RealMama RE VISIT: Birth Plan Kinks

 RealMama week, day 5

Enjoy this reader's story about her journey to motherhood. Thank you to Amanda, for your genuine portrait of your birth story is a perfect piece for RealMama week. 

The Perpetual Birth Plan Kink: 

"You're going to need a C section"

It was February 8th, 2011 and I had a routine doctor's appointment.  I was 39 weeks pregnant and just waiting for labor to kick in.  The doctor had been telling me my entire pregnancy that I was measuring big for my gestational age, but showed no concern for my size.  I am only 5'3", I had a belly that was really out there!  The doctor told me at 38 weeks that if the baby was measuring over 9lbs that a c-section would be my best option for mine and the baby's safety.  39 weeks came, we went to get the ultrasound and he was measuring in the 90th percentile for length and weight...at 9lbs, 14oz!  The c-section was scheduled for that night and the next few days are a blurry haze of phone calls, delivery, recovery...and life begins with my new son!

photo from Google Images

 He was born a week early to the day of his due date, a beautiful healthy boy weighing 8lbs 13oz and 20.5" long.  The c-section was scheduled for 7pm on February 8th, it was 2pm when I left the doctors office and
I had to be at the hospital at 4!

The first person I called was my mom, who lives 4 hours away, to tell her today was the day and she had to hurry and get down here.  Many calls later, my husband and I were sure we had notified everyone.  We left the doctors office and ran a few errands and went home to get our stuff.  It all seemed so surreal at that point, we were about to be parents and our lives were going to change forever...

I had already had my bags packed quite a few weeks ago, so we just relaxed (to the best of our ability at that point) and waited to go to the hospital, savoring our last few moments of life with just the two of us.  Arriving at the hospital, things started immediately; my prep for my c-section pretty much started from the minute I got there.  I actually got into the operating room to have him earlier than scheduled, I was scheduled for a 7pm delivery and ended up having him at 6:44pm.  I think we were actually in the operating room an hour ahead of schedule.

My husband was setting up our room with all of our stuff and we were just getting settled in and the nurses came in and said they had the operating room ready and were going to take me early...see why this day was such a blur?  I didn't even get to really see or hold my son for hours after he was born.  I held him for a few minutes while they wheeled me back to my room, but after that he was placed on a warmer on the other side of the room while my family all came in and "oohed" and "aah-ed" over him for an hour or so.  We ended up leaving the hospital 2 days early because we were both doing so well. I had been up walking and showering the next day without pain meds, and my son wasn't jaundiced, and he was breastfeeding like a champ, so the hospital didn't feel it necessary to keep us there the full stay.

I now have a big, beautiful, exclusively breastfed, healthy, strong, smart baby boy who is (unbelievably) 4 months old now.  I find it hard to believe it's been 4 months already, but I love watching him grow and change everyday.  I am looking forward to seeing what new developments come in this next month and all the months to come in his life.



What was your birth story like? Planned, emergency, did it go as it thought you would- why/why not? 

RealMama Week: One Mama's Birth Story

 RealMama week, day 5

Enjoy this reader's story about her journey to motherhood. Thank you to Amanda, for your genuine portrait of your birth story is a perfect piece for RealMama week. 

The Perpetual Birth Plan Kink: 

"You're going to need a C section"

It was February 8th, 2011 and I had a routine doctor's appointment.  I was 39 weeks pregnant and just waiting for labor to kick in.  The doctor had been telling me my entire pregnancy that I was measuring big for my gestational age, but showed no concern for my size.  I am only 5'3", I had a belly that was really out there!  The doctor told me at 38 weeks that if the baby was measuring over 9lbs that a c-section would be my best option for mine and the baby's safety.  39 weeks came, we went to get the ultrasound and he was measuring in the 90th percentile for length and weight...at 9lbs, 14oz!  The c-section was scheduled for that night and the next few days are a blurry haze of phone calls, delivery, recovery...and life begins with my new son!

photo from Google Images

 He was born a week early to the day of his due date, a beautiful healthy boy weighing 8lbs 13oz and 20.5" long.  The c-section was scheduled for 7pm on February 8th, it was 2pm when I left the doctors office and
I had to be at the hospital at 4!

The first person I called was my mom, who lives 4 hours away, to tell her today was the day and she had to hurry and get down here.  Many calls later, my husband and I were sure we had notified everyone.  We left the doctors office and ran a few errands and went home to get our stuff.  It all seemed so surreal at that point, we were about to be parents and our lives were going to change forever...

I had already had my bags packed quite a few weeks ago, so we just relaxed (to the best of our ability at that point) and waited to go to the hospital, savoring our last few moments of life with just the two of us.  Arriving at the hospital, things started immediately; my prep for my c-section pretty much started from the minute I got there.  I actually got into the operating room to have him earlier than scheduled, I was scheduled for a 7pm delivery and ended up having him at 6:44pm.  I think we were actually in the operating room an hour ahead of schedule.

My husband was setting up our room with all of our stuff and we were just getting settled in and the nurses came in and said they had the operating room ready and were going to take me early...see why this day was such a blur?  I didn't even get to really see or hold my son for hours after he was born.  I held him for a few minutes while they wheeled me back to my room, but after that he was placed on a warmer on the other side of the room while my family all came in and "oohed" and "aah-ed" over him for an hour or so.  We ended up leaving the hospital 2 days early because we were both doing so well. I had been up walking and showering the next day without pain meds, and my son wasn't jaundiced, and he was breastfeeding like a champ, so the hospital didn't feel it necessary to keep us there the full stay.

I now have a big, beautiful, exclusively breastfed, healthy, strong, smart baby boy who is (unbelievably) 4 months old now.  I find it hard to believe it's been 4 months already, but I love watching him grow and change everyday.  I am looking forward to seeing what new developments come in this next month and all the months to come in his life.



What was your birth story like? Planned, emergency, did it go as it thought you would- why/why not? 

Sunday Surf- sort of :)

Ok, so I have a jumble of things to share today :)

First, a recipe. 
Every year, my cousins and I offer to cook my grandparents dinner as their Christmas gift (believe it or not, they love hanging out with us!) This year, it was my turn to provide the salad. As I typically do these days, I just Googled the ingredients I had in the house, and came up with the following;

Beet Salad

baby spinach (I used Organic Spring Mix)
apples
oranges
beets (I used canned)
slivered almonds
balsamic vinaigrette dressing or raspberry vinaigrette

ummmm, delicious! and so easy (clearly) ! Best thing? You can substitute for whatever you might have in your pantry. For example, I made some at home the following evening, but was out of apples, so made the same salad, but skipped the almonds and substituted peaches for apples. Still delicious!


Next, HILARIOUS website find!

courtesy of www.damnyouautocorrect.com

If you haven't already, check out www.damnyyouautocorrect.com. OMG Hilarious! My husband and I can't stop reading and laughing :)

Now, for some real Sunday Surf.

A recent post from Mama Eve discussed our birth expectations. I loved this one because it resonated with me after the two totally opposite births of my now toddler and baby A. Both were scheduled C sections, so with my first, I kind of disregarded the whole 'birth plan' idea. But after him coming a day early, and more things (errors between doctors offices, hospitals, nurses, etc) that went terribly terribly wrong... I realized (much later, with retrospect) I needed a birth plan.

my son the day he was born, finally being transported to the NICU several hours from me :( 

My son was born with spontaneous bilateral pneumothorax, more commonly described as- 2 collapsed lungs. I could go on for days describing the plethora of things that went awry the day of my son's birth- but I'll spare you all the ridiculous details and will just say that as I sat there, a new mom without my baby- and then many months later when the hormones and chaos settled; that if I EVER did this thing called childbirth again- I was going to be more prepared.
* I feel I need to enter a disclaimer here- I was without my baby for almost a full 48 hours, followed by spending about 6 days (so 8 days total for my 'Babushka') in the NICU. While this was all awful at the time, I feel fortunate that since my son was sent home, he has been a happy and healthy boy. I am forever thankful every moment I have him in my arms, as I know (firsthand having spent those days in the NICU) that many parents, are not so lucky.


So regardless of if I felt it would go exactly as I planned, I wanted to feel more in control next time. So in my opinion, it is so worth having some kind of explanation and expectation of how you would like your baby's birth to go. Do I think those with the lists of specifics that are 5 pages long are ridiculous? Yes :)

But I was glad, 7 months ago, that I had made some type of birth plan with my doctor (a new doctor, by the way). We had discussed what we would do if 'a' happened, or what if 'b' happened, etc. And it made the whole childbirth process, scheduled C section and all, a much more pleasant (as pleasant as major abdominal surgery can be) experience.

Granted, I think there is a certain degree of confidence and preparedness with your second child versus your first. And I also think I had learned plenty of things I knew I did NOT want after having such a horrendous first birth experience. So using that information, and discussing various scenarios in detail with my (new) doctor, my husband and I investigated and found a hospital that fit our needs (with a NICU on site- just in case) and decided on a tentative birth plan together.

 

This time, it certainly worked to our advantage. Everything went 'as planned' :) And we went home with a happy, healthy baby. 

So did you have expectations for your child(s) birth? And how did your actual experience compare to your expectations?