said that everything sounded great. His heart rate was normal, and everything looked good. But, just to be safe, we would take a look at the ultrasound in his office really fast. Well, that's when just another day became the beginning of Micaiah's birth story! The fluid was gone. Just gone. I hadn't been leaking. No bleeding. No nothing. But, he said that on a scale from 1 to 10, my fluid was at a 3, and we needed to get him out of there. We were going to induce.
My whole body started shaking, and I was instantly terrified. (I had not yet reached the level of pregnancy uncomfortable-ness that I was ready to go through the pain of childbirth. Seriously, I was praying to be uncomfortable so that I'd be ready to get it over with. I was terrified of childbirth, and was really okay with him staying in there for four more weeks! But, that wasn't gonna happen...)
He called the hospital, and we went and checked in around noon. I got into a hospital gown (Most unflattering thing on the planet... Seriously felt like a whale...) and they hooked me up to all of the monitors. They put one on your belly to measure contractions, and one to measure the baby's heart rate. Along with all kinds of other things... Then, they put in the Cervadil (which softens your cervix, and helps prepare it for birth...) They have to put that in, and then 12 hours later they start the Petocin, which causes contractions and pushes your body into labor.
Well, about an hour later Chris had just come back from getting me some food to eat. (I hadn't eaten anything all morning, and was starving!) All at once, my nurse walked in, I took the first bite of my food, and Micaiah's heart rate dropped. (As did mine! Seriously, one of the scariest noises in the world is when you hear your little baby in there sounding totally normal: baboom, baboom, baboom and all of a sudden it's ba.....boom......ba......boom......ba.....boom.) She took away the food, and left the room to call my doctor.
In the next few hours, I started having some contractions because of the Cervadil. Micaiah's heart rate dropped a few more times, usually for about 30 seconds each time. The nurse put me on oxygen to see if that would help. It was obvious that she was not comfortable with what was going on, and she mentioned that we may have to do a c-section. But, she was new to the hospital and didn't know my doctor well. So, I think she wasn't comfortable enough yet to stress it to him. The nurses switched shifts at 7:00. I continued having some contractions, which I thought were super painful, but the nurse looked at the measurement sheet and said they were just tiny ones. Around 8:30, Micaiah's heart rate dropped again. This time it was longer. My nurse and another nurse rushed in. They moved me around, checked my cervix (I was at a 4, and had been at 0 when I checked in...), and were obviously very worried. My nurse told me, "Nuh, uh... We're not doing this... We're setting up for a c-section right now... I'm calling your doctor!" She had been working with my doctor for quite a while, and was very comfortable giving her opinion. :) She put a hair net on me, gave me this nasty stuff to drink that is supposed to help with nausea, and gave Chris his O.R. wardrobe. By 9:00, we were in the operating room. Once again, my whole body was shaking. Partially from fear and partially because I was freezing. The O.R. looks just like it does in the movies... Completely white, bright, freezing cold room. There were probably 10 people in the room, rushing around, all knowing exactly what their job was. Several people introduced themselves to me... I don’t remember all of them. I know that one was the pediatrician and a NICU nurse. They were there to take care of Micaiah as soon as he came out. The anesthesiologist came in, and did the spinal. I didn't find it too painful. There was one big twinge of pain, and then I didn't feel it any more. They laid me down, and got to work. They put up a big blue sheet so that I couldn’t see anything below my neck. And very quickly, my whole body went numb. Once they had me pretty much ready to go, they let Chris come back. I felt much more calm once he was there with me! Then, my doctor came in, and peaked his head around the curtain asking if I was doing okay. I was, and he told me, “That’s good because she just pinched you really hard! I guess you’re numb!” :) So, they got to work. At first, I didn’t feel anything. When they got closer to getting Micaiah out, I could feel a lot of pressure. It wasn’t painful. Just heavy pressure on my stomach. The anesthesiologist kept asking if I was okay. Him and Chris talked with me. When it was time, my doctor told Chris that he could look over the curtain.
Then, I heard him. Micaiah was born! His tiny little cry flooded me with emotion. I was relieved that he was out, and okay! And, my baby was there! And, I was a mom!
I went to the recovery room, and tried to just rest waiting for Chris and Micaiah to come back. After about 30 minutes, Chris came back and said that some of Micaiah’s numbers weren’t normal so they needed to keep him in the nursery for a little bit. They fed him some formula because he needed food quickly. After quite a while, the pediatrician that was in the O.R. finally came in and told us a little more about what was going on. Micaiah’s blood sugar was extremely low. This happens sometimes when babies come out very small or very large. They fed him some formula and tested him again, and it still wasn’t high enough. So, they were going to need to take him to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). They would get him there and set up, and after a little while we could see him. We tried to rest as much as we could, which wasn’t much. Finally, around 2:00 in the morning my nurse came in to get me out of bed for the first time. Most of the numbness had worn off. So, she slowly helped me up into a sitting position. We waited for a minute. Then, put my legs over the side of the bed, and waited. Then, she and Chris helped me stand up and she told me to keep my eyes up toward the ceiling. I felt extremely dizzy, but they helped keep me standing while I gained my bearings. Then, we verrrry slowly walked to the bathroom.
She helped clean me up, and then helped me into a wheelchair so that we could go to the NICU to see Micaiah. So, five hours after he was born, I finally got to see him again! 36 hours after he was born, I got to hold him for the first time!
It took a few days for me to be able to walk without assistance. (Without pushing a wheelchair in front of me for extra support.)
It took about a week before I started walking normally again, not at a snail’s pace.
It took about a week and a half to stop bleeding. (Apparently, with a c-section, you stop bleeding sooner than you do with natural birth.)
It took 2 and 1/2 weeks for them to finally stabilize Micaiah’s blood sugar, and allow us to take him home. (Longest 2 and 1/2 weeks of my life! Filled with stress and frustration! I will write another post later about what I learned from our time in the NICU.)
It took about 3 weeks for me to get off of my pain medications.
It took about 5 weeks before I felt okay-comfortable in blue jeans. It felt really uncomfortable to have anything rubbing against my scar, so I didn’t wear pants of any kind for the first few weeks.
And, the feeling along my scar line has never come back. They told me that if it wasn’t back within a year, then it would probably never come back. So, when I touch it, it’s almost like that weird numb feeling when your legs fall asleep. I don’t like it at all! But, I am used to it now! :)
Through it all, though, we got our precious little boy who made us a Mom and Dad first! And while our experience was pretty scary and frustrating and stressful, we learned a lot, saw God working things out for us, and gained our first lil man. So, overall it was a win. :)
What was your birth experience like? What else do you want to know about c-sections?
You may also want to check out my blog post on what I learned from my 3 c-sections!