C-Section procedure – a mooky momma’s tale
Lyndsie Zombie gave birth to Emma-Lee Athena Zombie by C-section. It’s a scary term for someone who has no idea what it entails, but you never know… Come the time, you may have a c-section procedure and it’s good to know how it might go.
So… what is C-section procedure? It’s a scary term for someone who has no idea what it entails. Unfortunately, I was one of those people. But let’s back up a bit, shall we?
My pregnancy definitely wasn’t the easiest one out there: between the “morning” sickness (actually at 10:00 pm) and the constant hungry feeling, it wasn’t exactly a picnic. The worst thing of all was my blood pressure. You see, I am, and probably always will be, a plus-size woman. Before I got pregnant, I was a size 15/16; during my pregnancy, I gained 4 dress sizes by the time I was 7 months. Despite my size, I’ve always had relatively normal blood pressure. I’m not sure when they discovered that I had high blood pressure; my first doctor didn’t tell me until I went into the hospital for severe chest pains. It wasn’t until later on that I discovered that I shouldn’t have been moving around a whole lot to begin with. Because of my constant activity (we were getting ready to move to another town at that time), my blood pressure slowly climbed for a few months. I constantly had dizzy spells and major headaches.
After we moved to the new town, I began seeing a new doctor. I immediately liked her; she told me everything that I needed to know, was very professional, but wasn’t a total witch. I was put on light bed rest for two weeks, meaning I could get up and shower, make myself something to eat, etc. Otherwise, I was to park it on my butt. Needless to say that was the longest two weeks of my life. I was about two weeks from my due date when I had a doctor’s appointment. I had already had two stress tests done and at this appointment, my doctor decided it was time for my daughter to come. My blood pressure was still rising, despite the bed rest, and it could have put both the baby and I in serious trouble. I was borderline hypertensive. That meant I was getting induced. What I wasn’t expecting that it was going to be 4 days later.
The night of September 11th, I went in for my induction. Thankfully, I had my fiance, my mother, and my sister there; if they hadn’t been, I don’t know what I would’ve done. They gave me Cytotek to help my cervix thin out. According to my doctor, I was still completely closed and “hard as a rock.” They put me on what I’d call an all-night stress test, so they could make sure my daughter was doing fine. Every few hours they’d wake me up to check me, ask me if I’d had any contractions, etc. Around 9:00 AM on September 12th, they gave me Pitocin, which is to help a woman start contracting. I had had very few contractions up to that point, so I wondered if it would work. After they gave me the Pitocin, my doctor informed me that if I wasn’t dialating or anything by lunch time, then they were going to go ahead and do a c-section. At this point, I was still completely unfazed. All I knew was that I was excited to see my little girl, I didn’t care how she was coming out. I hadn’t noticed that the time flew by and it was already noon. I had maybe three contractions the entire time; I later found out that they had given me twice the normal dosage of Pitocin. A normal woman would have been having a contraction every five minutes; I was maybe having one every 45. So, my doctor told me it was time for a c-section. They shaved the area between my hip bones, gave me a different gown to wear, and covered me up with a warm blanket.
It was only after the nurse left that I had a breakdown. I was terrified; I had no idea what was going to happen with this. My blood pressure was rising still; at that point I was beyond hypertensive and was going to start having preeclampsia if nothing was going to get done. My worst thought was, ‘what if my blood pressure gets way too high, and something happens to me? Or worse, my baby?’ Plus, I felt like my entire pregnancy went by in a flash. Everything was going too fast. My fiance got me calmed down after about ten minutes and right about then they came in to wheel me back to the surgery room. I looked at Jerry (my fiance) and said, “Let’s do this.”
I’ll skip all of the tedious preparations that they had to do, but I will say this: epidurals hurt when you first get them, but after they kick in, you do not feel ANYTHING. I’m sure if I had been having more contractions, I would’ve been in heaven! They covered me up, brought Jerry back into the room, and began the c-section. I will spare any gory details, not only to save you, but because I have no idea what it looked like. The only thing Jerry ever said when I asked him what it was like (poor guy could see over the screen), he said, “it was intense.” I will tell you exactly what it felt like, though. In the beginning, it felt like somebody was slightly tugging on my skin, kind of like when you gently tug on your ear. I was numb up to my stomach (you’re normally supposed to be numb up to your chest) and was still feeling my daughter kick. It was one of the strangest, yet most exhilirating, feelings I’ve ever had. Then, came the pressure. All I can say to describe it is imagine a car pressing down all over your abdomen, and then an elephant comes along and steps on you. I had the worst nausea I’ve ever had in my life; I told them that and they gave me this tiny pan-looking thing. I remember thinking, “that’s not gonna hold it all.” Luckily, I didn’t. Then came the three best words of my life, followed by the greatest noise anyone will ever hear.
“Hi baby girl!” said my doctor and I heard the loudest wail I could have ever imagined. At that point, I didn’t even care that I was strapped to the thinnest table imaginable, all I knew is that I wanted to see my daughter. When I saw her, nobody else mattered at that moment. She was gooey, slightly bloody, and had the biggest blue eyes I had ever seen. I will say this, though: it wasn’t love at first sight. It was love at first cry.
Emma-Lee Athena was born on September 12th, 2011, at 12:32 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long. She is now 4 months old and has been bringing joy into everyone’s lives.
If you do get pregnant, make sure you get some belly painting done. And send your pic to Mooky Central… x
If you end up with a c-section scar, so what? Firstly, you can decide it’s finally time to get a belly tattoo. Secondly, you don’t need adornment. That scar is a sexy mark of joy on your body’s map. Wear it with foxy pride!
