Lillian's C-section Birth Story

I wanted to share Lillian's birth story before my current lack of sleep causes me to forget it.

As you all know, I was planning to deliver naturally with Midwives who I had been seeing most of my pregnancy. I loved the midwives and was really looking forward to giving birth with them. When I found out Lillian was breech, I was moved over to an OBGYN that partners with my midwives. He was an old colleague of my mom’s (who is also a Dr), so at least I had some background with him. I tried to come to terms with having to have a c-section, and with the help of some online friends I was able to calm most of my fears. Feb 2, 2011 arrived and I was excited to meet our little girl.

DH and I arrived at the hospital at 4:30am. I was the only patient scheduled that early so I was alone in the pre-op area. They brought us back immediately and the prep started. I had to change into my hospital gown and rub down my stomach with a antibacterial cloth. Once that was done, the nurses started an IV so I could get two bags of fluid in me before the surgery. They then started going over a barrage questions which helped pass the time. Before I knew it, it was 5:30 so the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me. We went over how the spinal block was going to be administered and how I would feel after it had been administered. After talking to him, it was almost time to be brought back. DH got his scrubs on and I was wheeled back to the OR.

When I arrived in the OR, the anesthesiologist was waiting for me along with my OBGYN and a host of nurses. I started to get pretty nervous at this point and was shivering quite a bit. The anesthesiologist decided it was time and had me sit up so he could administer the spinal block. The administration of the spinal block was actually fairly painless. He administered a local anesthesia which felt like a little bee sting and then administered the spinal block which I didn't feel at all. They then helped me lay back down. Slowly my legs got heavy and when I couldn't lift them anymore the procedure began. Shortly after it began, they brought DH in.

Having a spinal block was totally weird. You can't feel pain, but you can certainly feel that something is going on down there. You also get very cold so the top half of me was draped with warm blankets and I had a tube that blew hot air on top of them. I actually felt very cozy. After about 18 minutes, the doctor told me that I would feel them bearing down by my ribs and that Lillian was going to be born. They invited DH to stand up at this point to see her being born.

At 6:48am, they pushed her out and she was delivered in the breech position. She started crying almost immediately which was a big relief. I, of course, cried. It was a pretty amazing thing to hear. They didn't peek her over the curtain for me to see so I didn't get to see her right away, but DH followed her to the warming station with a camera in hand. He watched as they wiped her off, suctioned her lungs, ect. He snapped a few photos and brought them over to me so I could see her. Finally, after getting her ready for transport to the nursery, they brought her over to me. I only got to see her for a min and then she was off. That was kind of disappointing but I was happy DH was able to be there with her.

It took them roughly another 50 mins to put me all back together. Once they were all done, they wheeled me back to a post op recovery room. I got there roughly at 8am. I asked that they call the nursery to tell DH I was back. He was under strict instructions from me to bring my baby to me as soon possible so we could start breastfeeding. The minutes kept ticking by and I was getting really anxious. She didn’t get to me until around 8:45 (turns out she was being used as a example for nursing students so the teacher was going really slowly explaining everything).

As soon as she got there, they tried to have us start breast feeding. They worked on getting her latch onto me. It wasn’t working well and I was getting really frustrated. I was worried too much time had passed and that we wouldn’t be able to get her to latch. They kept calling lactation, and the nurses tried to help me in the mean time. I was getting so discouraged. Finally the lactation consultant showed up and was able to get her to latch immediately. After a short feeding session, they took her back to the nursery for a bath (DH had asked them to postpone that so I could get her sooner) and I was wheeled into my recovery room.

It wasn’t the birth experience I had wanted, but was definitely an amazing experience none the less.

Right after delivery...

Here we are 48 hours after delivery...