Birth Story: Emergency C-Section

My name is Kate and this is my story about the unplanned, emergency C-section birth of my son Jack. Unfortunately, I was the “do everything on the checklist” kind of pregnant gal. I had it all planned out – go on leave from work a week early, get lots of foot rubs from my husband, get last minute nursery things done, resting – oh how I have forgotten you. But my son had other plans and it’s been like that ever since.

At 6am on November 19th, I was getting ready for work. I was finally considered full term that day – 37 weeks – but I planned on working almost until the end. After breakfast, I stood up to put the dishes away and felt a small amount of fluid, but nothing like the water breaking that you see on TV. We decided to call the Dr when the office opened and I continued in to work, like the trooper, I mean martyr, that I am. I called the Dr at 8:30 and she yelled at me for going to work, and then told me to get to the hospital. So I excitedly called my husband and headed back home. I felt really foolish checking in at the nurse’s station and told them that I would undoubtedly be having an early lunch with my husband and heading back to work soon.

I got hooked up to the monitors and was informed that I was a very lucky mom-to-be. Lucky because I was having contractions, but I didn’t even feel them. Whoopee – I finally figured out my super power – being oblivious. They tested me to see if my water had broken, but it came back negative. We still had to hang around “just in case” for awhile though and I was getting pretty bored. We had toured the hospital in our baby class, but I had never seen this room. It was like a pre-labor holding tank for moms and not at all private. I just kept staring at the monitor, but I still wasn’t feeling any of my contractions.

Then before you could say push, the nurse came in and told me that they were concerned because the baby’s heart rate was dropping every time I had a contraction. I had 2 choices: wait it out to see what happens and probably have an emergency C-section… or do an emergency C-Section right now. I really thought that they were joking since I didn’t feel like I was in labor at all, but I was immediately whisked off to get prepped for surgery.

At that time, I felt a bit pouty since I didn’t get to do the whole labor experience, I didn’t get the pretty room, and I didn’t have time to process everything. The fact that my baby was coming 3 weeks early was something that I had never fathomed and yet here it was. So I frantically called my parents in NY while all of our in-laws here in Texas rushed over to the hospital. A few minutes later I was getting an epidural, which, by the way, hurts incredibly when you are not in pain and wanting the drugs. Then my husband walked in the room in his scrubs, the oxygen went on, the curtain went up, and 5 minutes after that, our son Jack Austin was born, screaming his head off.

My biggest disappointment was that I didn’t get to see him right away. The nurses didn’t tell me at the time, but they were double and triple checking him for any issues and then when he passed muster, I got to finally see him. I nuzzled up to his little face for what seemed like a split second, and then he disappeared again, while I lay there getting stitched up. This part felt fine (heck, I couldn’t feel anything from the neck down), but it was agony waiting to see him and actually hold him. I was too overwhelmed to realize that they needed to tend to me obviously, but of course also to him. If he had been born a few hours earlier, he would have been considered a preemie, but we got all of the worries without the advantages of him officially being designated a preemie. And even though he weighed less than 5 pounds when we brought him home, he is now a very tall, very independent and very healthy 2 year old. I would have loved to experience the natural birth that I had planned, but there’s a reason for everything and my little fighter is totally worth breaking my plans for.

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Kate is an artist, writer, and online entrepreneur. She has been married to her husband John for 9 years and has a 2 year old son Jack. A former resident of New York, Delaware, and Florida, her family has resided in Texas for the last 7 years and she is still adjusting. In the past decade this former art teacher, visual designer, photographer, and eBay resale guru has been trying to slow down her hectic life and learn to relax. Read all about her work/life balance juggling act at her brand new blog I need a… hint, hint.