{"id":8124,"date":"2015-05-02T07:16:45","date_gmt":"2015-05-02T11:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=8124"},"modified":"2016-01-18T15:36:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T20:36:51","slug":"weekend-wisdom-a-beautiful-c-section","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/02\/weekend-wisdom-a-beautiful-c-section\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Wisdom: A Beautiful C-Section"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I shared the story of a less than ideal c-section<\/a>, where the mommy was left feeling like a victim after many complications and a hard recovery. \u00a0But c-sections, done under the right circumstances, can and DO save the lives of both mommies and babies and aren’t always horrific and disappointing, as this mommy shares, with the right preparation and mindset, c-sections can be a beautiful thing!<\/p>\n

Hi, my name is Tess and I am the proud mama of 3 beautiful babies (and 2 heavenly children,) wife to one fabulous and saint-like husband and I am alive and well today \u00a0thanks to 3 very necessary and (thankfully) successful c-sections.<\/p>\n

When given the opportunity to write for Beyond Mommying and C-section awareness I thought I might just talk about my most recent delivery, as it paints a picture of what every mother who has lost the chance to deliver their babies naturally hopes their cesarean delivery could be\u2026but you might not appreciate it quite as much without understanding how my first two kids came into the world.<\/p>\n

My first pregnancy ended in an early miscarriage while I was in college- a blur of a time in my life where I was dancing professionally and training 60-70 hours a week.\u00a0 While I was prepared to trade my life on stage with one of a mom, my body had other plans.<\/p>\n

After my husband (high school sweetheart) and I married we tried for nearly two years and when we conceived at last, I was watched rather closely considering my history.\u00a0 I vomited daily and\u00a0up to 10 times sometimes for the first 25 weeks but\u00a0had a short break during my 2nd trimester.\u00a0 At my 34 week check I mentioned the return of my morning sickness and some swelling, and I suspected a problem when I had to repeat my blood pressure readings after lying down for a bit.<\/p>\n

My doc came in and asked if I had a hospital bag packed\u2026 (uhhhh NO) and told me I needed to be admitted immediately with a diagnosis of pre-eclampsia.\u00a0 I hysterically called my husband as I crossed from the OB offices to the L&D department at our amazing hospital facility (Avista Adventist in Louisville, CO.) \u00a0\u00a0After tests and 7 more days of bed rest my doctor warned me that it was time to induce.\u00a0 My blood pressure was too high and the protein in my urine indicated that baby and I would be better off with delivery.<\/p>\n

The next morning I began a 12 hour induction, 3 attempts to break my water and a 10 minute stint on a labor ball that shot my blood pressure through the roof.\u00a0 It was an EXCRUCIATING decision to either rest for the night and try another day of induction, or go ahead and c-section that evening.<\/p>\n

I was exhausted and unwell and so we met our sweet son later that night, 35 weeks gestation, at 5:48 PM.\u00a0 He was 4lb and 15 oz. and needed 5 days in the NICU to learn to eat, but I looked straight past the fact that I had major surgery, had recovery and the transition of pumping to breastfeeding to surmount- I was ecstatic to be a mom.\u00a0 I felt sad about losing the opportunity to deliver naturally but understood (as anyone who has watched their feet triple in size from sitting on a birthing ball would) it was best FOR US.\u00a0 I also knew my doctor supported VBACs and I couldn\u2019t wait for another swing at childbirth.<\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/a><\/p>\n

Our next babe came as a surprise when my son was just 4 months old\u2026another baby went to heaven and left me even more eager to have another chance at a \u201cdo-over\u201d.\u00a0 When I got pregnant with our next baby a few months later I felt ready to conquer the world.<\/p>\n

I knew what to look for in pre-eclampsia risks, was prepared to keep weight gain low to avoid increasing my risks and I set off into a very intense and active pregnancy.\u00a0 I was extremely sick with morning sickness; though less frequent, it was more debilitating.\u00a0 I pushed through and taught dance 5 days a week in order to keep myself in shape and ready for what lay ahead.<\/p>\n

At 29 weeks, my parents had a crazy and traumatic move from my childhood home and into our home (we had 5 adults and 3 kids under our roof!) as they restored a house that was in a fire.\u00a0 I felt suddenly unwell after this stressful time and yet again at my 30 week check I was asked if I had my hospital bags packed (are you KIDDING ME).\u00a0 This time, my liver enzymes were elevated, only moderate protein in my urine, but my platelets were plummeting.<\/p>\n

After only 5 days in the hospital my baby girl was delivered at 31 weeks by emergency c-section.\u00a0 I was just below the platelet count my doc preferred for local anesthesia, but thankfully I was able to stay awake to meet my daughter.\u00a0 I had no clue how sick I was at that time- I had HELLP syndrome and was put on magnesium to prevent seizure and stroke.<\/p>\n

I recently watched a video of my daughter being born and even though I talked, and snuggled her face before they rushed her little 3lb body to the NICU, I have no memory of it. I was unable to hold her (I could barely move for a few days) until later that evening when I was wheeled in a hospital bed to her incubator.<\/p>\n

\"NB<\/a><\/p>\n

My next 10 days were spent in the hospital to make sure my organs returned to their normal function.\u00a0 I was incredibly blessed to not have permanent damage from HELLP.\u00a0 The damage done, however, was the fact that I had to have a T-cut section in order to safely deliver my baby.\u00a0 She was so tiny that she disappeared under my ribs during surgery.\u00a0 At 31 weeks, a babies\u2019 brain is at extremely high risk of bleeding with delivery trauma, and with my platelet count so low, my doctor was able to avoid a major vessel with the t-cut.\u00a0 Again, I knew this was the best FOR US, but I had now signed off my ability to ever have a vaginal birth.\u00a0 Needless to say, the emotional and physical recovery from my daughter\u2019s birth is still in the making\u2026I replay that day in my mind endlessly, wishing it could have been different, but knowing better.<\/p>\n

\"Bringing<\/a><\/p>\n

You might now understand why I say you\u2019d have to know my first two births to appreciate why I could call my delivery of my 3rd<\/sup> perfect.<\/p>\n

We waited a full year before conceiving my daughter to let my super special (haha) incision heal.\u00a0 We saw a neonatologist alongside our wonderful and life-saving OB, just to be safe.\u00a0 I had extra ultrasounds, blood tests and daily blood pressure monitoring.\u00a0 I packed my freakin\u2019 hospital bag at 28 weeks\u2026waiting for the other shoe to drop.\u00a0 Let me just mention that, up to this point, I have peed in more cups and jugs than any person should.\u00a0 I have also peed on my hand more times than anyone with as much practice as me, should.\u00a0 Each cup held my fate\u2026the entrance of the doc asking if I had the bag packed\u2026and it never came.<\/p>\n

At 36 weeks my doctor finally scheduled my surgery, and we giggled about how it was never going to happen.\u00a0 Each weekly check I put my bag in the car ready to bring home a baby.<\/p>\n

The morning of December 9th<\/sup> was my perfect day.\u00a0 At 39 weeks, I had defied all odds stacked against me and was ready to meet my babe.\u00a0 Our nurses (we are frequent fliers at Avista\u2026they set us up in an awesome room with welcome notes on our whiteboard\u2026angels I tell ya!) got us ready to go- my husband and I giddy at this process of calmly dressing in scrubs, still debating the gender and weight of our baby (instead of frantically coming up with a list of names\u2026).\u00a0 My anesthesiologist promised me I wouldn\u2019t throw up (and by gosh, I never did!) when I notified him that I puked through the beginnings and endings of my last 2 surgeries. My doctor came in cheerily and we prayed as a family before I went in, snapping one more photo of my family of 4.<\/p>\n

My perfect daughter came out with a wail at a whopping 7lbs 10 oz.\u00a0 She was buffed off and placed on my bare chest.\u00a0 Let me just say that again.\u00a0 My daughter came out and was placed on my chest.\u00a0 Not rushed away, or worriedly and hurriedly shown to me.\u00a0 But left there, as mine.\u00a0 I sob as I write this because you might not ever know what that means\u2026the day you bring your baby into the world and it is instantly yours, from your womb to your breast\u2026that some mommies will have to let their babies belong to tubes, and incubators and bottles and NG tubes before they become yours.\u00a0 But my little Mercy was mine instantly, and for almost a full half hour, before they took her with her daddy to get bathed and cared for.\u00a0 I had a wonderful recovery (amazing how that works when your organs aren\u2019t failing\u2026) and went home to enjoy what felt like a healing of 3 births.<\/p>\n

\"Mercy<\/a><\/p>\n

I am devastated at the way c-sections are sometimes treated as the easy birth, the lazy delivery, the \u201cI did my hair and nails so I look good in my pictures\u201d birth.\u00a0 It is infuriating that a doctor might represent them as status quo, and not the major surgery, uphill battle to motherhood that they are.\u00a0 And yet, they are my reality, my necessity.<\/p>\n

I would still give anything to have been well enough to try and deliver my son after induction, to have safely had had a bikini cut with my daughter and to try a VBA2C with my Mercy\u2026but here I am.\u00a0 Thanks to my neat healing and skilled surgeon, I am still in the running for another babe, and so God-willing, we will do our normal again some day.<\/p>\n

I have come to appreciate the hours of labor I spent to bring my babies into the world\u2026hobbling to the NICU with a tiny syringe of colostrum, stroking my baby through a hole in an incubator and living separate from her for 35 excruciating days, pumping precious breastmilk every two hours until they learned to eat\u2026these are the pains, the pushes where I felt I couldn\u2019t make it another minute\u2026this is how I became a mother.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This story is part of my Weekend\u00a0Wisdom<\/a> series which shares the experiences and stories of other parents. \u00a0If you have your own story you\u2019d like to share, fill out this form<\/a> and I will be in touch!<\/p>\n

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Last week I shared the story of a less than ideal c-section, where the mommy was left feeling like a victim after many complications and a hard recovery. \u00a0But c-sections, done under the right circumstances, can and DO save the lives of both mommies and babies and aren’t always horrific and disappointing, as this mommy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[404],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekend-wisdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8124"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8162,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8124\/revisions\/8162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}