Accepting Changes: Planned C-Section

This pregnancy came as a surprise to Becca and Troy. Last February they faced the loss of their first pregnancy, only a few short weeks after finding out they were going to be parents. That loss threw off Becca’s cycles. She felt like she had waited long enough for their return to normalcy, so she opted to take Provera to help induce a withdrawal bleed or period. After negative ovulation tests and pregnancy tests, Becca took a second round but noticed that her body wasn’t responding the same way. After a few days of questionable symptoms Becca took another pregnancy test expecting it to be negative based on the previous tests. To her surprise, when she came back moments later it was positive! Becca immediately called Troy to tell him the news. 

Becca was monitored closely due to her history, blood work confirmed her hormone levels were rising, an ultrasound helped confirm her due date. Becca and Troy enjoyed connecting with their baby via several ultrasounds and early genetic testing. It helped ease the worry that can come with pregnancy after experiencing loss.  

Around 33 weeks Becca learned that her baby was breech. She looked into and practiced several alternative methods that can help encourage a baby to flip vertex if they’re able. This included acupuncture, moxibustion, chiropractic care, and spinning babies exercises. Becca underwent an external version and her doctor was unable to get her baby to move a little but not enough to get him head down.  

From there Becca knew that she would give birth via cesarean. She was disappointed at first because this went against how she envisioned her experience but felt as though this was the best course for her. Becca’s provider was optimistic about her being a good candidate for a VBAC in the future. 

Becca and Troy finished the last of their baby prep and started preparing for postpartum recovery knowing that Becca wasn’t just healing from birth but also surgery. Her biggest concerns were about how she’d feel physically and ensuring a strong start to breastfeeding. 

After 39 weeks and 6 days of excitement and planning Becca and Troy arrived at the hospital on 2/10/2020 to check in and get settled before starting the preparation for their cesarean. All of the medical staff came in one by one to introduce themselves and explain their role before surgery. Becca’s OB confirmed that their baby was still in the breech position before preparing to head into the operating room.

Once back in the OR, Becca had her epidural placed and Troy was able to join her, sitting right next to her head. It took only a few minutes from their initial incision to the birth of their baby, his official birth time of 10:26 am.  They only got a quick look at him before the nursing staff took him directly over to the warmer. It took a few moments for them to stimulate his breathing and do their initial screenings but felt like a long time. After that they welcomed Troy over to the warmer and welcomed me into the OR to document their first few minutes as a family of three while they finished closing after birth.

Once complete, Becca was wheeled back into their room, her and Troy couldn’t take their eyes off of their baby. It was surreal that they had him in arms and could love on him as much as they wanted. They spent the next day or so doing skin to skin and establishing a good latch. Becca and Troy took time to settle on a fitting name, Tate Bishop.

Recovery has been smooth overall, since being home Becca and Troy have worked really hard to parent as a team. Becca and Troy have been working on getting Tate back to birth weight and working with lactation support. Troy has fallen into his role as a father effortlessly which has helped Becca ease into her role as well.