Why I Loved My C-Sections

 I visited my cousin in the hospital last night.  Her baby had been born the day before and been taken by C-section.  My cousin was slightly disappointed, but we were talking about all the pluses of C-setions, and there are many! Though I happen to know this is not what you hear from most women:

"I hope I have a C-section.  That would be nice."

But that was totally me.  I don't know if it's because my mom had C-sections, or because God was preparing me in this weird way for mine or what, but when the doctor told me my baby boy was breech, I got a little excited.  When she mentioned C-section, I got a lot excited.

Why?

• It's planned. I am a planner, and by nature, I don't like surprises.  I like plans.  Ask my husband.  He knows better than to spring things on me, even if they are good things.  Also, I teach middle school and one of my ultimate fears was that my water would break at school in front of my kids and they (particularly my boys) would be grossed out and scarred for life.  I know it seems like a small thing, but it was a legitimate thing I that obsessed about slightly.
• It's quick. Labor can last a long stinking time.  I can honestly say I was never afraid of the pain (seriously - I have a pretty high pain tolerance and I am proud of it!), just the length of discomfort.

And my C-sections - both of them - were wonderful.  WONDERFUL, I tell you!  And, having had two, I can tell you there are lots of perks besides just the two above:

• The doctor is there the whole time. My doctor walked me into the room, helped me get my spinal, and saw me through the entire thing.  When my sister-in-law had her baby, the doctor didn't even come in until the last second.  With a C-section, they are there the whole time, and not only one, but two!
• It doesn't feel like a C-section. I was pretty nervous about being buck-naked (that's the correct expression, right?  I've heard butt-naked, but I think it was from a kid who didn't know better) in front of all those people.  But once the medicine takes effect (quickly), it feels like there's a heavy blanket on you, so you really forget that you are showing your wares off to what feels like the entire hospital staff!
• Baby is PERFECT! He hasn't been shoved through a vagina so his head is perfectly round and beautiful.  He also hasn't been through the trauma of birth.  The nurses in the hospital explained that C-section babies are often much calmer babies and much better sleepers than vaginal-birth babies.  Both of mine are calm and great sleepers, so I guess it's true!
• The recovery isn't that bad. I know not everyone has the same experiences, but for me, things went just right and I was up walking around that night with both.  I know that's not normal because all the nurses kept commenting on how people aren't usually up until the next day, but it's what happened for me.  They sent me home with pain meds, but I didn't take them much past the first few days.
• The scar is small.  A friend of mine once told me she was afraid of having this big enormous scar across her belly.  I explained that 1) it's not across your belly - it's VERY low, and 2) by the time your stomach has shrunk back down, the scar is only a few inches long.
• You aren't all...stretched out down there.  You get my drift, right?

I have found only two notably bad things about C-sections:

• Itching.  My face itched SO BAD for the first 12 hours or so after the procedure.  It was almost unbearable.  My mom thought of a wet washcloth to rub on my face so I didn't scratch it off, but man alive! It was bad. I have heard that this is a byproduct of the anesthesia, so whether you give birth vaginally or not, it happens.
• People think that what you did is somehow less significant than what they did.  I remember being with some friends and talking about giving birth.  One of my friends who had given birth vaginally said, "Only you didn't give birth."  I was a bit taken aback and said, "Yes, I did."  "No," she continued. "It's not the same thing.  Pushing a baby out of you is totally different."  This really hurt my feelings.  I like to think she didn't mean it that way, but it made me feel excluded and like what I had done wasn't as special.  I know in my head that this is not true, but there is an air of superiority around vaginal births that can make us C-section moms feel like we are not up to par.  But the truth is that we both were participants in the miracle of birth, regardless of how it happened.

I know that this is not true for every woman.  I have heard of many women (my mother included) who have horror stories to tell about the surgery going bad, or recovery keeping them down for weeks, or what have you.  I am thankful that that was not my experience.  My experience was grand. :)