My Birth Experience

I know it *appears* that I’ve been around…but I really haven’t.  My incredible husband has been doing much in the way of answering emails, closing giveaways, and updating everyone on how we’re doing so that our baby girl and I could have some much needed bonding time before we go home.  My husband has been doing all of this and more in between the times when he’s helping me get up, cuddling our sweet baby girl, and running back and forth to make sure everything is ready for our up coming discharge from the hospital.  I’ve managed to read your comments and tweets and emails and I’ve just been in awe of the support, encouragement, and well wishes we’ve received.  One by one, I’m reading them, taking them in, and responding personally.  

I never really wrote out my first birth experience.  Part of that was because in many ways I felt like I failed.  I agreed to an induction with my son at 38 weeks and the result was a c section…they call it failure to progress.  I’m not fond of that medical term.  Did I fail?  Did my body fail?  I felt a lot of guilt after delivering my son.  The shoulda, woulda, coulda’s kept playing over and over again in my mind.  

This time, I have no guilt.  I knew what to expect…I just didn’t know when to expect her.  I find it amusing that less than 2 days before I went into labor, my doctor had me pretty convinced that we’d be having a January baby.  Once I got my mind around that concept, I decided that the few weeks of prep time would be beneficial.  We’d have a nice, quiet Christmas with our little boy.  

We spent Saturday doing typical errands.  We even squeezed in a visit with Santa.  This was my first walk around the mall without a wheelchair, but I didn’t feel like I really walked all that much.  That night I rested because I had some back pain…but I experienced back pain the entire pregnancy so it really didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary at the time.  

If you managed to catch any of my tweets, then you know earlier in the week I thought I was in labor…which ended up being a false alarm.  So when I woke up at 2 am with some contractions on Sunday morning, I just assumed it was false labor.  I got up, walked a bit to see if they would go away and then laid back down.  After about an hour (which seemed like many) I woke my husband up.  We started timing the contractions which were only about 10 minutes apart (very similar to the timing of the contractions earlier in the week).  Except…they hurt…and I mean, I was having to breathe through them and they were hurting into my back.  Something was definitely different.  My husband asked me if I wanted to watch something on TV while we waited to see what would ensue.  At that point I was barely coping and pretty much told him that we needed to call the doctor because something was just not right.  While we waited for my doctor to call back, I started frantically trying to get things packed (in between the contractions which were getting closer and closer together), in the unlikely event that we’d be staying overnight.  As a side note, if you’re 9 months pregnant, it might be a good idea to have a hospital bag packed…I’m just sayin’.  Then there was the question of what to do with our son.  My husband took him to our very kind neighbor’s house while I pretty  much started to lose control.  In that moment, I sincerely wished I had paid attention to the breathing techniques we learned during my first pregnancy.  How funny is it that I was due to have a scheduled c section and still had to go through several hours of labor.  Sigh!

Not once did I ever really think that I was in labor or that we’d have to stay overnight or that we’d be meeting our baby girl that day.  Everything happened so fast.  When we got to the hospital, it was quickly determined that I was in labor and that my good friend Terbutaline was no longer effective at stopping my contractions.  Two doses of it and I was still contracting.  So off to the OR we went.

This time, I knew what to expect with regards to the anesthesia and the surgery.  It seemed like only minutes before we were hearing our sweet baby girl’s cries.  She was (and is) perfect and healthy and much bigger than I would have expected at 37 weeks.   Her and my husband went over to a different room while they put me back together and my parents got in a quick cuddle.   I pretty much felt at peace and in control (as opposed to that feeling of being out of control with my first).  After I was put back together, I was taken to recovery and my parents were asked to leave.  I was amazed that not once did our baby girl have to leave either of our sides.  She’s 3 days old and hasn’t been away from us for one second!  The hospital is amazing in that way and if you have to undergo anything other than natural childbirth, this is definitely something to advocate for. 

Today we go home (one whole day early!).  Recovery, in some ways, has been easier (although definitely not pain-free).  I was up walking on Sunday night (12 hours after having surgery) and eating a full meal by midnight that night (crazy!).  We’ve had more sleep, I’ve taken less pain medication, and she’s managed to take to nursing much quicker than my son (but no comparisons here!).  

I never, ever imagined I’d be saying this, but having a c section was as pleasant as major surgery could be.  My body doesn’t do pregnancy or labor well, so I’m thankful that we have options.  

I’m anxious to see our little boy.  We’ve talked to him over the phone every day but I miss him terribly.  I have no idea how he is going to react.  We’re planning on shooting some video and taking pictures to capture the moment.  

My husband and I didn’t exchange gifts with each other this year (no time!). The weekend was supposed to be our time to do that, but something even better happened.  We could not have asked for a better gift.  She’s lovely and perfect.  We’re blessed and thankful beyond words.  

I sincerely hope that each and every one of you has a safe, blessed, enjoyable Christmas.  My husband has been emailing winners and closing giveaways.  I apologize that some of your prizes won’t arrive until after Christmas.  But it makes me so happy to email you with great news and I hope in a small way you’re blessed!   

I have so much planned for the coming year.  I hope you’ll join me!  

Blessings, 

The Baileys

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Caryn Bailey

Caryn is a NICU nurse by day, blogger by night and mom 24/7. She savors the warm Southern California sun and loves to travel, shopping, baking, reading and frequenting her local tea room. Caryn created the column Lavishly Green for Peekaboo Picks Magazine to share her best tips for going green in style, she is the Former editor for Family Review Network, former OC Family Magazine online contributor, former Orange County Moms Blog contributor, former Evenflo Savvy Parent contributor, former member of the Totsy Advisory Board and former freelance writer for CBS Los Angeles.

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