A C-section

A C-section birth is a lot different than a vaginal birth. This was to be a new adventure in our parenting.

In November 2016 I sat in the doctor’s office and cried.

He had just told us that our baby would be almost impossible to turn head down. We were 38 weeks along and I could feel his head constantly pushing against the right side of my tummy. Apparently one leg was on my left side and the other was stuck down underneath him. The doctor said that between his size and his position it would be safest to do a c-section birth.

My mom had a few c-sections, so I had thought it was just a normal thing. But when it was happening to me it didn’t feel normal.

(I’ve learned since then about Spinning Babies. Along with their birthing advice they have methods to help a breech baby turn the right way for a natural birth. I would have loved to have at least tried to get my baby back head-down before I agreed to a c-section. But you can’t do what you don’t know of.)

I had to face the reality that it was going to happen.

This doctor had taken good care of us through 3 births before that, so I trusted him. I knew that even if it wasn’t the birth I’d hoped for, he would help me and our baby get through the delivery process safely.

Showing up for that birth was a lot different than it had been for the others. There was no induction or active labor pains. They had Dad get suited up in hospital safe clothes and prepped me for surgery. And off we went to the operating room: a place I’d never gone.

I kept in the back of my mind some words from my dear sister-in-law. I had emailed her and asked her to walk me through what a c-section birth would be like. She emailed me back and talked me through it step by step. The words I held onto were “that glorious cry.” From our previous 7 births, I knew that a baby’s first cry truly is glorious! It gave me hope.

So I was given a spinal block and laid back. The anesthesiologist sat near my hand and kept asking me to squeeze his hand to make sure I still had use of my hands, and more importantly my lungs. Dad sat near my head on the other side, with the video camera ready to capture baby’s first moments. A curtain was place across my abdomen so we couldn’t see them cut open my tummy to get baby out.

All I could feel of the c-section was some pushing and bumping in my tummy, and then it came, that glorious cry. 🥰 They quickly passed our #8, a new baby boy, to the nurses so they could bring him to meet us. I reached out my hand to touch him and he grabbed my finger. Precious!

Things were still different after the c-section birth.

I had to stay in the hospital a few days longer than normal, and they wouldn’t give me any solid foods until they had signs that my digestive system was ready for it. That was hard for me because I worried about making milk for little #8. And it was harder for my body to breastfeed this baby after a c-section. It was longer than normal before my milk came in. (To read more on breastfeeding.)

But the signs came, and the food came, and I did the best I could and made it work.

They told me it was important to get up and walk the halls to help myself recover. That was hard too. It had never been so strenuous to put one foot in front of the other. I had also never noticed before how the muscle in my tummy play a roll in my walking.

But the days were accomplished, the staples were removed, and they let us go home.

This would be my longest recovery from a birth. 

I was extra thankful for the help I had at home, because I was not up to doing much more than take care of myself and our baby for several months. What would normally take 6 weeks to feel like getting up to do things after a baby came, took 6 months after a c-section birth. There was a lot of time spent just lying on the couch. I remember that I avoided going up and down the stairs in our house, only making one trip down in the morning and one trip up in the evening for several months.

Even after I felt like I could exercise and do housework, the energy was lacking. It was a full year before I felt like myself again.

Was our little #8 worth that extra trauma? 100% yes!

I’m thankful that doctors know how to do that kind of major surgery to save moms and babies in dangerous situations. I’m thankful to have gained an understanding of what it’s like to have a c-section birth, how it makes mothering, breastfeeding, losing the baby weight, and all of life harder for a while. I can be more empathic of other mothers this way. But I’m also very thankful that out of our 10 births, this was the only c-section.

For more birth stories, see Birth Stories, Birth Stories Part 2.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you’re enjoying your adventure.