Caroline Elizabeth's Birth Story

Caroline Elizabeth Sampson joined us on February 24 at 9:43 AM via cesarean section. She weighed 6 pounds and 4.9 ounces and was 19.63 inches long.

Caroline’s birth story really starts about four days before her arrival. Wednesday afternoon I went into the doctor’s office for my 38 week appointment. I was really excited to see if I had progressed any more and if we were getting closer to her delivery. The appointment went like any other: check in, pee in a cup, get weighed, take my blood pressure, etc. Doc did the pelvic exam and I had only progressed to a two and it was just a little more effaced than last week (just over 50% now). I was a little bummed that there wasn’t more change since the previous week. Doc left the room after the pelvic exam and came back in with the ultrasound. I was so excited because I hadn’t seen Caroline since I was 19 weeks. He said we’re just going to take a look at her and see how she’s doing today. My doctor put the ultrasound on my belly close to my ribs, and confirmed that her head was sitting high. Caroline was breech.

I was so bummed and disappointed in that moment. We had no idea until that day that this baby had been sitting breech. I knew exactly what it meant before the doctor gave me my options: come in for an external cephalic inversion to turn baby to the right position, and then have her vaginally assuming the procedure goes unhitched, or go ahead and schedule a C-section. An external cephalic inversion requires an epidural, and poses a lot of risks to baby like putting stress on the fetus, or even dislodging the placenta, all of which would result in an emergency c-section. Because of the risks involved with the inversion I decided it would be our best decision to schedule a C-section. I gave Milton a call and he agreed. My doctor told me that the office would call and schedule me for either the coming Monday or Thursday to have Caroline via C-section. Outside of Caroline sitting in my uterus like it was a cozy hammock, everything else was perfect.

After receiving the news that I would have to have my baby through C-section I was pretty darn upset for about the next 24 hours. For the past nine months I’ve pictured in my head how my labor and delivery experience would go. I have thought about all the possible places I could be when I go into labor, and what I would do in each scenario. I have thought about how Milton would be an awesome coach and help me through it, and how I would watch his face when the baby comes out and we both hear her cry for the first time. I feel like going through labor and delivering your baby is a rite of passage into motherhood. I was going to earn that baby (as if the last nine months hadn’t been challenging enough). Most of all, I knew I would’ve done an awesome job, and I wanted to prove it to myself that I would rock delivering this baby.

I didn’t have a choice though. We had to do what was best for Caroline. It wasn’t about me anymore (well, it never really was).

Of course I was really hoping for Monday because I just couldn’t wait to meet my baby. When I talked to the clinic that Friday, they told me Monday was completely booked and they would have to schedule me for Thursday at 5:30 AM. I ended up losing my mucous plug that Friday. I know this could mean labor is anywhere within hours or days to weeks away. I honestly felt that baby was going to be coming within the next few days, and I didn’t think I’d be making it all the way to Thursday. After a few more phone calls with my doctor’s office my doc agreed to come in on Sunday to do the procedure. I was thrilled! I called my family and told them to get ready to head to the island.

The next day was Mardi Gras here on Galveston Island. This was the perfect distraction for the 24 hours before the arrival of my baby. Milton and I ran some errands in the morning and then met up with friends on the seawall for the big mid-day parade. It was so much fun to see all of my friends one more time before I had my little girl. Everyone was so shocked and excited that I was going in to have her the next day.

My parents and my brother arrived in town that evening. We took it easy and ordered pizza and hung out on the couch. I was freaking out inside. My anxiety was going nuts because my life was going to change within a matter of hours. I couldn’t eat or drink anything after midnight that night so I really enjoyed my pizza.

My C-Section

The next morning I woke up around 5:45 am so we could leave the house at 6:30 and be at the hospital by seven. I curled my hair and did my makeup before leaving the house (I mean, I wasn’t going to be sweating so why not). Milton and I took my car with all of our bags and the car seat, and my family wasn’t far behind us. I was doing everything I could to stay calm and not freak out. I made a point to breathe slowly, and played Kacey Musgraves to stay relaxed. We parked in the hospital parking garage and went through that entrance rather than the main entrance. This was our first mistake because we walked around the hospital for about 15 minutes trying to find the front desk of labor and delivery. Somehow we were not very late and were able to get checked in just fine. They took me and Milton back to a pre-op room to get everything started. I put on my hospital gown and they hooked me up to an IV and start monitoring the baby. I was asked approximately 600,000 questions about myself and my medical history, so that was fun. The monitor showed that baby was moving like crazy, and I was actually having some contractions. I had been experiencing some cramps that felt like menstrual cramps for the past few days, but my stomach was not tightening at the same time so I didn’t know if they were contractions or not. They weren’t very painful. I was kind of bummed about this because if this was any indication on how my labor would’ve gone I think I would’ve really been a bad ass haha! Right around 9 o’clock all of the docs are ready and it was time to go back to the operating room.

The nurse came to wheel my IV for me, and I walked myself back to the operating room and onto the operating table, which was one of the weirdest things to me. At this time Milton went back to let the family know we were going into surgery. The operating room was super cold, and keep in mind I was only wearing a gown. First they had me sit on the operating table with my legs hanging on one side. I faced the nurse and bent over while they prepared to give me my spinal block. This was the part that I was scared of the most. I felt a little stinging when they were numbing the area, but outside of that it was not painful. I would say it was uncomfortable because I had to bend over and make a C with my spine the best I could and a pregnant belly doesn’t really allow for that kind of position. Getting the IV was actually more painful. When they were finished with that they had me lay back on the table and started prepping the area. Milton didn’t get to come into the operating room until they had actually started on the surgery and the big curtain was up between my upper half and the doctors. Luckily, the anesthesiologist was really cool and had also gone to The University of Texas. We had a lot to chitchat about and he did a great job distracting me. Milton finally got to come in and he was so bright eyed. I couldn’t tell if he was nervous, anxious, or excited. Probably all of the above. The doctors did a great job walking us through what they were doing without giving us too much detail of course. It wasn’t long before they told us baby was about to come out. I felt a lot of pressure but was completely numb. I felt the most pressure when they were pulling her out. They told us when they were pulling her out and Milton and I looked at each other, and when she cried for the first time we were already so happy and full of love. It was the most surreal thing in the world. A nurse came around to my side of the drape to show me my baby girl. She was perfect. I made a big point to tell all of the nurses and the doctors that I wanted to do skin to skin as soon as possible in the operating room. Milton and Caroline went outside of the operating room for her to be washed off and have her APGAR test done. They brought her back to me as soon as they could. I was able to hold her skin to skin while they put me back together. I cried with so much joy when they gave her to me. She was here!

C-Section Post-Op

After surgery my doc came and spoke to us about how everything went. He mentioned that I didn’t have any amniotic fluid left and he was very grateful that we did the c-section that day. I was right! I totally would not have made it to Thursday. Caroline was taken to recovery for her bath and such, and I was wheeled out of the OR shortly after. By the time I got to our recovery room, Milton had already introduced Caroline to both sets of grandparents and her uncle Jared. At this point the family was only able to look at her while she was in her crib. She was soon given back to me for more skin to skin and our first attempt at breastfeeding. Let me tell you something, there aren’t many things out there more challenging than trying to breastfeed for the first time ever while having no feeling from the waist down! At one point all I could do was laugh at myself and say, “Lieutenant Dan, you ain’t got no legs!” Milton did a little skin to skin as well and it was absolutely precious.

I’m not exactly sure how long it took for the feeling to come back to my legs. We got up to our postpartum room fairly quickly and family started to come in to hold Caroline for the first time. Caroline got to meet a lot of her family on her birthday. My mom, my dad, and my brother were all there to hold her, along with Milton’s parents and one of his aunts and uncle. Everyone instantly fell in love with her (I mean, just look at her). Of course, we are all totally biased and think she is the most beautiful baby.

Recovery

Recovery following a c-section was, and still is, quite a doozy. Although i regained feeling in my legs in a matter of hours, I was still very bound to the bed for a few reasons. 1. I had just undergone major abdominal surgery and have a very large incision across my lower belly. 2. I was still restricted by my IV and catheter. 3. I didn’t have much balance or coordination at the time. Because of this, Milton got to change the first few diapers. I relied on him to bring me the baby when she needed to feed or do other small tasks. Luckily, I only got nauseas from the anesthesia once, and didn’t even throw up from it. At first you’re only allowed to have ice chips or ice water. They want you to ease back into things to avoid nausea. This was challenging because all I wanted to do was chug some water (I hadn’t had anything since midnight the previous night)! By 5:00 pm I was eating like normal and keeping it down fine.

While it would’ve been nice to switch into some of my own pajamas, I wore the hospital gown until the next morning. This was easiest for me with the IV and the nurses coming in to check on me every couple of hours. By the time I changed I wanted to burn the hospital gown, haha! I experienced itchiness from the anesthesia wearing off. I think this was the most miserable part! I barely got any rest in the hospital due to this. By the time Caroline would get fed and settled I couldn’t fall asleep because I was constantly scratching all over the place. They did give me Benedryl, but by the time it would kick in baby girl would be hungry again.

I was allowed to shower 24 hours after my surgery. You can imagine how awesome this felt considering I’d been scratching myself silly. At this point I was getting up on my own but moving as fast as a sleepy turtle. In the shower they had me get the dressing over my incision wet in order to take it off easier. I was pumped to put on clothes and a bra! I wanted to feel like a human again.

On this day we had about 15 different people from the hospital in and out of our room for all of the different tests and paper work that had to be completed before discharge. It was kind of draining because I answered a million questions for about two hours straight. That afternoon my parents came back and helped us get packed up and ready for discharge. We left the hospital around 2:00 pm. It was surreal walking out of the hospital with our sweet baby all wrapped up in her car seat. I’ve never seen Milton walk taller.

If you have any questions about my c section experience, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments! I know pregnancy and delivery is different for every woman, and we all have stories to share!