Three time c-section mama

A sweet little gift from the hospital

With my daughter. my plans to have a natural med-free birth vanished into thin air, and after a failed induction, she was born via c-section. A few years later I had a repeat c-section with my son and the recovery was much harder than the first time. When we found out we had a third baby on the way, once the initial excitement calmed down, the reality dawned on me that I would have to have yet another c-section. {Insert dramatic dread and anxiety} My doctor confirmed that with two prior c-sections under my belt (pun intended) attempting a vbac would be a lot riskier than repeating the c-section. My heart sank so low because each c-section was somewhat awful and the idea of going through it again was daunting to say the least.

Once again I reassured myself that having a scheduled date was at least good for planning purposes and there would be no surprises since I had been through it twice before. As usual I was wrong.

The c-section was scheduled for first thing in the morning and just like previously I was asked to fast for 8 hours prior.  We arrived at the labor & delivery ward in high spirits, happy but anxious and praying all would go well. I was given a surgical gown to wear and the pre-op process was all set to begin. The first step is placing a hep-lock which is the needle and IV line that stays in your arm throughout the hospital stay. Once that line is placed a blood sample is sent to the lab; surgery cannot begin until the results of the blood work come back from the lab.

Unfortunately for me, we got stuck on this very first step. For some reason none of the nurses in the ward could find a workable vein in either of my arms. Not even with the aid of their vein finder machine.  I was poked and prodded but no luck. When the anesthesiologist came over to discuss the spinal block I was about to receive, the nurses asked him if he could try to find a vein.  After examining my arms like I was a treasure map, he reluctantly concluded that he had no choice but to place the needle inside my wrist. I was unpleasantly surprised by this.  The veins inside the wrist are so thin I had never heard of a hep-lock being placed there. That also meant I would be unable to move my wrist on that arm which would make breastfeeding and holding my baby nearly impossible. At this point we had lost so much time and were falling behind schedule and there were several surgeries scheduled after me so I really couldn't protest much.

Heparin lock

While all this was going on I was being asked a billion questions about my medical history, previous births and the upcoming surgery. It quickly becomes overwhelming with so many people giving different sets of instructions at the same time.  When we finally got the hep-lock in and they sent my blood sample to the lab I started to feel much better. 

We were almost ready to go, just waiting on my doctor to stop by and talk to me first. The nurses surprised me by casually bringing me a weird little plastic cup with a mystery liquid. 

I was told to drink it quickly. I was a bit confused. Did they not know I was going in to surgery and shouldn't eat or drink anything prior? In both previous c-sections I was never given any medication by mouth.  They told me this drink was to neutralize stomach acids and help with nausea and I absolutely had to drink it. I later found out that this drink is called Bicitra and it doesn't actually help the nausea but it does neutralize stomach acids so that in the event that you do throw up and breathe any of it into your lungs it will be a lot less harmful.  I shrugged my shoulders and decided to just drink it quickly to keep things moving. The level of grossness of this drink is beyond any earthly description! I thought I could just chug the whole thing in one mouthful but was so stunned by how exceptionally disgusting it was. Nothing I've ever tasted in life compares to that. Ever. Yuck.  It was salty, sour and bitter all at once. I wish I had been warned about it but honestly it wouldn't have made a difference. 

After an eternity my doctor finally stopped by right when my blood work came back from the lab and we were a go!  Things fell back into familiar territory. I had to briefly say bye to my husband as I was walked into the operating room for my spinal. A lot of people assume that the spinal is the same as an epidural but they are actually quite different.   An epidural is given in a vaginal birth to block pain, however you still retain feeling in your legs and lower body to be able to push the baby out. A spinal is given in a c-section and results in you not being able to feel your legs at all. The only thing they have in common is they are both placed with a large needle into your lower back.

This time around the spinal was done differently, it seemed to take a lot longer and was much more painful. Another difference was they placed a protective sticker over my back before beginning which wasn't done in prior c-sections. Once the spinal was placed I was told to lie down quickly and then everything started to happen really quickly.

This time my doctor told me I could have my choice of music playing so I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the music, but I couldn't help hearing them counting out the number sponges, scalpels and other surgical tools. The disgusting drink actually worked well because my stomach felt a lot more settled than in previous births. I still did feel hot,  dizzy and generally disoriented at first and I had to mentally remind myself to remain calm. I assume that they don't you to fall asleep because every time I closed my eyese someone would come talk to me and ask me questions to keep my eyes open. 

My husband was finally brought in and then all the staff in the room introduced themselves to us which was an unusual surprise.  It added a nice personal touch but honestly I was a bit too anxious to even care about their names. Once they began the surgery I once again could only feel the pressure of them working on me but no pain. It's tricky to describe but you cannot distinguish what's happening and can't tell precisely when they cut into you.

After what felt like just a few seconds they announced that they were about to get my son out and would drop the blue drapes so we could see him immediately and watch them clamp the cord. My first thought was "wow already?" And then the next minute he was born with a loud cry! They quickly held him up so we could see his sweet little self through the clear drapes. My husband and I were both in awe, the assisting anesthesiologist had to remind him to take pictures because he was literally frozen with the camera in his hand. After being briefly checked our baby was placed on my chest!  And then for first time I witnessed a real life breast crawl. My minute old baby was holding his head and neck up independently and was turning his head from side to side with his mouth open "searching" my chest for something to suck on. I was amazed! I've seen videos of a breast crawl but never believed them to be authentic till I experienced it myself.

The breast crawl is based on the theory that a newborn can "find" food by themselves if placed on their mothers belly or chest. They can essentially drag themselves towards their mothers  breast and latch on. I never believed this to be true especially not for a brand new baby but my son did it! He was super alert and bright eyed and melted our hearts immediately!

Following the surgery, the medication wore off much faster than previous surgeries and I was itchy immediately! I began asking for benadryl right away but as usual it took a few hours for them to even bring me the pill and it didn't really do anything to help the itching. The nurses that took me to my room also noted that the dressing around the incision needed to be changed right away, some how it hadn't been done properly and needed to be replaced. It wasn't fun.

Later that night the nurses discovered that my left hand was obscenely swollen. It turned out the hep lock needle that was placed behind my wrist had become infiltrated. This simply means that the needle had ruptured the vein so all the fluids and meds that was supposed to running in my veins was leaking into my hand. It took several nurses including the charge nurse to be able to place the IV line in a new location, this time in my elbow which is an equally terrible place to put an IV line. By the end of the night I had band-aids and needle marks all over my arms from all the attempts to place the hep lock.

During this entire episode of needle poking, my husband went home to bring my mom, and two older children. They were very excited to meet their little brother.  My two year old was a bit hesitant and couldn't quite grasp that the baby in my belly was actually real now! Although I was itchy, hungry and achy my heart was so full. Having my three children together for the first time was such a heart bursting moment ❤️