The birth of my second child should have been smooth, right? I had already given birth to my son years prior with a natural delivery and was fully prepared for the second. Well, here is what happens when your birth plan falls apart.
I started having contractions in late March 2015 that were regular. Working all day while having contractions is fun by the way on top of the half mile walk from my parking spot to work. < insert sarcastic tone for a bit but the half mile walk into work, that’s real> My fellow coworkers would joke that I would have to call the office and someone would have to grab the car to get me to the hospital so I didn’t deliver in the middle of a Cincinnati street. Although, that would be a great story to tell. Not something I wish to experience. I’m pretty sure my coworkers were only half joking about it all… the plan was in place. Although I worked in a hospital, the VA is not a place to deliver a baby. I even asked my work for a temporary parking spot that was closer at the police station inside the hospital where parking situations are resolved and they laughed and laughed and said no.
Finally, I go to the doctor and they put on my weekly check up schedule. We are almost there. I can see the finish line. I can eat spicy food without killer heartburn and will be walking without waddling in no time!
Let us fast forward one month later and 2 weeks past my due date. I have had it! That is enough. I cannot be pregnant one more day. I demanded Petocin to help speed along delivery. Get this baby out of me now! So we set up a date to be induced. Clear skies ahead my friends, everything is going to be alright. Clear skies ahead.
23 hours of Petocin, 3 doctors attempting to break my water (like seriously, just get in there and get it done), 1,000 laps around the hospital, no food consumption order on me, and this baby ain’t moving!
I had a plan. A plan of natural birth. Give me 12 hours of labor hell, a couple stitches in the unmentionable area and let me go home. My first child was this way so why wouldn’t my second? Well baby #2 (A.K.A. “bean”, “mini”,”Caitlin”) had other plans.
The doctor came in to talk to me April 23, 2015 … doctor # 3 since we had been there for so long already and my doctor was obviously not on rotation anymore. To sum up that discussion. We were doing a C-section… immediately. The baby isn’t dropping, something is not right, the OR is being prepped.
SON of a _______!
I didn’t plan for a C-section. I do not have what I need for them to split me open and staple me shut. I need to mentally prepare for this sort of thing. Plus, this fear of having a ginormous scar over my belly and never wearing a two piece bikini ever again. I love my bikinis. I love them. I need a moment to comprehend this. And then, contraction pain again.
I will take the C-section. Thank you.
I worked in an operating room. Being a patient in the operating room is a completely different ordeal. The staff is trying to push everything along and get things done and I’m wondering about that pile of towels in the corner and if they are sanitized and want confirmation everyone scrubbed in properly. I’m a mess.
I get myself and the massive belly up on the surgical bed and get ready for the anesthesiologist to stick the needle in my spine. New questions arise with this, of course. Is this person qualified to stick a needle in my spine? It is my spine. Sort of an important part of my body. I need documentation and references. If it’s a resident, I may have an anxiety attack right here, right now. I shut my inner voice the heck up and did as told.
Speaking of anxiety attack. Start full on panic attack now! I cannot feel my legs. At all. I cannot move my legs. I’m pretty certain they are still there but not 100 percent. I am a control freak and I cannot feel my dang legs. One of the nurses told me to calm down and just breath into the mask with oxygen. Just kidding, it wasn’t oxygen. They were knocking my anxiety induced pain in the butt out. Next 20 minutes I do not recall. Caitlin is out of the belly however and everything is alright-ish. I can see my legs… can’t feel them.
I did not prep for a C-section. It was not even in my head as a possibility. Caitlin had managed to get her neck wrapped around the umbilical cord twice so she was not coming out on her own and we are fortunate there were no serious complications. She was not even stressed by the situation. Not even a spike in heart rate. My body wanted that baby out but she was just hanging out with this thing wrapped around her waiting for someone to help. Oh boy, she has not changed a bit.
You may have a birth plan that is precise and prepared but plan for all the possible situations. Pack the hospital bag ahead of time to accommodate natural birth, C-section, extra inpatient days, emergencies and other outcomes for when your birth plan falls apart.
Check out How To Recover From a Cesarean Section Faster and make sure your bases are covered no matter what your birth plan may be.
Did you birth plan go as you wanted it to or were you in for a surprise too?
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