My Birth Story (part 2)

(read part 1 of my birth story here)

After being in labour for over 12 hours, the Doctor had noticed that the baby was not tolerating it very well. With another 5 or more hours of labour ahead of me it was decided that the best thing to do was to go ahead with a c-section. I was scared. For weeks I had been preparing myself (mentally) for a regular vaginal delivery and although I had never ruled it out, I didn't think for a minute that I would be having a c-section. I got a bit emotional, but was willing to do anything in order to deliver a healthy baby.

Within 20 minutes, my husband was dressed in blue scrubs, I was given a heavy dose of anaesthesia and then wheeled into the operating room. The room was bright and filled with a team of people who were all prepping me for surgery. I was totally numb from my chest down and felt really woozy from the drugs. I remember trying really hard not to throw up and fighting to keep my eyes open. My body was shivering out of control (which I was told was normal) but I felt instantly better when Mike got called into the room and grabbed my hand.

It all happened so fast and felt just like a dream. Over the curtain in front of me I saw someone pushing pretty hard on my stomach, I felt a lot of pressure and instantly heard loud crying fill the room. At 12:18pm The doctor announced the arrival of a beautiful baby girl and I watched them take this little body over to the other side of the room. My eyes were transfixed on the tiny human as the nurses cleaned her and the doctors kept working on me. As I lay there I could not believe what had just happened. Nothing can prepare you for the instant love and surrealism that you feel when you become a mother for the first time. As soon as he could, Mike went over to where they were weighing her and snapped a couple of pictures to bring over to show me. He had tears in his eyes as he showed me the photograph of a perfectly beautiful, blond baby girl.

The very first picture of Zoey April.

When the nurses had cleaned, weighed and bundled Zoey up Mike got to hold her and bring her over to where I was lying so that I could see her in the flesh and give her a kiss on the cheek.

Our first family photo

They finished stitching and bandaging me up while Mike and baby Zoey went to wait for me in the recovery room. I joined them 20 minutes later and finally got to hold my little girl. There are truly no words to describe the feeling that you get when you stare into your child's eyes for the first time.

For 30 minutes I held her skin to skin and tried breast feeding for the first time. They then took her away to the nursery while I spent 2 and a half hours in the recovery room and drifted in and out of sleep. 

I was moved to a room in the Mother-Baby Unit and reunited with my brand new little family. I was not allowed to get out of bed on the first day and felt quite spaced out from the pain medication.

Having a c-section was a lot less scary then I thought it would be. I'm not going to lie, for the first couple of days it was quite painful but I am so grateful to have been able to give birth to a beautiful, healthy 7.5 lb bundle of happiness.

The next couple of days were spent getting used to waking up every 2 hours, learning some breastfeeding techniques, having family and friends come to visit and enjoying some bland tasting hospital food (although the breakfast buffet was amazing).

On our 4th day in the hospital we were able to go home. We were so excited to return home and begin life as a family. 3 weeks later I still find myself in disbelief that all this happened to me. I couldn't have been prepared myself for how amazing giving birth to such a miracle could be and I would definitely do it all over again in a heartbeat.
I look down at my daughter everyday and feel nothing but love and gratefulness.

In the car, ready to go home for the first time!