These are two subject areas, my dear ladies, that really are none of your business. How my baby was brought into the world and how he is getting his nutrition is really between me, my obstetrician, his pediatrician, and my husband. My husband had a hand in the kid making, so I like to keep him informed. Also, he was lucky enough to watch me labor for 22+ hours and made it out alive. He deserves to at least know how I've progressed since.
My baby, aka Nerdlet, was brought into this world first by induction and then, after the aforementioned 22+ hours of labor, emergency cesarean section. Now, what I didn't know was that hospitals are apparently evil! What had happened was "not my fault!" and medical "intervention*" is a horrible, no good, very bad thing! Yes, yes I was told all of that and more by an owner of a local burger joint who thought that, after my having mentioned that my recovery was rough (my mistake, I gave TMI and opened myself up for more interrogation on the matter), didn't really want to know that my emergency c-section was, in fact, a real emergency.
Can I ask an honest-to-goodness question?
What the hell is it with you Ricki Lakers out there?
I understand this whole birthing movement. Yes, there are stats saying that there is too much medical "intervention*." But, what will it take for it to be too little? How many babies have to die or, you know, mothers die with their babies before it's just enough "intervention" for you?
People argue with me that, had I not had an induction to begin with, then I would have delivered naturally and beautifully and held my baby on my belly and my vagina would have been stretched to welcome that screaming, bloody baby into the world. Sure, that's quite possible. But my induction happened for a reason. My placenta - you know that thing that basically supplies all sustenance and life to the baby? - was losing function. And fast. Correct me if I am wrong, but that's pretty bad. I was already 40 weeks, my cervix (what, this is a labor story - you can't have a story of this nature without the mention of a few lady parts. Deal.) was not ripe nor was it dilated even half a centimeter, let alone one or more. Despite my kid's noggin pushing on that thing for weeks and weeks and weeks, my cervix did not want to budge.
Now, as an interesting back story, let me tell you about my grandmother. My grandmother was pregnant with her first child many moons ago. Her labor was, for all intents and purposes, three days long. She apparently had issues like me - no dilation, slow moving, etc. So she labored. For three days. On a hospital bed. And when it finally came time to get that baby out, he (yes, it was a boy) didn't do well with the delivery. I don't know all of the details, but I can tell you that her body and that baby weren't working well together and, because of the era, you couldn't just have an emergency c-section. Nope. You had to have special permission from the state. And so she delivered him vaginally, he didn't do well and then he died. He died and then they whisked his dead body away from her, never having seen her first baby, and he was placed in a mass grave. His name was Peter.
What does my grandmother have to do with my birth story? Well, for one, I am shaped just like her. My body was doing exactly what hers was doing during her labor except there was one major difference. I gave birth in the year 2011 and hospitals will get that baby out via c-section if absolutely necessary. I didn't need special permission from the state. I had the right to a healthy baby and, as my OB always promised me, delivered my son safely and in the best way possible for all.
Again, many people today have argued that had I not been induced, this could have been avoided. Except no, no it could not have been avoided. Remember, my placenta was losing function. I was losing fluid. And before any of you crunchy granola types think that I could have avoided that by drinking a gallon of water, consider genetics and how I very much take after my grandmother. I didn't want to have to wait to labor for three days on a hospital bed, only to end up with a dead baby. No. I didn't want a dead baby. Had my grandmother had the exceptional care that I had, I would have an Uncle Peter.
I can't even fathom what my grandmother went through. I never knew this story until she passed away. Sure, she went on to have 3 healthy children, one being my dad who was also a twin. But she carried the sadness of her first born her entire life, knowing that her baby that she never got to know was in a mass grave somewhere. Can you imagine? Can you really?
I know. I know that c-sections are at an all-time high. But please, for the love of all that his holy, take your stats elsewhere and don't assume every woman had a needless c-section. Some of us really had to have one. A genuine emergency.
My plan was to have a healthy baby.
I labored for 22+ hours with that baby. I gave it my all. I made it to 6 centimeters pretty seamlessly. It was right before 7 that I was the one that spiked a fever. My kid was tachycardic. These are two very bad things. He had to come out. He had to come out right at that moment.
Again, my plan was to have a healthy baby.
Guess what? After
I had a healthy baby. He got here the way he was supposed to.
So, all of you anti-c-section women can take your stats and Ricki Lake movies and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. I'm happy for all of you that delivered your babies through your vaginas. Be happy that I delivered mine through a really neat looking scar in my belly.
My baby smiles, is amazing, has been sleeping through the night at 2 months old. He coos and laughs and kicks his legs. He has a mean left hook.
My kid is pretty awesome, and how he got here is not a situation for you to judge.
Next post: FEEDING!
----
* every time I hear/see the word "intervention" when it comes to birthing, I think of a pregnant woman in labor in the middle of a room and a bunch of family/friends trying to coax her out of a c-section. You all need to come up with a better term for this. It's kind of funny.
No comments:
Post a Comment