Elective C/S Birth Story
Charlotte Greenlee Parks was born on 10/01 at 11:39AM. Sheis gorgeous, healthy and more than we ever imagined she would be.
We had a scheduled C/S for 11:00. We arrived at the hospitalat 9:00 to check in. We got taken into our triage room where they hooked me upto the IV and fetal monitor. My blood pressure was pretty high but they assumedit was due to anxiety. They went ahead and took my blood just to rule anythingout. My Dr. came in about 10:30 and I asked about my blood pressure. He said?Does it matter? We?re going in to get her anyway so if your bloodwork comesback with Pre-E we would just go in and get her? Made sense to me. After that,I felt more relaxed. I love my Dr.
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At about 10:50 we started walking towards the OR. We wereliterally walking into the OR room when the nurse in there said ?STOP! We havean emergency and you?ve been bumped? Great. I had just gotten myself calmeddown and now I have to sit here and wait even longer. Well, that wait turnedout to be about 4 minutes before they moved us next door to another OR room.The emergency c/s was a woman that had been in labor for a very long time. Ididn?t see her but my H spoke to her H and the poor woman was just exhausted.She was passed out next to me in the recovery room and I never heard a peepfrom her.
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Anyway, I walked into the OR while my H had to stay behindwhile I got the spinal block. I laid down on the table on my left side. Iwasn?t freaking out but I was really nervous. I just kept telling myself thatit would all be fine and soon I would see my little girl. As soon as the Dr.put the needle in, my feet went very warm and then they fipped me to my backand by the time I was settled, I was numb from the chest down. It was thestrangest feeling I had ever had. I could feel them pushing on my legs buteverything was so heavy that I didn?t care. I did get nauseous very quicklywhich they warned me might happen. I told the Dr. that I was nauseous and hegave me something in my IV that took care of it immediately. My husband was rightnext to me and was taking to me the whole time. I didn?t have to be strappeddown. The Dr. just told me not to move my hands up and I was terrified to movethem that that was enough explanation for me.
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I was looking at my H and had no clue when/if they hadstarted until I heard my Dr tell a student ?Oh, there is her bladder? and hedid make a comment that I had very nice muscles. Um, thanks Doc! Now if youcould get me that 6 pack back we would be in business! But, anyway, the surgerywent well. I could feel them pulling and pushing but obviously there was nopain. They had to push down on my chest to get her out which was reallystrange. I seriously thought they were standing on my chest when that washappening. But soon after that feeling she was here! The surgery started at11:34 and she was born at 11:39. As soon as they brought her out she wascrying. The nurse took her over to the warming light and my husband followed.He took pics of her and got to hold her for about 20 minutes while I was beingsewn up. He did bring her right over to me so I could at least see her. Thatwas the best moment of my life right there. She was perfect.
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After I was sewn and cleaned up, they took me to recoverywhere I got to do some skin to skin with Charlotte and just bond. We did notattempt to breastfeed at that moment. I?m not certain why, no one ever told mebut I was kind of out of it that I never thought to ask anyone, We were inrecovery for a little under 2 hours. I had to be able to move my toes, bend my kneesand lift my bum off the bed. As soon as I sat down I started trying to move allof the above because I just wanted to be in my room with her. We got back to myroom at about 2:30 but Charlotte had to stay in the nursery for an hour minimumwhich sucked because by now our family was there ready to see her.
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Anyway, this is really long and I probably missed importantinformation and told you all too much fluff but basically, we are happy andstill trying to figure it all out, We?ll get there. Breastfeeding has been areal struggle. My nipples aren?t long eough, my milk hasn?t came in andCharlotte doesn?t open her mouth wide enough and likes to suck on her tounge.So basically, we have some challenges but we?ll get there. I have been pumpingand supplementing formula but I would rather my daughter not starve!
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I would love to offer any questions from a new mom butthat?s impossible when I still have a trillion of my own questions!?
Re: Elective C/S Birth Story
I had a few questions for you. I wasted about 10 minutes arguing with some nasty chics- deleted the post beacuse who has that kind of time to waste. I spoke with my OBY and told her that I would like to plan a c/s - she said "of all the girls that gave birth vaginally, there are some with regrets, but none of the woman I did a c/s with had any regrets - very happy with their decision. I have the new "Planning pregnancy" book - rated #1 by top gynos and they also mention in the pros and cons section that is c/s is healthy for baby and mom. what made you decide to choose a c/s? I cant really ask any of my close friends who had a c/s right now cause I JUST found out...want to speak with my doc first, but I have had allot to think about. SO, ya - what made you elect a c/s? thx
I'm not sure if you will come back to read this response or not but I seriously had a severe anxiety of vaginal birth. I spent 8 months trying to convince myself that it wouldn't be that bad but at my 37 week appt. I broke down at my appt. with my Dr. and confessed my fears to him.?
He listened to me, told me that one of his partners had 3 c/s and never regretted a minute of it. He checked for progress at that appt. and there was none and the baby hadn't dropped and he said that we would more than likely be looking at an induction and because there was no progress, that would more than likely lead to an emergency c/s.
I told anyone that would listen to me from the day I found out that I was pregnant that I wanted a c/s and EVERYONE had their opinions as to why I shouldn't have one and each one of those persons had never had one. I only ran across 3 people in real life that had one (not on here) and each of those three told me to do it. ?
Do not let people on here try to bully you into thinking that its wrong. Fear of a vaginal birth is just as real as fear of a c/s or 'major surgery' as so many women like to spout off about. Its your body and your decision. Just know that I would not have had it any other way. ?
I literally just found out that I was pregnant and I dont want to announce to anyone until I meet with my doc. It just so happened that when I saw her in Aug, I asked her about c/s - and she siad "do it anyway you feel comfortable and that all her c/s patients had zero regrets (some of her v deliveries did). 3 of my friends had a c/s and had positive experiences and then I heard all the v delivery stories - pretty traumatizing for them. It is so nice to see someone in here posting in here about their c/s delivery. Thank you for sharing your story and your baby is gorgeous!
Congratulations on the succesful birth and beautiful daughter!! ?I am also considering having an elective c/s. ?How was your recovery afterwards? ?How soon afterwards were you able to walk? ?Both my mother and MIL are against elective c/s, especially my MIL because she had one and swears to this day she is numb there and feels like her stomach has been cut in two. ?My husband supports a c/s - he's a dr. and I know a lot of his colleagues feel the same way.
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Best of luck to you!!?
Thanks for posting this story! Your baby is beautiful. I am also considering an elective c-section and feel many people are not supportive of this. Good to find some others that are going down that route.
I also decided I won't breastfeed - another thing that I probably will get flamed for here on these boards. It is just not for me. I feel many women on these boards are not very tolerant to different ways of thinking about these things...