Editor’s note: We believe that all birth stories and all birth experiences matter. This post is part of our ongoing series of birth stories featuring a diverse range of women and their birth experiences. Kate’s induction and emergency c-section didn’t go so smoothly for her. Thankfully her second c-section went a lot smoother.
If you would like to share your own birth story, visit this post to learn how.
I have had 2 c-sections. My first was an emergency c-section done at 10:30 at night seven years ago.
By the end of my first pregnancy, I was getting anxious. We were first time parents, a week past my due date, and sick of waiting.
On Monday they had me come in for an induction using Cervidil. It did nothing.
Tuesday was a crazy day in Labor and Delivery, so they couldn’t start the Syntocinon (Pitocin) drip until that evening. But once they began it, they ended up having to stop due to a medical emergency in the unit that required most of the staff to help. A woman came in who was losing triplets and they almost lost the mom too, so they needed all staff for that and for the regular deliveries that were going on. They kept calling codes…it was scary to hear.
Finally, on Wednesday morning my induction was back on and my water broke and things started to happen. By 8:00 pm I hadn’t dilated enough and the baby was starting to experience distress, so the doctor decided I needed an emergency c-section. They just kinda decided in front of me I needed a c-section. They brought in the forms that say basically, “You could die.” So much more heavy when you’re facing it right there.
I actually barfed on the table in the OR. Luckily my nurse caught it in time and held one of those little bowls for me. I don’t remember much else about being in the OR. They got my baby boy out, and I remember watching my husband hold him.
I was in hospital for another 3 days after this. 6 days in total. At one point I remember bursting into tears and wanting to go home because our dog was probably lonely.
My recovery was rough. We had our first check up with our family doctor about a week later, and she wanted to see my incision. I mentioned it had been leaking a lot, so I had been keeping it covered. I had also lost a staple in the shower. My doctor recognized my incision was infected and had me come in to meet with a nurse every other day to have it cleaned and dressed. It healed in a little over a week.
I also suffered from postpartum depression. My PPD was treated with Zoloft, and I was on it for over a year before I felt like myself and went off of them.
Last November, I had a scheduled c-section. I went to the hospital in the morning and held my baby in my arms a few hours later. We came home two days after. They didn’t use staples so I didn’t have to have them removed. No infection this time, and I was healed and feeling pretty good in a few weeks. This time around I haven’t felt “off” like last time, so I haven’t needed any antidepressants. It was a much better experience this time.
Thanks for sharing your story. When things don’t go as planned it can be really traumatic and it’s no wonder you had such a challenging time recovering and experienced PPD after your first one. 🙁 Glad to hear the second went more “smoothly”. <3
Thanks 🙂
I’m so glad all worked out.Thanks for sharing these birth stories!
Thanks for sharing your story, I also had a c-section , with my third child, after my second was a very traumatic birth . Neither birth is easy and ppd is very real 🙁
That would be scary. Childbirth can be very scary. For me I had alot of other complications during pushing my daughter’s heart rate would drop really really low so I almost was rushed down to the OR but they tried calling down and no one was down there. I was told to stop pushing and then go slow after which is fricken hard as heck. She finally came out then not even 6 hours later she was choking and turning blue, all these nurses come rushing in they announced throughout the whole floor for more doctors. Now that was scary. They brought her back by stuffing tubes down her throat and sucking all the stuff out. They had her upside down hitting her back at the same time. I’m so glad that we were still at the hospital. I don’t know what I would’ve done by myself. That was one of the scariest moments of my life.
It can be so heavy when you are faced with this. I was induced with my 2nd after my water broke and there were no contractions. They checked heart rate of baby and since it was low and there was no progression they started pitocin drip which brought on labor but caused baby heart rate to continually drop. In one swift moment they lost the heart rate and suddenly the drip was stopped and a code was called. A different doctor from the one paged showed up as he had an OR all prepped for elective C-section. The doctor just basically said sign here we need to go now. Definitely a scary moment, but thankfully it worked out okay in the end and we were both okay.
Looks like an angel while sleeping 🙂