Two Different Births
Updated June 10, 2015.
I was still lying flat on my back, which I knew wasn't where I should be, but I was too drugged to say anything. I remember pushing on my side for a couple contractions but it was soooo painful. I pushed with all my strength for 2-1/2 hours. At 6:30am, the midwife told me that my baby was facing the wrong way (posterior) and wouldn't fit through my pelvis. The only option was a cesarean. At that point, I didn't care.
After 54 hours of labor, I was ready for it to be over with.
Jake left the room and my mom came in. They shaved me, inserted a catheter (which did NOT feel good!), and stopped the Pitocin. I was still having contractions and still had a strong urge to push and they let me. It hurt not to push!
At 7:30am I was wheeled into the OR. They gave me a spinal. First they gave a numbing shot, which didn’t hurt and then the actual spinal. I was sitting up hunched over on the midwife while the anesthesiologist gave the shots. Then I had to lie down quickly because I was instantly paralized from the chest down! It was actually a relief to not feel anything! Jake came in and sat by my head and they put a screen up in front of us and went to work.
The whole table was rocking and I was wondering what was going on when suddenly someone said "The head’s out". I didn’t even realize they had cut me open already! A couple seconds later, I heard a little cry and someone said, "It’s a boy type". He was born at 7:43am on Monday, January 27th, 1997.
They brought the baby to the warming table and wiped him off with towels and wrapped him up in a blanket. He was brought to us to hold for a few seconds and then everyone left me ~ Jake, the baby, the midwife, and the nurse.
They sewed me up and I was starting to feel nauseous. Soon they were done and I spent the next two hours in recovery…alone. I had to stay there until I could wiggle my toes, which meant the spinal was wearing off.
I finally got to see and hold my new Austin when he was 2 hours old. My mom got to hold him before I did and she had already fed him a bottle. I was sooo mad! The hospital suddenly got busy that day. The night before, we were the only ones there. That morning, there were 4 other mothers having babies! The nurses were pretty busy and didn't get me out of bed like they were supposed to. I didn’t get up until 26 hours after the surgery. I was quite stiff and sore. I also didn’t get much help breastfeeding and I didn’t know what I was doing. Due to the anesthesia, Austin was slightly jaundiced and the nurses insisted he have bottles of formula to flush it out. They really made me feel guilty, so I did it. That made it even harder to get him to latch on. Finally the day we were going to leave the hospital someone helped us. It was a lot of work but we got him to latch on several times.
We stayed in the hospital for 3 days and then went home. I ended up giving up breastfeeding when Austin was 5 days old because I had no clue what I was doing and because it was still really hard to get him to latch on. I would have panic attacks every time he wanted to eat! So, a week after he was born, there I was at home alone with him. I didn’t even feel like he was my baby. He looked nothing like me, I didn’t give birth to him (he was surgically removed), I couldn’t breastfeed him. I felt totally disconnected. Luckily, the depression only lasted a week, but it took quite a while to really bond. I really feel that we lost a lot in those first two hours after his birth, not to mention what we lost when I didn’t breastfeed him.
I learned a great deal from [a href="http://www.childbirth.org/ICAN/" ]ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network)[/a] and believe that my cesarean was unnecessary. Had I known about nutrition and eating enough protein I could have avoided pre-eclempsia. Had I avoided pre-eclempsia, I wouldn’t have spent my time slouching on the couch and my baby probably wouldn’t have been posterior (gravity). I should have spent my time tailor sitting and pelvic rocking!
Brandon's Birth Story
Brandon Michael made his appearance at 6:59pm Thursday, October 1st. He was born via VBAC at home after 48 hours of labor including 5 hours of pushing. It was a lot of HARD work, but I did it! His head was acynclitic, he was 10 lb 2 oz and 23-1/2 inches long and had a 15-inch chest, but HE CAME OUT! It was sooooo amazing watching his head crown and then come out. I got to hold him immediately, Daddy got to cut the cord, we got to see the placenta (we planted it with a tree), I got to be the first to dress him. MUCH better than my c/s experience (see Austin's birth story).
I was still lying flat on my back, which I knew wasn't where I should be, but I was too drugged to say anything. I remember pushing on my side for a couple contractions but it was soooo painful. I pushed with all my strength for 2-1/2 hours. At 6:30am, the midwife told me that my baby was facing the wrong way (posterior) and wouldn't fit through my pelvis. The only option was a cesarean. At that point, I didn't care.
After 54 hours of labor, I was ready for it to be over with.
Jake left the room and my mom came in. They shaved me, inserted a catheter (which did NOT feel good!), and stopped the Pitocin. I was still having contractions and still had a strong urge to push and they let me. It hurt not to push!
At 7:30am I was wheeled into the OR. They gave me a spinal. First they gave a numbing shot, which didn’t hurt and then the actual spinal. I was sitting up hunched over on the midwife while the anesthesiologist gave the shots. Then I had to lie down quickly because I was instantly paralized from the chest down! It was actually a relief to not feel anything! Jake came in and sat by my head and they put a screen up in front of us and went to work.
The whole table was rocking and I was wondering what was going on when suddenly someone said "The head’s out". I didn’t even realize they had cut me open already! A couple seconds later, I heard a little cry and someone said, "It’s a boy type". He was born at 7:43am on Monday, January 27th, 1997.
They brought the baby to the warming table and wiped him off with towels and wrapped him up in a blanket. He was brought to us to hold for a few seconds and then everyone left me ~ Jake, the baby, the midwife, and the nurse.
They sewed me up and I was starting to feel nauseous. Soon they were done and I spent the next two hours in recovery…alone. I had to stay there until I could wiggle my toes, which meant the spinal was wearing off.
I finally got to see and hold my new Austin when he was 2 hours old. My mom got to hold him before I did and she had already fed him a bottle. I was sooo mad! The hospital suddenly got busy that day. The night before, we were the only ones there. That morning, there were 4 other mothers having babies! The nurses were pretty busy and didn't get me out of bed like they were supposed to. I didn’t get up until 26 hours after the surgery. I was quite stiff and sore. I also didn’t get much help breastfeeding and I didn’t know what I was doing. Due to the anesthesia, Austin was slightly jaundiced and the nurses insisted he have bottles of formula to flush it out. They really made me feel guilty, so I did it. That made it even harder to get him to latch on. Finally the day we were going to leave the hospital someone helped us. It was a lot of work but we got him to latch on several times.
We stayed in the hospital for 3 days and then went home. I ended up giving up breastfeeding when Austin was 5 days old because I had no clue what I was doing and because it was still really hard to get him to latch on. I would have panic attacks every time he wanted to eat! So, a week after he was born, there I was at home alone with him. I didn’t even feel like he was my baby. He looked nothing like me, I didn’t give birth to him (he was surgically removed), I couldn’t breastfeed him. I felt totally disconnected. Luckily, the depression only lasted a week, but it took quite a while to really bond. I really feel that we lost a lot in those first two hours after his birth, not to mention what we lost when I didn’t breastfeed him.
I learned a great deal from [a href="http://www.childbirth.org/ICAN/" ]ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network)[/a] and believe that my cesarean was unnecessary. Had I known about nutrition and eating enough protein I could have avoided pre-eclempsia. Had I avoided pre-eclempsia, I wouldn’t have spent my time slouching on the couch and my baby probably wouldn’t have been posterior (gravity). I should have spent my time tailor sitting and pelvic rocking!
Brandon's Birth Story
Brandon Michael made his appearance at 6:59pm Thursday, October 1st. He was born via VBAC at home after 48 hours of labor including 5 hours of pushing. It was a lot of HARD work, but I did it! His head was acynclitic, he was 10 lb 2 oz and 23-1/2 inches long and had a 15-inch chest, but HE CAME OUT! It was sooooo amazing watching his head crown and then come out. I got to hold him immediately, Daddy got to cut the cord, we got to see the placenta (we planted it with a tree), I got to be the first to dress him. MUCH better than my c/s experience (see Austin's birth story).
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