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Zen’s Birth Story

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Zen’s birth story is not as dramatic as Shammy’s but it’s still special so I want to document it.

The c-section was scheduled for Tuesday July 17th. I was hoping to go into labor on my own before then but aside from some false alarms I walked into the hospital at 6am with no contractions. While in the process of getting prepped for surgery the contractions started to come to the point of the doctor seeing them on the monitor when he walked in to say hi and said “we won’t let those go on much longer”. By the time I was being prepped for anesthesia I was entering active labor with contractions 90 seconds apart that forced the anesthesiologist to work around them.

The anesthesiologist had trouble getting the spinal block in place because my belly was in the way of me leaning forward enough to allow my back to stick out so instead I had to endure through contractions AND the anesthesiologist moving the needle around my back, sometimes the needle would leave the numbed area while trying to find the space to inject which was very painful, it felt like an eternity before they finally found the spot and things started to move again.  Ahh, the relief…

While we waited for them to bring my husband in I started to feel dizzy and about to pass out, it turns out that my blood pressure was dropping very fast. They injected something in my IV to bring it back up but I could see the worry in the anesthesiologists eyes as it wasn’t working fast enough and I feared that they would just knock me out completely and hubby wouldn’t be able to be there. Thankfully my blood pressure started to recover at the last minute and they were able to proceed.

This experience was vastly different than my first c-section. The first time it was an emergency and everything moved super fast. This time nobody was rushing and it felt like it took a very long time. I noticed that last time they were in such a rush to get baby out that they started before the anesthesia had fully taken effect. This time I was nice and numb and barely felt a thing. Because it was taking so long it was too easy for my mind to run away in anxiety so I forced my husband to talk to me and distract me during the whole time so when Baby Zen was being pulled out we were talking about what Shammy was probably having for breakfast with grandma.  This meant that I didn’t get to listen to the Dr’s conversation which may have been a good thing as with Shammy I had the pleasure of listening to the Dr curse in Spanish because he didn’t know I spoke the language.

The doctor was not used to having to announce the gender and forgot so the nurse had to remember that we were waiting to find out if it was a boy or a girl. I was surprised that they didn’t let my husband cut the cord like last time or be there while they wiped and wrapped the baby, we both got to meet him at the same time. He looked so much like his brother!

In hindsight, it’s a good thing that I followed my gut and didn’t ask them to delay cord clamping. It turns out that Zen has his father’s blood type which is incompatible with mine and delaying on the cord would have allowed our bloods to mix more which would have not been good, more on that in a future post.

Daddy and baby went off to the nursery for weighing and other basics while I was being closed up. During that time the anesthesiologist says “listen!  they’re playing that for your baby” as I heard the lullaby playing in the background which can be heard throughout most of the hospital every time a baby is born ::waterworks::.

Once again the closing part felt like it took forever and it turns out that it did because I had a lot of scar tissue from my first c-section and massive blood loss. I also learned that the doctor made a huge mess and the OR looked like a crime scene with a huge pool of blood on the floor, I’m sure that the custodial staff was thrilled, just a funny detail to tell Zen a few years from now.

This time I made it back to the recovery room before daddy and baby but the nurses were nice enough to keep me informed on the delay. My placenta made it to the room before they did. Yes, I was able to get my placenta! The OB had made it seem like mission impossible when I asked prenatally and I had braced myself for a war over it but it was as simple as telling the admitting nurse that I wanted to take it and signing a form, no resistance.

Since I had some “spare” time I got to update my Facebook status announcing the birth before daddy did, straight out of surgery. A few minutes later Zen and daddy arrived and I got to enjoy much relaxing skin to skin time with my new son.

 

 

Coming soon, Zen’s first few days….

Introducing….

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Zen Brian Fox was born at 7:47am on July 17, 2012.  He was 8 lbs, 12 oz and 20 inches long.

The birth story will follow in a few days, weeks or months, not sure when since I don’t get as much computer time as I used to.

Introducing….

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Zen Brian Fox was born at 7:47am on July 17, 2012.  He was 8 lbs, 12 oz and 20 inches long.

The birth story will follow in a few days, weeks or months, not sure when since I don’t get as much computer time as I used to.

When a crunchy momma does a soggy thing

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I didn’t think that I would be blogging again before baby but here I am sitting a day before my scheduled c-section and have a lot in my mind.

I hang around the crunchy mama community in my area, it’s just my type of people because we have so much in common, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby wearing, etc.  It’s not surprising that the bulk of them are homebirthers as well.  Now that word has been spreading about my birth plans, I have been feeling a lot of judgment over the fact that I’m having a scheduled c-section.  I can see it being hard to understand why someone as crunchy as me would be planning something like this, if I was an outsider I would be shocked too.  A lot of the judgment has been indirect, nothing being said to my face but getting the look and tone that I know all too well and the things that I hear from 3rd parties confirm that it’s there.

I don’t really blame them for judging as I understand where they are coming from, the sad thing about it is that I guess I feel misunderstood because the vast majority of them don’t know WHY I’m stuck with a scheduled c-section.  Anybody that has been reading this blog since my first pregnancy knows how I feel about convenience c-sections with no medical reason but not everybody has read my blog, specially going that far back in time.

Most of them don’t know the circumstances that led to my first c-section as I don’t feel like constantly telling that story. Most of them don’t understand why a homebirth VBAC is not a viable option for us, specially with the providers in this area.  None of them know that an unassisted birth is not a viable option in my case.  Almost none of them know that the scar tissue in my cervix greatly reduces my odds of a successful VBAC making the effort of driving 1+ hour south or North to a hospital and doctor that would let me have a “trial of labor” is almost not worth the hassle and extra expense.

They also don’t understand that since my odds of having a successful VBAC are less than 50% I would also be setting myself up for a worse round of PPD/PTSD if I ended up with a repeat emergency section.

I did my research, I learned the risks. It was a very hard decision early in my pregnancy, I started planning a VBAC but the more I researched the available options the more I got discouraged.  I know many people that have had successful VBACs, some as recently as a few weeks ago but they don’t have the same risk factors that I do.

I admit that I’m scared but I would be even more scared of attempting a vaginal birth.  The fact that a Facebook friend recently attempted a VBAC at a hospital and her uterus ruptured thus depriving her baby of oxygen in the couple of minutes it took the doctor to perform the c-section and now she is burying her baby this week, it just breaks my heart and messes with my mind.  I know that the odds of that happening to me are very slim but they’re still there and her experience is too recent in my memory so it would sabotage me mentally.

I don’t expect everyone to understand, but since most people will just jump to conclusions without giving me a chance to explain why I had to get this out of my chest.

If all goes well by this time tomorrow I’ll be holding my new baby.  I’m ready but I’m also anxious and excited, no need to ask me if I am.  I am also nervous but that’s normal.  I probably won’t sleep tonight.

38weeks and 6 days, 2 days before the scheduled arrival of “Thing #2”

When a crunchy momma does a soggy thing

, , , 2

I didn’t think that I would be blogging again before baby but here I am sitting a day before my scheduled c-section and have a lot in my mind.

I hang around the crunchy mama community in my area, it’s just my type of people because we have so much in common, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby wearing, etc.  It’s not surprising that the bulk of them are homebirthers as well.  Now that word has been spreading about my birth plans, I have been feeling a lot of judgment over the fact that I’m having a scheduled c-section.  I can see it being hard to understand why someone as crunchy as me would be planning something like this, if I was an outsider I would be shocked too.  A lot of the judgment has been indirect, nothing being said to my face but getting the look and tone that I know all too well and the things that I hear from 3rd parties confirm that it’s there.

I don’t really blame them for judging as I understand where they are coming from, the sad thing about it is that I guess I feel misunderstood because the vast majority of them don’t know WHY I’m stuck with a scheduled c-section.  Anybody that has been reading this blog since my first pregnancy knows how I feel about convenience c-sections with no medical reason but not everybody has read my blog, specially going that far back in time.

Most of them don’t know the circumstances that led to my first c-section as I don’t feel like constantly telling that story. Most of them don’t understand why a homebirth VBAC is not a viable option for us, specially with the providers in this area.  None of them know that an unassisted birth is not a viable option in my case.  Almost none of them know that the scar tissue in my cervix greatly reduces my odds of a successful VBAC making the effort of driving 1+ hour south or North to a hospital and doctor that would let me have a “trial of labor” is almost not worth the hassle and extra expense.

They also don’t understand that since my odds of having a successful VBAC are less than 50% I would also be setting myself up for a worse round of PPD/PTSD if I ended up with a repeat emergency section.

I did my research, I learned the risks. It was a very hard decision early in my pregnancy, I started planning a VBAC but the more I researched the available options the more I got discouraged.  I know many people that have had successful VBACs, some as recently as a few weeks ago but they don’t have the same risk factors that I do.

I admit that I’m scared but I would be even more scared of attempting a vaginal birth.  The fact that a Facebook friend recently attempted a VBAC at a hospital and her uterus ruptured thus depriving her baby of oxygen in the couple of minutes it took the doctor to perform the c-section and now she is burying her baby this week, it just breaks my heart and messes with my mind.  I know that the odds of that happening to me are very slim but they’re still there and her experience is too recent in my memory so it would sabotage me mentally.

I don’t expect everyone to understand, but since most people will just jump to conclusions without giving me a chance to explain why I had to get this out of my chest.

If all goes well by this time tomorrow I’ll be holding my new baby.  I’m ready but I’m also anxious and excited, no need to ask me if I am.  I am also nervous but that’s normal.  I probably won’t sleep tonight.

38weeks and 6 days, 2 days before the scheduled arrival of “Thing #2”

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