My Planned C-Section Experience: Jasiel's Birth Story
As I wrote in the previous blog post as we wait for our baby to join the family, we have been praying about baby girl’s birth process. Because of Chase’s head size and my body anatomy, I ended up with a C-section the first time around as he was stuck. I was completely fine with the idea of going through another section, but then I was a bit worried about the recovery time now that we also have Chase. However, because of the reason of my first C-section, the chances of me having a successful VBAC was only 40% of lower. So, we prayed and sought God’s will, and the sign I prayed for was that if she made it to her scheduled C-Section date, we would go through with it.
Weeks prior to the date though, I had a lot of honest conversations with my OB and midwife, friends and family that made me have an inkling that this is what God’s plan would’ve been. I’m glad I had that, because it really helped me accept this reality and prepare for her birth, mentally, emotionally and physically. Even though I felt so many symptoms that labor was imminent, she patiently waited for her actual birthday to come. I was way more at peace about it, and I was able to prepare with less stress, and also enjoy the last few days we had with just Chase.
I thought I’d write this blog post so that I wouldn’t forget about my experience and perhaps someone else would be able to benefit from it as well. If you’re a bit squeamish, no need to read through all the details haha! :)
Day Before Surgery
I live in Richmond, BC, Canada and thank God that we have free healthcare here, so we don’t need to worry about the financial aspects of our hospital stay. I have a midwife, which I highly recommend getting here in BC because they will take care of you through your pregnancy and also afterwards, for 6 weeks. I used the same group, Blossom Birth Program because I had such an amazing experience with them last time and they really helped me get back on my feet after experiencing post-partum blues and anxiety. Lori is able to be an assist in the surgery which is fantastic, and Sara’s upbeat personality just keeps you going.
They still had to refer me to an OB though who will perform the actual surgery. So the day before the C section I had to get some bloodwork done, so I headed to the Richmond General Hospital early in the morning. Then, we spent the rest of the day with Chase. It was such a heart-warming day to be honest with you, I’m so glad we had that day with him because I knew the next few weeks I wouldn’t be able to pick him up or do as many activities with him out and about as I recover and as we adjust to become a family of 4.
At night, we dropped Chase off at my MIL’s house (his grandma) to stay over as we needed to head to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning. I also stopped eating drinking at midnight as we needed my stomach empty for the surgery.
Surgery Day
On the day of surgery, we had to be there 2 hours before for surgery prep. We went to the Birth Centre at the Richmond General Hospital, and they set us up in our room where we would be staying for the next few days. The birth centre at RGH is pretty decent, you get private rooms, with a foldout bed for the dad/partner. Not all the hospitals are setup this way.
Nurses have 12 hour shifts at RGH so we had the night nurse first as we were there before 7AM, and then shortly after they switched to the day nurse. The night nurse gave me the hospital gown and told me to change into it, and wear the green surgical socks, masks and the head cover. She also got me setup on my IV (and did a terrible job about it btw, the first one was super painful cause she hit a valve, the second time it wasn’t the best so I ended up with a swollen popeye arm after. The anesthesiologist had to fix it later on). Thankfully my day nurse, Sandi, was much better. I explained to her my desire to recover in the same room if possible with the baby, and not to rush me into breastfeeding until I feel a bit better from the surgery and recover from the numbness. She was definitely on board with me and she really helped make my second section a much better experience.
Someone was using the operating room for an emergency C-section so we headed downstairs to a different operating room. We headed inside, met my OB and the anesthesiologist. They gave me a spinal which made me numb chest down - but I could still feel my arms. They put tons of blankets on me to make sure I’m not too cold, and Clement, was with me, holding my hand. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I remember feeling cold and being overwrought with fear. So I prayed and recited Psalm 46:1 over and over again to myself - but changing the “our” to “my”
God is my refuge and my strength, my ever-present help in times of trouble.
Within minutes, our baby girl, Jasiel Rey was born. She was sooo chunky and cute, and laid there on my chest calmly after she was dried and cleaned up. I held her in my arms, with Clement’s support. I’m so glad I wasn’t as “cold” as I was the first time, I was able to just enjoy her resting on my chest until we had to head back upstairs to recover in our room.
The recovery nurse was there with my day nurse, and over the span of the next hour we tested my numbness and mobility with a bag of ice. In this time I was able to hold baby on my chest, which was a wonderful, bonding experience. Last time, they immediately wanted me to breastfeed and I had no idea what I was doing. The labor/delivery nurse wasn’t there so no one assisted me, but this time around no one rushed me, or baby. I am so grateful that Jasiel and I got this special time together. She was able to crawl down by herself and latch herself on and nurse.
It was truly such a magical experience. They call it the “golden hour”, an undisturbed time to bond with the baby for the first 1-3 hours of their life here on earth.
My day nurse was really helpful in assisting me get a good latch, which really important to me. Last time, Chase started and continued to have a terrible latch so I had a lot of nipple trauma. Over the span of 48 hours I met other nurses and I realized all of them had differing opinions and they were all so confusing, so I’m glad I had the first nurse being Sandi. I can only imagine though that if this was my first rodeo that it would be so confusing! This time around I had a much better understanding of what a good latch looked like, and thankfully baby also cooperated with good sucks (Chase was terrible!).
Then the nurse also started me off with ice chips, then sips of water to make sure I’m not nauseated from the surgery. Once I could tolerate more liquids they stopped the IV completely. By the end of the day I was allowed to have some solids, woohoo!
Because I had the IV on, I had a bit of edema in my legs but I’m so glad that it was gone by the second day. Last time, perhaps because I had the IV on for longer, it made my legs swell for a few days. So grateful it was much better this second time around.
By the end of the day, she also asked me to see if I can stand without feeling dizzy. A few hours later, she helped me walk slowly to get cleaned up. This is when they changed me into the infamous disposable postpartum underwear and put a pad on because after giving birth, vaginally or C-section you’ll still experience the bleeding for 4-6 weeks. Because I had abdominal surgery I had a catheter on so I didn’t need to get up to pee, but since I was still taking it slow, we decided not to remove the catheter until the morning - when I can make sure I am strong enough and have recovered enough to move around.
Definitely something important to note is that as you recover from a C-section surgery is that it’s okay to take it slow. Seriously I don’t know any other surgery which recovery involves you having to take care of someone else, deal with all the hormones, also produce food for another human being, and not get a lot of sleep on top of that.
When my hubby had his surgeries, we were at the hospital for the entire week and all he had to do was lie down and rest (C-sections they generally want to keep you in the hospital only for 48-72 hours!). Nope, not for a C-section! It’s a LOT to take on, so take it easy. It’s definitely okay to take pain meds so that you can function and get some rest as your body is doing so many things at once. Thankfully usually after the first feed, baby might sleep for a good stretch, so you should rest as much as you can, too.
Sometime during the afternoon, usually after 6 hours when the baby is born, they give them a bath. It’s also a little tutorial for the dad to learn how to give them a bath, haha! And since this is our first daughter, daddy gets to learn how to do diapers (for a girl) as well. It’s nice to be able to delegate this task to them to be honest! My daughter seems like she is the type that wants her diaper clean and dry all the time - she definitely lets us know when something is in it. My son was the complete opposite. In fact, one time after a feed, baby girl was crying hysterically and I totally forgot one of the reasons was a dirty diaper.. she just wanted it changed. The moment it was changed, she literally sighed and went to sleep, hahaha!
Another thing I delegated to my husband was recording. During your hospital stay the nurse will ask you to record the number of wet/dirty diapers as well as the feeding times to make sure that we are doing okay and that the baby is doing okay. They normally want to see the meconium (baby’s first poop) within the first 24-48 hours, which is this dark tar-like poop that baby releases haha.
Our first night went fairly well. Baby woke up to feed every few hours, but also gave me some stretches of sleep which is common on the first day when they are so tiny and sleepy. I also asked for nipple cream, I totally forgot to bring some - but if you’d like to breastfeed you can certainly bring some yourself to put on after every feed. The lansinoh one is pretty decent, but if you’d like something stronger if your nips aren’t healing fast enough - you’ll want to get the APNO - the all purpose nipple ointment with Ibuprofen. This one you’ll need to get a prescription for, which I asked from my midwife. Just helps so much for the first few days as you and baby find your rhythm. Breastfeeding is tough - so many things need to align. I don’t think it comes naturally for baby and mommy as often as it appears from other people.
Aside from the baby waking up to feed, nurses will also come and visit you to check your temperature and blood pressure, and baby’s temperature as well to make sure everything is going fine. They’ll also want to make sure that your uterus is shrinking normally so there’ll be quite a bit of poking around on your still swollen belly - seriously NOT a fun feeling especially once your numbness is gone. So, don’t expect that you’ll get a ton of sleep on your hospital stay (aside from just regular newborn life). You’ll also be given some pain medicine to help with the pain, which I recommend that you take to help you do the mommy tasks.
Instead of having baby sleep in her bassinet in the room, she slept on my chest and we had a lot of skin-to-skin time. I mean, if you think of it, she was in my belly for 9 months and for her suddenly to be outside really felt so bizarre and surreal at the same time. When she was on the bassinet, she was a bit more restless and she had so many sleeping newborn sounds, but when she was on my chest it was like she was at peace and just slept so easily with me, and my body had the rest it needed. I just propped my arms up with some rolled up towels, and slept kind of reclined as it was easier anyway to get up from a reclined position right after a C-section.
I wanted to note something about food. Personally I don’t like hospital food and so my hubby and I brought some food and had some food dropped off for us in the first day. For myself I didn’t get to eat solids until end of the first day, so easy things like soup, bread (I had some Chinese bakery buns) was nice and easy. My MIL made me a delicious fried rice with ginger and chicken that was easy to eat, and she made me a lot of nutritious soups like chicken essence and fish soup to help my recovery. She put them in these easy to sip cups (like what you put coffee and tea in) which was so convenient on my first day when my mobility wasn’t the greatest yet. I also had my giant 2L jug of water. I couldn’t pick this up properly yet on the first day but I did on the second!
The second day
The next day, the nurse did the jaundice test on Jasiel and she passed (yay!), just like her brother! Then, the hearing technician came to test her hearing, and gratefully she was able to pass them as well. Sometimes, the initial hearing test isn’t the best because the baby has a lot of vernix (that white stuff when they’re born) or liquid still from the birth. Depending on the day, the bloodwork is done as well. It’s this little prick thing they put on the baby’s foot and then they have to put the drops of blood on the piece of paper. Baby will cry but it’s definitely super normal!
On the second day Jasiel was pretty sleepy in the daytime which is very normal - baby tends to be nocturnal when they are born. It’s tough to wake them up at times to feed, but at least over here in Canada they do want baby to get back to birth weight within the next little bit, so the nurses would prefer to see a feed within 1-3 hours at least. I often would strip baby to just the diaper and put a little cold wipe on her face to keep her awake - seems mean, but if they’re sleepy they can’t latch on properly and get good sucks in. At the start of the breastfeeding journey, all you’ve got is the super nutritious colostrum which your body makes a very little amount of, because the baby’s stomach is still so tiny. All that skin to skin time, all the feeding, is to help activate all the hormones to get the milk coming. So, don’t worry if you think you’re creating bad habits or feeding more frequently than the recommended 1-3 hours, or if baby is passing out at your breast at this time. It’s all very normal.
On the second day they also will weigh baby at some point to check her weight, and Jasiel lost about 5% which reasonable for the first 24 hours from birth. If by the end of 48 hours your baby has lost more than 10% of their birth weight they would want you to top up with formula or other supplementary milk to help make sure baby’s got the best chance for survival. To be honest though, as you continue to feed and see pee/poo diapers, you are okay :) My midwife also came to visit me sometime on this second day which was always nice to see. She also gave me some pointers and helped me with positioning baby during the feed as I recover from my C section. Lori and Sara are seriously the best and I love having them as my support throughout my pregnancy and beyond.
As for my recovery, I definitely felt more mobile on the second day. I was able to have the catheter removed, and after the first pee they removed the IV port from my hand as well (yay!). As the day passed, I was able to practice getting in and out of the bed (slowly). I’m a tiny person and so getting and out of the hospital bed was troublesome, so I got a little step stool from the hospital to help with that. I brought loose slip-on slippers because I was expecting to have some swelling, but my swelling had gone down. Still though - highly recommend something super easy that you can slip your feet in without much effort at all with some room for swelling is best! One of the uncomfortable things after surgery was getting a gassy belly but being unable to pass gas quite yet. Once I was able to pass gas after surgery - I felt much better (and it’s something the nurses will ask about as it’s part of surgery recovery).
I was still taking pain meds every 4-6 hours but at the end of the day I was able to walk around the room comfortably. In fact I was able to get a lap around the birth centre floor which is around 50 meters. I know my recovery seems fast and it honestly could be, it just really depends on your body. I do think having an active lifestyle prior to baby helps with recovery a lot. I was actively still doing yoga and walking 10,000+ steps a day even the day before my surgery (of course with your doctor’s approval).
Towards the end of the second day, Jasiel was way more active and wanted to feed more. I personally remember this being the same with Chase as well, I’m not sure what it is like for others, though! If there’s anything different, I feel like I’m used to hearing crying these days. When we had Chase, I literally had no idea what it was like to care for a baby, a newborn for that matter. Coupled with the hormones, it was just so difficult to hear so much crying all of a sudden. In fact I felt like my ears got damaged from all the crying. It gave me a sense of panic, not knowing if the reason for the crying was normal or actually pain/discomfort. The second time around, I definitely felt more at peace, and didn’t rush or worry so much about baby. But baby “cluster-feeding” is definitely very very normal as they are trying to get your body to produce the milk they need to survive and thrive.
The second day is also when I had some visitors - like my parents, Chase and my MIL, and my sister. It was so nice to see them, but if you are not up to seeing visitors, don’t. Especially right now where COVID is still quite rampant. Make sure you ask your visitors to wash their hands thoroughly and to wear a mask, even if they are not sick. Baby is still so young and their immune system is still so weak. I was only up for it because I was feeling more mobile already.
Chase meeting his baby sister
Haha I don’t have a “Kodak” moment of it, but more a real one. Chase was utterly terrified of holding baby and didn’t want to really see her or touch her, which is understandable. He was also super wary of hurting me because he noticed that I was moving slowly still. We got him a “big brother” present and he was quite occupied with that instead. Overall, Chase has a tender spirit. He’s been spending a lot of time with his cousins and my MIL, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, which has been really helpful for my recovery so that I could do it “one kid at a time”. I personally remember the time my youngest sister was born and we were 4 years apart, so I hope he will remember this as a happy time as well. I must say I was exhausted after all the visits - I took a big long nap afterwards. Much needed!
The third day
The third day which is about 48 hours post surgery was our discharge day. The OB came to check on me and also checked on my wound and removed my dressing. Then, they weighed baby again and she had lost about 8.7% which is still in the normal range. But we noticed that she had weird jitter that seemed more like the usual newborn startle reflex, so the nurse tested her blood sugar levels. It was still within the normal range but it was on the low side, so we tried to give her a top-up of formula anyway. She didn’t take much of it because she was so sleepy, and the nurses said they will ask the midwife to check on this another time.
We were given all sorts of paperwork to register baby’s birth (to get her birth certificate), as well as educational resources for baby, before we were officially discharged. My hubby started to pack the stuff up and bring the stuff to the car first, and brought the car seat back up. In BC they do want to see you put the baby on the car seat and tighten it to their standards before discharging the baby. Then, we went headed back home. We had arranged for Chase to still stay one more day at my MIL so that we could have our first night home with just baby and get our bearings.
What a difference my first birth and this second one was.
For one, Chase was screaming bloody murder in the car ride home while Jasiel was so quiet and she passed out so easily. This time, I knew what to expect a bit more and Clement was also feeling much better health-wise, which is truly such a blessing. Everyone’s like Karla - you look so fresh! Haha, yes I didn’t look beat up because I didn’t pop all the blood vessels in my face pushing a baby out, and I had a lash refill a few days before so my eyes look great HAHA! I was still running on very little sleep but once you have kids… what is sleep? I’m so used to getting broken sleep even with Chase and then with the pregnancy I was so used to getting up to pee anyway… but I praise God because He is truly my Savior and my redemption.
Motherhood is so hard. I’m not going to lie that I still cried many tears for many different reasons this past week. But I praise God because His word is alive and He works through so many people, our village that help us in many different ways. He has filled my heart with greater joy. He is my rock and my salvation. I hold fast to His amazing grace that is alive and sufficient to fulfill all my needs.
I spend the wee hours of the morning praying and singing hymns over my little children in hopes that one day they will also find their strength in God alone :)
xoxo,
Karla
