Hellobee

scheduled c-section for breech baby

I wouldn’t change anything about the birth. My only qualm was the number of visitors we had on Saturday (I had Chloe on Friday). My husband had gone home to feed our cats and shower. I don’t remember him being gone for too long, but it felt like as soon as he left everyone came flooding in and it was very overwhelming. It was somewhat uncomfortable — family members that I usually see on holidays showed up without warning and parked themselves in my hospital room, and I was trying to sleep! I was partially exhausted, partially still on morphine, and partially just didn’t know how to speak up for myself yet. As soon as my iv’s were removed (later that afternoon and the pain killers wore off, I was more alert and in mama bear mode.

C-sections often aren’t highlighted in a positive manner. I was nervous and scared when I had to have one. I talked to several friends and family members who’d had them (both planned and unplanned) and every single woman said it was the worst and scariest moment of their life. No one had skin to skin, each had an awful recovery, and all had horrible hospital experiences. If I am remembering correctly, two women delivered at the same hospital as me. Talking to them made me even more nervous!!

I genuinely had a positive experience and I enjoy sharing my birth story. I hope it calms nerves, shows that it can be a positive experience and doesn’t have to be frightening!

Part of me wonders if it was due to mental preparation? My college friend had a planned section turned emergency when she went into labor 2 weeks early. She had an “I can’t do this” mentality and she really freaked me out. I had more support from Mr. Jump Rope and I had a one track mind — I don’t have a choice. I have to have a section. This is about Chloe. That made me feel so much more prepared.

unmedicated home water birth

I wish the midwife didn’t have to pull out my placenta! Not sure if this counts though.

scheduled c-section for twins and second c-section

I had two c sections and really they were just fine. My first was an “emergency” since they took me in two days before my scheduled date for pre-eclampsia. During the procedure my blood pressure tanked and they had to give me a lot of medication that knocked me out for a bit. I was in recovery for four hours while my husband stayed with our twins. I could have done without that since I think I scared everyone a little bit, but they were guaranteed that I was stable and fine. I still feel very bonded with my children even though I didn’t have immediate skin to skin or nursing. My body carried those little guys to 37 weeks when no one thought we would make it past 28. So the fact that my body needed 4 hours to recover before meeting the demands of twin motherhood doesn’t seem that unreasonable. It’s just a part of our story.

My daughter was a scheduled c section. To be honest I didn’t want a VBAC. I was perfectly happy with going in at 39 weeks and having a c section. Everything went smoothly. After my daughter was born they took her to the nursery with my husband while they stitched me up. I was reunited in 20 minutes and she was nursing before an hour had passed. My OB told me it was a good thing we opted for the c section. Her cord was tied in a knot and around her neck twice. So I feel like I made the right choice.

induced labor without epidural

I wish that I had never developed Pre-eclampsia. If I hadn’t I still would have been able to have a water birth at the birth center. Instead I was a last minute transfer to a hospital to be delivered by an OB I’d never met, hooked up to an IV, forced to labor on my side in bed the entire time. It was brutal. If I’d never had Pre-e, that never would have happened.

first unmedicated birth, second unmedicated birth

With my first pregnancy I wouldn’t change a thing. With my second pregnancy, can I just say I wish I had a different, more competent nurse?! My labors weren’t really that different, but the nurses made all the difference!

With my first labor, the nurse was very patient and accommodating. she asked if I needed anything, but other than that left me alone with a peek in here or there to make sure I was doing ok. She would sit by me quietly and knew exactly what to do.

The nurse with my second labor had never experienced an unmedicated birth before and kept talking to me nonstop while I was trying to labor through painful contractions. I kept thinking, “pleeease just shut up and let me concentrate.” She was rushing around everywhere, dropping things left and right, and gave me undiluted penicillin thru an IV (it made my arm burn) because she was in such a rush. She also gave me cervical checks every half hour! She was stressed, which made me feel stressed.

epidural birth

I wish I wasn’t GBS+ so I could have labored at home for much longer and not been pressured to get to the hospital for antibiotics. But as for what I had control over, there’s nothing I would change. Next time around I will choose the same midwife and absolutely the same doula. I’ll also take probiotics from day 1.

induced labor without epidural

I wish I had actually gone into labor on my own! After waiting 42 weeks, I went into my induction resigned to the fact that my birth plan would be tossed out the window. Plus driving to the hospital for a scheduled induction lacks the sparkle when it comes to birth stories/memories. Not waking up at three a.m. because my water broke or laboring at home, making the game time call of when we should head to the hospital. Otherwise, I loved my L&D experience.

first epidural birth, second epidural birth

With my first delivery, I only wish my epidural had taken effect the first time. The ups and downs of the 3 effective then failed epidurals made for a very traumatic labor! I also wish I had eaten something before and during my 24 hour labor and slept more so I had more energy to push. I pushed for 3 hours and he never even crowned. I don’t mind that they had to use the vacuum extractor, but it left me feeling a little sad that I had failed to push him out on my own.

With my second delivery, I had a great induction experience. My epidural did go awry again (inadvertent dural puncture) but it made for a pain-free and beautiful delivery, which I loved. So I guess my only wish is that I didn’t have to go through the spinal headache aftereffect and blood patch procedure during recovery.

unplanned c-section after induction

I’m one of the not-so-positive c-section stories, but not because anything went wrong during or after the procedure. I just wasn’t happy that I had to have one.

My perfect birth would have been one where I progressed a little more quickly than I did – it took about 36 hours from when I checked in to the hospital to get to the pushing stage – and was able to successfully and safely push him out vaginally. I would have had immediate skin to skin contact and able to start breastfeeding right away. I wouldn’t be separated from the baby at all (I was by myself in a recovery room for two hours after the c-section), and I would be able to get up and move around sooner and with less pain.

Next time around (disclaimer: not pregnant), I’d like to try for a VBAC, but if that’s not possible, I want to have a c-section in a hospital that allows skin-to-skin as soon as the baby checks out ok and I don’t want to be separated from the baby at all. I plan to find a new doctor and hospital and get this all approved before I get to the end of my pregnancy. That way I won’t be too disappointed if the VBAC doesn’t work out because I’ll know I still get time with the baby (and more importantly, the baby gets time with me) right after the c-section.

epidural birth

I wish I had called my doula and asked her to come to my house to help with my pre-term labor. I had at least 24 hours of really painful back labor before we went to the hospital – I couldn’t sleep or eat and was sooo tense. As a result, when it was finally time for the real show, I was exhausted.

When we picked my doula I specifically requested that she come to my house to help me labor at home as long as possible. When I called to let her know I was feeling really crappy, she just suggested I take a bath. I wanted her to come, but didn’t want to ask (I know she has 3 kids and didn’t want to inconvenience her at 5:00 AM) – I was waiting for her to offer, which she never did. Next time, I’ll ask her to come!

When we talked about the experience afterwards, she spontaneously said she’d dropped the ball during pre-term labor and would come to me next time rather than waiting for us to get to the hospital.

Otherwise, she was great!!

epidural birth

There were a few bumps in the road with my delivery, but it was a beautiful experience and I wouldn’t change a thing! I’m thrilled that I had a healthy beautiful baby.

epidural birth

I’m not sure I would really change anything!

I probably could have labored at home for a little bit given that it was my first time being in labor, but once my water bag broke all I could think was, “I need to get to the hospital!”

DH and I brought a laptop with a bunch of Friends DVDs to keep me entertained/distracted, so the labor/wait time didn’t feel terribly long.

I had an epidural and a smooth vaginal delivery. I’d have to agree with @Mrs. Jump Rope about the number of visitors. We were so excited to have everyone meet our baby, but during our hospital stay we had visitors almost every hour, which made it hard to really concentrate on breastfeeding and SLEEPING. I think I slept a total of four hours during our two-night hospital stay.

two unmedicated births

I pushed for four hours during my first delivery. FOUR hours. Everything had gone quickly up to that point (I actually was seven cm at my 39 week appointment and had no idea I was even having contractions.) But I definitely wish I hadn’t had to push for so long.

I wouldn’t change anything about my second.

induced epidural birth

Overall it was a very positive experience. The one part that I would probably change was after the actual delivery. Norah was placed on my chest immediately after delivery, but due to some breathing troubles taken away quickly to have some medical intervention. I realize that there was nothing that could be done about this because it was obviously important for her, but after she was breathing well again they did not hand her back to me but proceeded to pass her about from person to person doing all kinds of other tests etc. She became very agitated and I believe that this was because she was not with me getting comfort. I will know better next time to speak up and make them give me back my baby!

attempted induction followed by c-section for breech twins

I honestly wouldn’t change anything about my labor and delivery. I’m glad we tried for an induction of our breech-transverse twins. I’m thankful for doctors who gave me that chance, and doctors who left the choice to Mr. Blue and me when the induction wasn’t progressing. I have zero regrets about choosing to go forward with a c-section. It was the right choice for us. The only thing I would change is that I didn’t get to hold my boys or keep them with me because they were taken to NICU right away. This would have been the case regardless of how I gave birth, so it’s not something I can really wish to change.

scheduled c-section for breech baby

My c-section was hugely positive – it was the recovery that I would change if I could!

Unfortunately when they removed my surgical bandages, we discovered that I was allergic to the adhesive tape they used. This was extremely painful and my skin was basically burned for 2 weeks.

I also developed a PUPPS rash all over my legs and belly after being home for a couple days – this also lasted over 2 weeks. I don’t wish this on anyone!!! It was like being covered in hives, painful and horribly itchy.

Dealing with this on top of the c-section recovery (and of course caring for a newborn) was tough. But we made it through!

one unmedicated birth, one unmedicated water birth

For my first, I wish I could have given birth in the water instead of just labouring. I might have torn less, which would have helped my recovery a lot. Or, I might not have, who can say?

My second birth was about as perfect as it gets (and a full water bith). I guess the IV for the strep b antibiotics was a bit lame, but it was no big deal.

Really, I was quite happy both times to have uncomplicated deliveries with very competent midwives.

one unplanned c-section, one unplanned VBAC

The evening I went into labor with Charlie, our hospital had an unusually large number of women in labor so we weren’t able to get a room for 6 hours. Without a room, I was unable to get an epidural until I was 8cm, and those hours preceding my epidural were the most painful hours I’ve endured in my entire life! My labor nurse was also rude and pushy and stopped my epidural while I was pushing. Luckily we had a doula that guided most of my pushing. After 3 hours of pushing and little progress due to Charlie being posterior (facing up) and a large baby, I ended up with a c-section. At the time I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to deliver him vaginally, but I had as positive of a c-section experience as I could. While the first couple of days were a little rough, with pain medication, I felt the recovery was very manageable. The hardest part of recovery was actually the bad carpal tunnel that I developed in my third trimester and didn’t go away until about 6 weeks postpartum.

When I went into labor 5 weeks early with Olive, I ended up having an unplanned VBAC when I was originally planning on having another c-section. I got my epidural as soon as I got to the hospital, my labor nurse and doctors were awesome, and I had a relatively easy and fast labor. The actual recovery was more difficult than my c-section recovery because I had to do so much walking back and forth from a local hotel to the hospital when Olive had to have an extended stay in the hospital. But I couldn’t really change that (unless I’d rented a wheelchair), and I have no complaints or regrets about my labor and birth with Olive.

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Is there anything you would change about your labor or birth?