A Birth Story…Or…A Flashback to High School Biology Class
From the time I started high school, I dreaded the day I would have to dissect a frog in biology class. It seemed disrespectful and, quite frankly, positively disgusting, to slice open and pick around the innards of a frog. Twenty years later, I never dreamed I would feel a certain kinship with that frog. But lo and behold…
How I happened to find myself strapped to an operating table came as quite the unpleasant surprise. I had my first child naturally and assumed I would have my second the same way. But at my 38-week appointment, my doctor ordered an ultrasound as she suspected the baby was growing quite large. Quite large indeed – he was estimated at 9 pounds 10 ounces, give or take a pound. Given my rough delivery with my first son that almost resulted in a C-section (and he was just 8 pounds 4 ounces), along with the possible complications of delivering a large baby vaginally, such as temporary or permanent nerve damage to the baby’s shoulders, we needed to consider all delivery options, i.e. the C-section. My husband and I agonized over the decision – the idea of a C-section was horrifying to me for a number of reasons: I wanted to go into labor on my own this time (I was overdue two weeks and induced with my first); I wanted to be able to hold my baby the minute he was born and not have my arms strapped to a table; I didn’t want a rougher and longer recovery; heck, I didn’t want to go through major surgery! I wanted the birth to be about having a baby and not about having surgery. (more…)












