Like many women, I had a planned out birthing plan. I wanted a water birth with meditation music playing during the labor with only my husband and mom in the room. I prepared myself for the water birth by taking a water birthing class, and purchased the necessary items needs for the water birth that the instructor told us we would need.
Well, nothing from my birthing plan actually happened accept playing meditation music while I was having contractions. I honestly felt that I was being brushed off my the nurses and the midwives when I called about discomfort. When I was 41 weeks and 1 day I just got feed up with being brushed off, and just decided to go to the hospital on my own without calling anyone mainly, because my sons movement had greatly decreased. To my satisfaction, they admitted me because……HELLO, I was 41 weeks for goodness sake. To my surprise I was dilated 1cm as well.
C-Section Insights: My Unexpected Birthing Journey
I was in labor for two days and wasn’t dilating pass 5cm. I agreed to get induced which automatically disqualified me for the water birth. After the first 24 hours of being in labor we thought that getting induced would encourage my body to dilate, but it still wouldn’t widen pass 5cm.
My midwife came in the room the next morning and told me that they felt my baby was struggling and needed help getting out. She said that the very last option was a C-Section. In my mind, I was really sad because I really wanted a vaginal birth, but at the same time I understood that I needed to do what was best for my son, so I agreed to the C-Section.
My son was not aligned in the center of my pelvic area. He was positioned to the left, but he wasn’t centered which was why I wasn’t dilating. In other words, my little guy was stuck. When they pulled him out, he had a bump on the left side of his little head, but to went away pretty fast.
C Section Recovery Process
A C-Section is major surgery and recovery is absolutely no joke. The first two weeks of recovery from the C-Section was very hard and really painful. The pain of course was primarily in the area where the large open cut took place. It felt like a horrible burn that wouldn’t go away. If you move too fast or too much that burning pain will escalate 100%. It was just painful!
I needed help doing a lot of things such as walking to the bathroom and just simply getting up from the couch. I actually started to feel better around week 4 after the surgery. It felt like a constant burning sensation in the abdomen area. When it came to wearing underwear and pants, I wore the Frida C-Section recovery band and extra postpartum underwear that I took from the hospital. I wore stretchy thin cotton pants because I could easily stretch them over my stomach where it didn’t touch my abdomen where the incision was.
Ask for Help
I utilized help in a way that I never had before such as:
- Having my groceries delivered to my house.
- Having my sister come by just so I could squeeze in a quick shower.
- Having someone to drive me where I needed to go
The Way You Move After the C-Section is Super Important
Moving after a C-Section is very painful. Even small movements will cause severe pain. After my C-Section, I underestimated how hard it would be to simply walk. Going to the bathroom was hard, walking back to the bed, and getting up out of the bed was like torture.
Learning how to properly move around after your C-Section. This will greatly help the pain when moving up and down. Below I share a technique that helped me and I hope will you along your healing journey:
- Log Rolling Technique – This is a technique that I used while in the hospital right after my surgery. First, while on your back, you will bend one leg upward at a time and slowly shift your hips to the side. The side you shift on, will depend on which side you plan to begin to stand on. Slowly roll your body on the same side you are shifting on. Next, slowly move the legs for forward whiling placing your hand where your head is. Now, slowly push yourself up, and slowly stand.
My Take Away from this Experience
My personal advice for soon-to-be moms would be to mental prepare your mind to be ready for anything. In case things don’t go as planned during labor and delivery. It’s super important to stand up for yourself throughout the process. A lot of unexpected things happened during my labor. I still can’t believe I ended up needing a C-section, but it’s something I can learn to live with. It’s not the end of the world simply because I didn’t get what I wanted.