the 'what comes after birthstory' of mary jane

with mary jane i had something called placenta previa. i needed a cesarean section to safely deliver her. i at first decided that maybe my doctor was just scaring me, that i could possibly have her vaginally and they weren't telling me the whole truth. i researched placenta previa and whilst reading ina may's guide to childbirth i found out that placenta previa was one of the only reasons why cesarean sections should be used. ina may gaskin is someone who i've come to trust in regards to birth. she has a wealth of knowledge and most importantly believes in the woman's body and ability to birth(something we've been doing for awhile now right?)
it seems that some women believe that c-sections are a way to avoid the pains of childbirth. it also seems that some women go into a hospital birth thinking that "c-sections are only for women who want them. i don't want one, therefore, i won't get one." sadly, both of these statements are not true. i will deal with the first statement in this post.

what comes after the c-section
so many women love to gather around and hear or tell a birthstory. it must be hardwired in us. it seems nobody goes into detail about what happens after, especially when it's a c-section.
i want to give a warning- some details may be too graphic in the following story.

after they wheeled me into recovery i was very very groggy. it was about 10:30 in the morning and i just kept falling asleep in mid sentence, talking with my parents. chris was away with mary jane, weighing her, getting her a bath because she was covered in blood. i really don't remember when they finally brought her in. there was a nurse there who had had a few c-sections and knew how to position me. they moved me to the maternity ward soon after. some morphine was hooked onto my iv pole. i was to push the button everytime i needed it. it was on a clock and wouldn't let me push it more that every 15 or 30 minutes. i remembered reading that you should push the button everytime that you could because if you waited to feel the pain, it'd be a tad too late. plus, the overwhelming pain would cause your milk to not come in so well(if you planned to breastfeed- and i did). they also told me that i would be on a liquid diet until i could go #2. this wasn't a big deal. my stomache was a bit of a mess anyway. it became a big deal later in the day when i was hungry and all they gave me was some beef broth and juice. towards dinner time the nurse brought in some percocet. i took it while visiting with fr. joe and fr. kevin. rose called just as the drugs took effect. i had to hang up because everything was getting very heavy and green. some visitors came just in time to hold a bedpan while i puked all my liquid diet into it. it shouldn't be called puking. i think puking requires stomache muscles that haven't been seperated and wrenched out of the way. so it just spilled out of my mouth instead of being pushed out of my mouth.
i couldn't move my legs for a good deal of the first day. my left leg actually didn't move for almost 24 hours after the section. i remember when the anesthesiologist was administering my epidural he spoke to me about which leg was feeling numb. my left leg was numb WAY before my right leg, so i'm fairly certain my left side got a double dose- if that's possible. and since my left leg wouldn't move, they wouldn't remove the catheter. how pleasant.
then the gas pains kicked in. since my body cavity was opened in the surgery, naturally air was trapped inside. so there were bubbles of air drifting around my body, causing painful pressure in weird places. the area where my neck meets my shoulder is one that comes to mind. that was brutal. i had to lay flat in hopes to dislodge it.
once i could get up and the catheter was removed i could get up- or could i? i resembled a hunchback when i attempted my first walk to the restroom. this was going to be the way i walked for almost 4 days. i had to force myself to walk erect.
i was worried about coming home because i knew george was still too young to understand that i needed to heal before big hugs could be enjoyed. i was also not allowed to climb stairs for 2 weeks(i cheated on that bit and paid for it by almost fainting in the middle of the stairs and then bleeding pretty badly for a good hour).
once i started eating more solid food it was difficult to go to the bathroom. since my muscles were shot and i had fresh stitches keeping things together on my lower abdomen i was worried about pushing too hard. plus all the pain meds added on top of being pretty sedentary made for some pretty hard movements.

i've heard that there are some areas in the US where c/s are high- in affluent areas, that the moms are "too posh to push". they elect to have a c-section.
well, i can attest to the fact that post c/s is ANYTHING but posh. it's major surgery. nothing to be taken lightly. i'd rather go through labor and delivery from start to finish 5 times back to back than go through a c/s again. of course, we have to consider the health of the baby- that is, if you trust the person who's informing you. there's alot to be said for truly informed consent. but that's for another post.