Catherine Anne's c-section birth

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Calladona Posted: 07-01-2008 10:37 AM

Catherine Anne Alexander
born June 30, 2008 at 9:52 AM
7 lb 14 oz and 21.25" long

I wanted to write Kate's birth story even though she's a c-section baby because it's still important to me to remember how it happened. This is long because I'm detailing how I ended up at the c-section.

I suppose it all really started at the 20 week ultrasound when we found out that she only had one artery in her umbilical cord instead of two and we found out that I had an extra lobe on my placenta. Neither seemed like major concerns at the time, just something that merited extra monitoring and attention.

I started planning for a natural birth and Chris and I attended Bradley birthing classes. We both became even stronger advocates for natural birth during the classes.

Then, starting at around 27 weeks, we discovered that Kate was breech. I didn't think it was a big deal because it was still so early and didn't try to do anything to get her to turn for a while. But as time went on, she stayed breech and I began to try different techniques (inversions, music played down low, etc). I was reluctant to get too worked up about it because I kept thinking she'd just turn on her own.

By 36 weeks it had become pretty obvious she wasn't going anywhere. I found someone to do moxibustion. It would work to get her moving around, but she didn't want to turn. I had been looking for a chiropractor for a while that would do the webster technique, but wasn't having any success finding anyone.

I scheduled a manual version for 37.5 weeks. I was scared of the pain in the procedure, but optimistic that it would work and get her head down. I mentioned the complications found at 20 weeks to the doctor and they did a very thorough ultrasound. They discovered that my extra placental lobe (which I had thought would just be a concern at delivery - to make sure that it all came out) just happened to attach to the placenta right at my fundus where they would have to push HARD to turn her. :( :( The risk of placental abruption was just too great to continue with the procedure at that point. I walked out pretty crushed.

After that I stepped up my search for a chiropractor and FINALLY found one. I also located a local hypnobabies instructor and ordered a CD from her that was supposed to help. At 38.5 weeks, I went in for my first chiropractic appointment. The next day I got my CD and started listening to it.

Throughout this, Kate tried to turn many many times. She'd get herself fully transverse and then flip back to breech. By 39 weeks (and my second chiropractic appointment) it became obvious that she was just not going to flip. I was disappointed but decided I could no longer hang my heart on her being head down.

At this point, I was still hoping for a natural birth and even researched the mechanics of vaginal breech birth. Ordinarily, I might've tried to find a doctor who would do a vaginal breech birth, but the more I read, the more I realized it was just too risky with Kate's cord issues. One of the biggest concerns of vaginal breech birth is the cord holding up while the head is being delivered and I couldn't shake the feeling that her cord would get compressed by her head.

We still wanted to at least labor for a little while and let Kate pick her birth date, so we started trying to induce labor naturally. I fought with the doctor about scheduling a c-section and they sent me to the perinatologist at just shy of 40 weeks to talk about it. Chris and I wanted to wait until post 41 weeks to give her all possible time to turn or at least pick her own birthday.

At the appointment, it became obvious they just weren't comfortable "letting me go past 41 weeks" and they scheduled me for a c-section at just shy of 41 weeks. I went home and talked to Chris about it and because of the holiday weekend, we decided that it would be best to actually move the scheduled c-section closer so that I'd be discharged when he was home to be with me. We scheduled the c-section for Monday June 30th.

On Saturday afternoon I got a pretty big shock - I lost a huge chunk of my mucus plug!!

Overnight I had a few crampy contractions that got really regular and crampy in the morning. They even moved into my back some!! I lost more mucus plug - this time bloody-tinged! I was really beginning to think we wouldn't make our scheduled c-section on Monday.

We decided to distract ourselves from the excitement by going to see "Wall-E." During the movie I had a few contractions, but it was, indeed, a good distraction. After the movie I had a really strong contraction in the movie theater bathroom and passed more blood-tinged plug.

I had Chris drive home in the rain which was a good idea. Back home, however, the contractions spaced back out for the evening. We went to bed early and Chris held me and comforted my fears about the surgery in the morning.

I slept remarkably well despite the nerves and we loaded up in the morning and got to the hospital on time at 6 AM. They brought us back to our room and we got placed on the monitors for half an hour. I had some intense contractions on the monitor and she was doing pretty good, though I was a little concerned about some dips she had during the last contraction. They left us alone for about an hour when they took us down to the pre-op room. We hung out there for a good hour while they came in and out telling me about the procedure. Then they took me back and Chris gowned up.

First we tried the spinal. It HURT going in and I about passed out (probably from the fear). I got super clammy, nauseous, dizzy, lightheaded, etc.... Finally after what seemed like a million pokes and a lot of scariness, they laid me back to let it take effect. They kept rechecking the height of the numbness, but it never seemed to get high enough. :( :(

So they gave me the option of general aenesthesia or we could try an epidural. I opted for the epidural because as far as I knew, it had less effects on Catherine. So the nurses helped me sit up and straddle the table. This was super weird since I was mostly numb from the waist down. I ended up feeling sea-sick and they had to get me a bucket and stick some nausea medicine in my IV. The epidural was super-easy otherwise - she said it would prick and sting, but it didn't at all - probably because I was already so numb from the spinal. After they got the epi going, they laid me back down and we waited again... They kept testing and the numbness progressed, but still not far enough. I was left with one strange non-numb spot in the middle of my belly...

Finally, they told me my options were to wait for the spinal to wear off (2-3 hours) and try it again) or go ahead and be put under general aenesthesia. I was loathe to do it, but I agreed to the general. They put an oxygen mask on and then put the general into my IV. I was out pretty quick after that and woke up in recovery with Chris sitting next to me.

Unfortunately because of the general, he was unable to be in the room when she was born. But one of the nurses did get us a few pictures so we could feel like we were there... Chris did get to accompany her to the nursery. When I woke up, she was still in the nursery getting warmed up and Chris was with me... After not too long, he went and got her - they released her since she had gotten her temp up...

Meanwhile, I was apparently having temp problems of my own. I felt just fine, but everytime they took my temp, it came out too low... They covered me in warm blankets and I snuggled with Kate. She got in a quickie feed right there in recovery. Finally, they discharged me back to my room.

Since then, Kate has been feeding well - her latch isn't quite right, but it's pretty good. We're both still learning. :) She and I like to nap together. :)

Chris and I think she is just the most precious thing and we are proud to be her parents! :) :) Her birth may not have been what we were hoping for, but we are grateful to have her here safe.