A C-Section for the Soul

It seems a little silly to post two blog posts a day for me, but I really felt compelled to give a single post to the incredible experience we had in the hosptial with our newest little family member. So we say a big, "Welcome to the world Little Miss Triple B". You have been a new and unique experience for this momma from the moment we knew you were coming into this world.

From my post before I explained that due to a slight complication with her umbilical cord, we chose to deliver our third baby by C-Section. While this was not too surprising for me since I have had two previous Caesarians, I was a little heart broken. I was going to try to convince my Dr to let me attempt to go into natural labor and attempt a V-Back.

For previous years I was told that they highly discouraged it and I was going to have to attempt one at home, or with a private hospital costing me a whole lot more then I was going to be able to afford. So when this third pregnancy rolled around I was thrilled to find out that my hospital and Dr. of choice all have shifted to more of a natural way of delivering babies and were allowing for repeat "C" mommies like myself to attempt in hospital V-Backs.

Yet fate threw me a different set of cards, and we opted for what we felt was going to be best for our little miss. That decision was going to lead to the most gentle birth story I have had with all three of my children.

Enter into an experience that my Dr. calls a "Gentle C-Section".

All my mommyhood life I can tell you I have felt a little left out of the birthing experience. Due to my first little man being projected to being bigger then my smaller body could handle, I was scheduled early into my pregnancy for a C-section. He never dropped, I never experienced contractions or my water breaking, I never could connect with the other mothers about what an experience labor was. I was the mom who walked into the hospital with my bags packed and all chipper saying "Apparently I am going to have a baby today." 

His birth story was a little more traumatic for me then I would have liked it to be. All in all it was a routine C-Section other then a few hitches. I was given my spinal and prepped to go into the operating room when I was all of a sudden pushed back to a later time. This was due to the fact that since I was a scheduled "C" and not in any type of active labor, I needed to wait because my Dr. had an emergency C section he had to take care of.  So there I was numbed up not able to move, attached to a cold I.V. drip waiting for an extra two hours to have my little man. Finally it was time to have him. So there i was laid back on the table arms stretched out and strapped down because I started to shiver and shake. Little man took some convincing to come out because he was so high in my rib cage still, but when he came out he was a little cold and slightly blue from the extended cold I.V.s I was given that they rushed him and my husband out of the room. I was then left alone, while everyone in the room talked about hiking and cars, and the only contact I was given was a pat on the head and your doing fine. This was almost 10 years ago and in a completely different state with a different doctor.

Then almost 4 years ago  I had my first daughter with my second C-Section, I had a much better experience with my new doctor.  Dr. Newman at Premier Care for Women here in Arizona. Even then Dr. Newman was pushing the boundaries of what was allowed during a C-Section. He managed to allow me to hold my Daughter with one arm, after she was cleaned and wrapped for about 5 minutes. This ladies and gentlemen was the best experience in my mind. I was able to hold my Daughter for a whole 5 minutes before they took her away while they finished putting me back together and were physically reunited in the recovery room. I was extatic that this had happened and that I had some bonding time with her. I had decided then and there that that is what I wanted from then on out. To be able to just hold my baby on the operating table.

Well little did I know that my experience could get SOOO much better.

When we started talking birth options with our third little "B" baby, Dr. Newman explained to me the possibility of what he calls the "Gentle C-Section". How can a C-Section be Gentle you ask. First off let me say, you still are having a major surgery. You still have your stomach flayed open and your innards moved around. Sounds pretty gentle right? Ha....Not really but here is how it is gentle.

During a Gentle C-Section you are given the opportunity to have your baby placed immediatly on your chest after delivery, and if all goes well to try to attempt to nurse as soon as possible.  This is what women who labor "normally" are given the opportunity to have. To immediatly see and hold their baby before anything else happens to mom or baby. 

The day we went into the hospital I was oddly terrified. I started thinking about how I was going to handle another C-Section. I was quite honestly sick to my stomach with trepidation and fear. Admittedly I wasn't sure about some of my feelings. How I was going to handle seeing my baby in all its icky baby glory. I have always been handed a clean, bundled baby. How was I going to feel trying to nurse right away, when from my past two babies nursing was a beast of a thing to get them to eat within the first 24 hours.

 Yet from the moment I was admitted the staff at the Banner Dell Webb Labor and Delivery Unit were incredible. They had so much joy and respect for my feelings and choices. It was an odd experience to be able to say "I have a birth plan" to express to them what I did and did not want done. A unique experience that in my experience most "C" mommies do not really have a chance to have.  I told them right away what Dr. Newman and I had discussed, that we were going to be doing a "Gengle C-Section".

And to my surprise everyone was excited and right on board to make the changes and shifts that needed to happen in their routine and steps to accommodate this birth plan. During the pre prep process things are pretty much routine and the same. You get your wonderful moo moo and fashionable yellow socks on. Then you wait on fetal monitors while they start you on I.V. fluids and give you whatever medicines you may need to prep yourself for surgery.

The most sexy outfit you have seen, right?

Where the differences start is in the operating room after you are given a spinal block. All the vital monitors the Anesthesiologist uses are moved to one side of the body leaving your arms and your chest free for movement and for placement of the baby skin to skin.You are then prepped for surgery.

Typically from my experience,  you are laid down on the table, arms outstretched to the side and a sterilized sheet is erected up by your chest. The difference with the "Gentle C" is that you have two sets of sterilized sheets erected. In my case when our little girl was born they were able to let the cord pulse for a while, to allow for as much cord blood to be pumped into our little baby "B" as possible. They then passed her under the first set of sheets to the labor and delivery nurse to do a quick assessment on color and health, then she was instantly passed under the second set of sheets directly onto my chest, skin to skin and all baby ickied up, and do you know what? It was one of the most precious moments of my life. To be able to hold this screaming, squirming, beautifully icky little miracle on my chest, To hold her and instantly look into her eyes , instead of staring at the ceiling tiles or at the blue sterile sheet hung in front of me.

The one thing that was a little different, and I totally get it for insurance reasons and things such as safety of the baby, yada yada yada, is that the labor and delivery nurse had to have her hand on the baby at all times. She was extremely respectful though and allowed us the ability to hold her and touch her as we wanted too. In fact she was the one that noticed that our little "B" was rooting right away and asked if I would mind if she attempted to get her to latch, and amazingly she latched almost instantly. Amazingly she is our best nurser out of all three of the "B" babys which I attribute to the immediate latch and nursing as opposed to waiting for hours to attempt to nurse with a traditional C-Section.

 We were on cloud nine as we basked in the glow of the cutest chubbiest face, as we listened to the staff around us share their feelings of being apart of this C-Section, and offering advice to each other about how next time they can tweak this or tweak that to allow for even more skin to skin contact among other things.  We held this little bundle the entire time they pieced me back together and all the way back to the recovery room.

There was nothing but a quiet peacefulness (aside from a screaming bundle as we passed from the O.R. into the recovery room) for the next hour and half as we sat together in the recovery room together. And as I sat there knowing that as soon as the "good meds" wore off I would be in a lot of pain from the procedure, I contemplated the term "gentle C-Section". I realized that while it was not gentle on the body, it was gentle on the soul.