Camilla’s Birth Story
This isn’t a glamorous picture but it was one of the first and only pictures I took with Camilla in the hospital. I’d more or less been up for 34 hours, had some throw-up in my hair and those fabulous pain meds are working wonders. But despite all that definitely on Cloud 9 that our sweet little pea is finally here!
Our pregnancy was anything but smooth sailing (read about that journey here) and the delivery would prove to follow the same story line. Our delivery almost came unexpected as most do but it was far earlier then most anticipate. It was at my 30 week appointment we were told that we might be meeting our baby that day! During an ultrasound it was discovered that our baby had restricted growth and we were immediately sent to the hospital for more tests and observation. After an overnight stay at the hospital for 24 hour observation and some steroid shots to boost the baby’s lung growth my doctor felt comfortable letting me go home and not delivering. However, I did have to start twice weekly non-stress tests, ultrasounds and visits with my doctor to monitor the baby’s growth and health. Note: we did not find out the gender until our little babes was delivered so you will see me only referring to the baby in neutral/general term.
As the weeks and visits went by my doctor discussed with us her decision to set an induction date at 38 weeks (which is technically full term). Even though I was being induced and the plan was to deliver naturally we did discuss that there was the possibility of a c-section. My husband and I said as long as the baby arrives healthy and safe we are on board with any type of delivery. We went in on a Sunday evening to start the induction process, I was given the first round of medicine that night and I would receive the next round of medicine Monday morning. After the second round is when things should really start moving along but this roller coaster pregnancy story wouldn’t end with a smooth delivery! Spoiler alert labor didn’t start kicking into gear after my second round of medicine.
After the initial dosage of the second medicine my body wasn’t reacting and that means I wasn't starting to move along with dilation. My doctor tried increasing the dosage, decreasing the dosage and increasing again throughout the day but dilation wasn’t increasing as it should..Eventually I received an epidural even though I wasn’t that far along with dilation but it was more to help with the pain from the medicine. I had a fabulous team of nurses taking care of me over the course of my hospital stay and they turned into a little cheerleading team to help keep us encouraged. My husband stayed with me the entire time except for two times when he left the room for maybe five minutes. The first time he left I got sick from the epidural and when he walked in the nurse was helping to clean things up and he thought something had happened! (I had eaten red popsicles) The second time my heart rate dropped and I started to get light headed and when he walked in I was wearing an oxygen mask and a team of nurses was checking all vitals on myself and the baby. Poor guy was nervous to even go to the bathroom, which was in our room!
For those that don’t know about epidurals, once you have the one you feel nothing from your waist down. At one point my doctor came in to talk to us and she took a seat right on the edge of my bed, when she stood up her pant leg was all wet and she couldn’t figure what had happened. We then noticed my bed was all wet, turns out my water had broken but with the epidural I had no idea that I was soaking wet! Even with my water broken I wasn’t dilating at the rate I was expected with being induced. My doctor said they would continue to monitor my dilation and vitals and if I wasn’t in labor by the morning we would move forward with a C-section. My doctor had 2 surgeries already scheduled for the next day and unfortunately wouldn’t be able to perform the C-section. She was leaving for the day and would check in with the nurses through the evening, she also told us she would stop by in the morning to see us before our respective surgeries. It was a little surreal to think we had been through so much this entire pregnancy and my doctor had been there just about every high and low and she wouldn’t be there for the delivery.
The nurses advised me to try and get as much sleep as possible but that was near impossible, from all the adrenaline and constant parade of nurses coming in to check vitals. At around 3am a few nurses came in to let us know that my doctor was on her way in and I was going in for surgery at 5am. As promised my doctor had been monitoring myself and the baby all night and made the call to move up the surgery. She also said there was no way she was missing the delivery and the baby’s arrival! The next 2 hours were a blur as the team of nurses and anesthesiologist (for the spinal tap) started to prep me for surgery. It was a bit surreal because the last few days had been going so slow and now it was game time!
After 34 hours in labor we delivered a happy and healthy little girl! We always knew a C-section was a possibility and we were 100% OK with that option if it was necessary. As long as the baby was safe, healthy and delivered in the way that was best for the baby and myself. I didn’t realize until after I gave birth how many people there are that have very negative and frankly awful things to say about C-sections and even the women that have them. When it is a medical decision and all you want to do is welcome your baby in the best way does it really matter how they enter the world?! It is shameful to put any mother down that has gone through a C-section, some say it’s the easy way out. Let me tell you there is nothing easy about the actual surgery, major surgery I will add, or the recovery (physically, mentally and emotionally). To all my fellow C-section mamas out there don’t ever be ashamed you didn’t have a natural birth! You were doing what was the best and safest option for the health of you and your baby. And everyone gets comfortable with their scar on their own time, some days you love it and others days not so much. But remember your scar is a sign of your strength, love and being a bad ass mama!
Just as every pregnancy is different so is every delivery. My doctor told me after I had Camilla that if I did have any more babies I would have a scheduled C-section, so we knew when we got pregnant with our second our delivery would be a little less of the unknown. Our second child however had a different idea of how she wanted to enter the world. We had our last check up at 38 weeks and were all set to have the C-section the following Monday. Our mindset was completely different this time and we even did a Starbucks mobile order at 5.30am on our way to the hospital so we had our caffeine post surgery! During the C-section the doctors were unable to get the baby out and quickly realized in that short week she had turned herself and was now breached. The doctors were able to safely get our daughter out but not without some muscle behind it, my stomach was bruised for weeks! I think the fact that we went into the delivery knowing you can’t anticipate a textbook delivery helped us remain as calm as one could be given the situation.
