Why I Had a C-Section

The short answer is, it's a long story. :)

The long story goes something like this:

Once upon a time... When I was 19 I had twins and placed them for adoption. I had a C-Section then because I had toxemia pretty bad and was hospitalized for 3 days because of my high blood pressure. In the middle of the night that 3rd night I was having breathing problems and they discovered that I had fluid in my lungs in addition to the fun of having toxemia. So they decided to do an emergency C-Section. The twins were born January 3, 2004 at 3am. I was in the hospital for another 2 or 3 days and the boys were there for another week. Amazingly, they never had to be put on oxygen even though they only weighed 3 and 5 pounds.

This time around I was planning on having a completely natural birth (we took the Bradley class and everything). The doctor that I chose is a very nice man and a good doctor but he's a very typical mainstream type of doctor; in that he believes in the adage, "Once a C-Section, Always a C-Section." I could tell this because he said things like, "I'll let you try to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean)," etc. So with me not progressing, I was 1cm dilated for 3 weeks AND Peter never dropped, we made a deal with our doctor: If I hadn't progressed (dilated & dropped) on my due date then we would schedule the C-section, if I had dilated more & dropped then we would wait for labor to start on it's own and if I still hadn't delivered by the 6th or 7th than we would do a C-Section then. As you all can guess I was a tight 1cm and Peter's head was not in position on the due date so we did the C-Section later that day. When it came down to it we really wanted to have Peter before the end of the year and since it was looking like we were going to have a C-Section anyway we figured we might as well get our tax deduction this year. Peter was one of 4% (annually) of babies actually born on their due date.

Even though I really didn't want to have another C-Section, I would say that I am perfectly content/at ease/comfortable/confident in my decision to have it. Peter is perfectly healthy and happy and in the long run that's what really matters. I am already thinking about next time (no, I'm not crazy, though I am really glad I'm not pregnant anymore) and I think I want to find a midwife and go that route, to better ensure a natural birth.

The End.