Cesarean Awareness Month.

April is Cesarean Awareness Month.. a cause that is near and dear to my heart. This year's theme is, "Real Women. Real Lives." and is all about telling our stories.

So here it is, a condensed version of my story.

At 41 weeks 2 days of my first pregnancy, my body finally decided it was go time. I was excited that I was in labour and I had avoided the dreaded induction I was having hung over my head. In the back of my mind, I had wanted a natural birth, but upon arrival at the hospital with no birth plan, things changed drastically.

Over the next several hours I had IV narcotics, anti-emetics, an epidural that paralyzed me from the armpits down and pitocin to speed up labour slowed by the epidural. My daughter started to show signs of stress at this point (who wouldn't?) and I was wheeled into the OR for surgery.

My beautiful baby was born blue, requiring bagging to breath and a shot of narcan to counteract the narcotics during labour. She spent the next 20 hours in the NICU for observation where her blood sugar dropped and she was given formula rather than being brought to me to nurse.

And that doesn't even touch on what it's like to recover from surgery when you have to care for a newborn.

The next time around I vowed things would be different. I knew that the cascade of interventions I received during labour ultimately landed me that c-section scar. My son, 22 months later, was born drug-free into my arms following the most incredible experience of my life. I pushed out my 8 pound 9 ounce baby and I felt like super woman. :)

Meeting my daughter for the first time:

Meeting my son for the first time:

Tell your story too, every little bit of awareness can make a difference.
http://www.ican-online.org/