Morgan's Unplanned Cesarean, made wonderful by Hypnobabies!

This is my first time posting here, though I’ve been reading a lot and doing the Hypnobabies program since about week 32.

Our little one’s “guess date” was 1/10. We didn’t know her gender, so it was a surprise.

As of Saturday (12/29) I was having early contractions – nothing worth timing or writing home about. They lasted off and on all day Sunday and Monday.

Monday night my hubby and I went to a friend’s home for an overnight New Year’s eve party. I was 38w 4d as of yesterday, so my stipulation was that if we went out for NYE, it had to be in the direction of the hospital and I didn’t want to be on the road with all the drunk partiers. Well, this friend lives four blocks from our hospital (as opposed to our 45 minute drive..), so it was ideal.

We got there around 8pm, and by 10pm, I was feeling drowsy. The rest of the folks were playing a card game, which I sat out because I was not feeling smart enough to keep up with basic card game rules ;)

Right after 10 I decided my back needed more support, so I got up to find a couple extra pillows to set behind me. I got the pillows, sat
down, and immediately felt like my bladder had released. Fortunately I bounced back up right away (though later I was informed that the couch had formerly belonged to college students, so amniotic fluid was likely the least offensive thing to have been spilt there…
*shudder*). I ran to the restroom and proceeded to drain pretty heavily! There was a pink tinge in the bowl, so I knew my water must have broken.
 

I stole a pad from our hosts’ medicine cabinet (thank GOD she uses pads!), and called my husband aside. I will never forget his expression when he heard my water had broken – he was SO genuinely thrilled! Made me fall fast in love with him again.
 

We packed up quickly and called our doula – who also happened to be at the hospital! She had another client who was being induced, but was able to split her time between the two of us and keep us encouraged.

Well, we got checked in, went through triage, and discovered right away – our little darling was breech. I was only dilated to 1 cm, and I did ask if they could try turning her (though I knew w/o fluid, they probably couldn’t). They said they couldn’t, and that we’d need a C-Section.

The funny thing is, that didn’t scare me. I had read a lot about labor options, including (legitimate) reasons for a c-section. This was one of those situations I had already determined as acceptable to me for having a c-section.

I immediately asked the nurse to stop everything and let me “zen” (I figured throwing out that term that was easier than trying to explain the hypnosis thing..). I went nice and deep right away – I didn’t flinch a bit at the IV, the epidural tickled, and I was in a happy space while they did the whole procedure. My hubby talked to me about my happy place the whole time and told me how proud he was of me and how strong I was. He should be a professional labor coach – he’s so amazing :) He also managed to remember to kiss me at the stroke of midnight (albeit through a surgical mask :).

Ten minutes later, our little Morgan was yoinked from my tummy and let out the most beautiful cry I’ve ever heard! Finding out her gender at that point was a great feeling – I don’t know if I want to find out what our next one is beforehand after experiencing that. Her first and second apgars were both 9. She’s beautiful (all moms say that, but, she really is! :) and healthy and has been doing a lot better at breast feeding so far than I have! I’m so proud of her :) She also was the first baby of 2008 at this hospital, so she got a really fantastic gift bag and a beautiful card signed by the nurses. The nurses at this hospital have been wonderful, too. I know I’m riding high on the euphoria of having just gotten to meet our little one, but I mean it – the staff has been kind and helpful and loving.

I do know from this experience that I will CERTAINLY want a VBAC, and I never want an epidural again, because I don’t like feeling that numb. The p**n of recovery thus far is much sweeter than feeling numb, because what I feel is my body, and I like to be able to communicate with my body. Of course, I was content to have the epidural during the procedure – I don’t think I had enough practice under my belt to forego anesthetics during surgery ;)

I heard wonderful feedback from all the staff, too. The surgical team was commenting on what a great attitude I had. My overnight nurse who had to get me up to walk a bit and clean off kept telling my husband what a strong woman I was (due to a bad reaction to it in the past, I’d refused morphine, so up until about an hour ago I was rolling along without pain meds), and she told me that most women don’t handle c-section recovery that well. I truly believe I owe my strength and peace to my Hypnobabies training. I didn’t have the labor I envisioned, but I was able to roll with the punches and enjoy every moment of my little one’s entry into the world. I was able to stay alert when I needed to, and thanks to the Peaceful Sleep Now CD, I actually was able to sleep for a while overnight. THAT was a blessing in itself!

THANK YOU for what you gave me. I will be using Hypnobabies again with future babies!!

For now, I’m going to go back to watching little Morgan sleep.

Oh, the fun stats: She was 7lbs 4oz, 18″ and has a lovely crop of hair :)

Happy New Year!
Theresa, Chris & little Morgan

Story shared by a mom on the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group!  Come join us if you are interested in learning more about Hypnobabies.  (you must send an introduction to be approved)