Weddingbee boards

Super long! Sorry! Its everything I could remember though.

Hey guys! Its been over 4 months since I had my baby but I thought some people would like to know what goes on with a c-section. This was my first baby and I have a uterine septum that caused the baby to get positioned head up the whole pregnancy, which resulted in having a planned c-section. (I was extremely pro-homebirth and natural everything until no one would vaginally deliver a first time breech baby, which was VERY disappointing!) Anyways, the surgery was scheduled for Monday, Jan 3rd. at noon. I got there about an hour early, changed into the gown, they did a horrible job of putting in the IV (bruised me up like crazy and she admitted she was bad at it), they put these funky things on my legs that would expand with air to make sure I didnt get blood clots and then I had to drink a medicine that prevented me from getting too nauseous.  Oh, they also had to make sure I was well shaved down there for the surgery. After all of the prep work, my husband changed into his surgery outfit, and they transferred me into the operating room. They wouldnt let my husband go in at first because they said he would contaminate the room. =/ I wont lie, it sucked really bad not having him there with me for awhile. They sat me on a table under these huge bright lights, undid my gown and told me to not move a muscle while they gave me a spinal block. (I missed my husband REALLY bad at that point, and he was pacing outside, freaking out about the whole procedure) The first needle was the worst part, it was the numbing medicine and it felt like a really bad bee sting that you couldnt react too. Then the put the actualy spinal block part in and I couldnt feel that at all. The weirdest feeling in the world happened next- I was sitting on the table wondering why they were supporting me so much since I was fully conscious, when all of a sudden I felt this warm tingling sensation move very quickly up my legs and hips. It hit me like a brick and the nurses lifted me up into a laying position. The next 20 minutes or so flew by in a weird haze. I remember being super nervous and shaking, then the nurses opened my legs (I was fully naked which was awkward) and started to put my catheter in and I was thinking, "Oh my gosh, I can still FEEL EVERYTHING" but it wasnt painful. They cleaned my stomach with Iodine, hooked me up to a few more machines, and then I got super nauseous. I freaked out when I got sick because my arms were strapped down and I was so woozy from the spinal that I felt like I couldnt function properly. I kept thinking how I was going to puke and suffocate on it because my head would barely turn. lol (This sounds kind of scary, but it all happened really fast and I never ended up throwing up) The doctor finally came in and made sure I couldnt feel anything by pinching me on my stomach. He sat down and started cutting into my stomach when I asked "where is my husband?" They forgot my husband. The poor guy had to walk in the door that was on the bloody side of the curtain, he saw the doctor slicing my uterus open and blood spewing out, and then they sat him down by my head. He had a look of horror on his face when I first saw him, but once he saw that I couldnt feel anything (or that I didnt know what was going on at all) he calmed down. The pressure of the doctor pushing the baby around and pulling him out was so weird! I kept thinking, "wow, hes just going to pull a human out of me". Little Wesley came out shortly after, but didnt cry for about a minute. He had fluid in his lungs (which is normal for c-section babies since the birth canal cant push it all out) and he had to go to the NICU for about 11 hours. I only got to see his face for about 10 seconds, then they had my husband walk him over to the NICU. The doctor finished up taking the placenta out, sewed me up and left. The nurses covered me, transferred me to a real bed (crazy feeling!! I was so numb and I felt so heavy that I swore they were going to drop me on my face. They promised me they wouldnt, and I almost screamed because the feeling is so real! lol) and then wheeled me over to a recovery room. What they dont tell you after a surgery is that your body goes nuts when the medication wears off. After about 15 minutes in the recovery room, I started shaking really bad, enough to wear I couldnt hold anything in my hands. I had a dry mouth and my mom had to come and hold my cup of ice for me and spoon feed me. I couldnt get enough ice though. It felt so good! My body shook for a good hour or so, and I had visitors at that time (mostly family). My brother gets very uneasy with blood and just him knowing what happened made him sick and he had to leave. haha! Its a good thing guys dont have kids, right? Anyways, my husband got to go in the NICU and touch Wesley, even held him, whild I sat him my room all night. The nurses wouldnt let me get out of bed (even to get in a wheelchair) to go and see him and he couldnt leave the NICU to come see me. It was so frustrating. The only thing I got was a monitor in my room to look at him. All the visitors got to see him from the lobby through the glass and I got nothing. That was such a terrible feeling knowing there was nothing I could do and this was not what I wanted for the birth of my child. Hours and hours passed, they let my husband give him a bath, more visitors came and saw him, I sat in the room just watching the monitor.....it sucked. I didnt want them to give him any formula, I wanted to pump and give that to him but they didnt do what I wanted. After about 8 hours they gave me a breast pump to use which I did right away, but they didnt give the milk to him until about 3 hours later. When they finally wheeled my little baby in to my room, I was so excited! It was nice holding him for the first time. He was so sweet. I loved him, but I didnt quite feel any real emotions towards him yet like you hear with naturally born babies. He nursed right away, had no problems, but it took me a good couple of weeks to feel a bond with him. Because of that, I felt like a really bad mom. It was hard. We left the hopsital that Wednesday (after almost no education was given from the nurses. My LC came in, asked how it was going, I said, "good!" and she left..... yeah.) I had one night with my husband and baby, then my husband left for Army training for 5 weeks. You dont realize how hard it is after surgery to keep getting out of bed to care for a newborn. Ouchies. Since Im so young, I healed really fast, but it was still a difficult time. About a week after, I could walk up and down stairs, lift some lighter things, not fall asleep while nursing the baby... lol After two weeks I was driving again, not taking forever to get out of a deep couch, etc.  Overall, the experience wasnt the worst thing in the world but I will probably cry if I have to do it again. It was just physically draining and not seeing my baby for so long or experiencing the joy really killed my spirit. If I watch a vaginal birth on TV, I almost cry every time because I wish it happened that way. I am grateful that I have a healthy baby and everything went (fairly) well but theres no way I will say "it doesnt matter how it happens" because it seriously does. I tried to not be biased or be a Debbie downer, if anyone else has a story I would love to hear it!

I really wish mine would have been different. Im sure a huge part of it was the hospital.... I dont think I will go there again. Im glad someone else had a better experience! It sure was different than I had hoped and I never got to read about what goes on in the operating room so I didnt know what to expect. I just hope this is an eye opener for some, at least to make sure they research hospitals!

Oops, I forgot to update my profile. I live in NY now. Thanks for the info though! I am definitely going to try a VBAC next time. My husband wants like 8 kids so I think another c-section isnt a good idea. =)