(Okay, this blog needs a new title that includes Jameson--and more posts!)
I am pouting today. Pouting because I had to have a C-section I didn't want.
I did everything right to promote my VBAC. I kept my weight under control, I ate pretty well, I was active, I drank red raspberry leaf tea, I went to the chiropractor... I did everything right, and I had to have a repeat C-section - for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with a VBAC.
What are the chances of having two babies in a row with the cord around their necks TWICE?! I'll tell you; the chances are pretty darned slim! I was just about the best VBAC candidate ever - 2 previous vaginal births, non-recurring reason for my first C-section, healthy pregnancy, baby in the right position... It was supposed to be smooth sailing! I had a significantly lower chance of rupture than most women attempting VBACs.
I wasn't even in labor! The only reason I went in right away when my water broke was because I had group B strep. My friend who had a successful VBA2C told me to wait til I was in labor to go in. I might have listened if I had gotten the message before I was already at the hospital ( but Jason said he would have made me go anyway lol). Good thing I didn't!! Jameson might have died. Like I said, I wasn't even in labor! He just dropped lower into the birth canal, and his cord got pinched. His heart rate dropped, and the only way they got it back up was when they put me on my hands and knees with my head down. I am guessing that just countered gravity (or rather reversed it so gravity was pulling him back out of the birth canal instead of farther into it) and relieved the pressure on the cord.
I still can't believe how shocked the nurses and doctor were by how thin Jameson's umbilical cord was. In our birthing class, we learned that the thickness of the cord varies A LOT, and I couldn't really understand their surprise. But I didn't see the cord either.
I think it was a nurse (but it might have been the doctor) who said, "Once the heart rate stabilizes, I always feel like I should give them another chance, but this one wouldn't have made it." I can't be sure if she was a nurse because the doctor was one I had never seen before, a bunch of nurses showed up when Jameson's heart rate dropped (and she definitely wasn't the nurse assigned to me), and I was too scared to pay attention to anything other than listening for him to cry.
So I am obviously grateful we were at the hospital, that they had him on the monitor, that they were able to do an emergency C-section, and that he is okay. But I feel sorry for myself because I didn't want a C-section. I didn't want to deal with the recovery time or the pain. I didn't want to worry about an incision healing. I certainly didn't want a 12th freaking surgery!! I didn't want to be unable to lift, bend, etc. I have already broken the lifting rule a hundred times by picking Lucy up. She isn't old enough to understand, and she wants her mommy (especially after Jason and I spent 3 nights at the hospital and brought home a new baby).
