C-Section Saturday: Hello World, Meet Henry

Welcome to the Farr Fitness' C-Section Saturdays. 

As I have mentioned before I will be using Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery for athletes. Be prepared, some of the information that we discuss will be graphic, but I assure you that I will do my best to cover each topic with the grace of the true southern lady that I am. With that being said lets jump in!

As many of you know, Henry was born on a Thursday evening by C-section and I have to admit I was more than a little disappointed by the fact that I didn't get my VBAC.

Let me give you a quick bit of background information. 

I trained my ENTIRE pregnancy. I ate very well and kept my total weight gain below 25 pounds. I did yoga (grated it was off of YouTube, but you do what you can) to keep my stress levels, and therefore my blood pressure, down. I took my prenatal vitamins and I went to every single doctor appointment. And yet somehow despite all of my careful planning, research, and training, the doctors determined that a VBAC was not a viable option for my sweet boy. 

Basically I went in for a stress test the day before we were set to induce labor and they realized that my water had broken and been doing a slow leak for quite a while. I had been having contractions on and off for several days, but because of my prior experience with Pitocin contractions, I wasn't sure if these contractions were real or not. I expected natural contractions to feel like Pitocin contractions and they DO NOT AT ALL. After confirming for a while with another doctor my physician came back in and told me there wasn't a chance for a VBAC, Henry had to come out NOW. 

Let me tell you, the mamas that face down the reality of a C-section their entire pregnancies are incredibly brave. I've had a few surgeries in the past for injuries and my appendix so I am not a stranger to the realities of the operating room, but there is something about being numb from the chest down while a handful of doctors cut you open and pull out your kid that would make even a Spartan woman nervous. 

I didn't really get a chance to see what was going on with my first C-Section due to the fact that I was unconscious on the way in and while it was going on. I have fuzzy memories of a nurse telling me to calm down, and being strapped to a table while shivering... not the best way to go. To this day, despite my best efforts, I find myself unable to write about my first son, William's birth. So, when the docs asked me if I could feel "that" and I couldn't, I realized that I could not run if I wanted to... and I had a minor moment of panic. Thankfully my awesome team of ladies had prayed with me earlier that week and I recalled  verse that my friend Carrie had said during our prayer about claiming victory in the Lord. That helped a lot. 

I also had the WORLD'S BEST NURSE. She talked to me and held my hand. She explained ever single sound, sight, and smell. If I could have bottled her up and made sure that she was available to every C-section mom, I would have. Every nurse should be like she was. 

All in all the surgery took about 45 mins from start to finish. As uncomfortable as the whole operation was, it wasn't anything compared to the recovery. After a C-Section with a spinal block, you cant move the lower half of your body for quite sometime. I spent about four hours in recovery, only two of those hours was I allowed to hold my son and nurse him. Then, when they have determined it is safe you are wheeled in to your room. There, I had a nurse come check on me every two hours for the first 24 hours. The second 12 hours she only came every four hours. Needless to say, at that point I was ready to go home and get away from all the people at the hospital. Henry was born on Thursday evening and I lef the hospital Saturday morning, not a full 48 hours later. 

That was when the "fun" part started. On the drive home I realized how much my abdomen hurt. Every single bump (and even some turns!) hurt my incision terribly. 

I got to the house only to discover my 17 month old son desperately wanted to be picked up, and I couldn't do it. Then came the stairs. Climbing the stairs to our bedroom was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Once I got there I realized I still smelt like the hospital so my wonderful husband held my arms while I stood in the shower and washed off as much as I could. That was a pretty humbling experience.

Finally, I remember getting out of the bathroom and sitting on our bed. My husband was sitting in the rocking chair holding Henry. My son William was bringing Henry toys from his bedroom and chattering to my husband all about getting to see our neighbor's "pup" while we were gone. Seeing my little family together for the first time I realized we had entered a new chapter in our lives. In this chapter we were a family of four.