My C Section Birth Plan

Since I ended up having a c section I thought I would share my c section birth plan. I did not write up an exact birth plan for my c section like I did for my natural birth plan. But I did discuss some things with Dr. H and Dr. P.

Here are the things that I had written down that I thought "would be nice" (not all of these were discussed with my doctors-- I only hit the really main things because I figured I would write up an actual plan and bring it with us. That however didn't happen so some of these things didn't happen. And I am ok with that!


My main wishes that I discussed with the doctor were:

* Schedule the c section after 40 weeks so that I have the opportunity to go into labor and see if the baby flips before having a c section. (We scheduled for March 7th which would be exactly 41 weeks. I went into labor at 39 weeks and 5 days)

* Go into labor and labor at home before going to the hospital for the c section (I'd say we definitely did this)

* Cut and stitched in a way so that I can attempt a vbac (vaginal birth after c section) in the future. (I later learned Dr. P is very good at what he does- so if I decide to have a vbac in the future I shouldn't have any problems. Unless our second child wants to jump into the work and land on two feet the same way Ella did)

* I would like my husband to cut the cord if he would like and donate the cord blood. (Matt did trim the cord but I never mentioned the cord blood so that is my fault that didn't happen. Our hospital actually has free cord blood banking bc it is housed at the facility, I think. The banking wasn't top on my list. But figured since it was free and could benefit others in the future I would do it- except I completely forgot to mention it in all the hustle and bustle)

* Delay all new born procedures. (Because I had a c section Ella was not pushed out, therefore she didn't have the fluids in her lungs pushed out like she would have if she were born vaginally. Because of this c section babies have to be deep suctioned and have to be taken away from the mother instead of instantly placed on their chests. Because they are taken to be deeply suctioned in the corner of the room the nurses typically want to do EVERYTHING at that time since they already have the baby. I told them I wanted to delay everything but the suctioning and hoped Matt would speak up if they tried to do anything else. Delaying these procedures was more for if I had birth vaginally because I didn't want to delay having her skin to skin with me. Anyway- they suctioned her, wiped her off, weighed and measured her, then swaddled her and gave her to Matt. Am I disappointed that all of that was done. No, I think because I knew I couldn't hold her until I was stitched up. I would have been highly disappointed had all that occurred if I had her vaginally though.)

* As long as there are no complications with myself or the baby I would like to have skin to skin contact immediately. If there is a complication with me I would like Matt to have skin to skin contact as soon as possible. (This did and didn't occur. Oh how I wish that when Ella came out she could have instantly been placed on my chest. I knew going into surgery that this was not possible though. Dr. P had told me that hospital policy is I can't do skin to skin due to possible contamination while I am being stitched up. But that Matt could- just wear a button down shirt and they would squeeze the baby in there. And that as soon as I was stitched I could do skin to skin.
We however PACKED his button down in the suitcase, since I was in denial about being in labor, and everything went so quickly that he didn't have a chance to put it on. Matt was able to hold Ella within the first couple minutes of her grand entrance and as soon as I was stitched I was able to do skin to skin- before leaving the operating room. )

* Have the opportunity to breastfeed my baby immediately after birth in the operating room or as soon as possible. (This goes along with the one above- I obviously wasn't able to try breast feeding as quickly as I could have had she been born vaginally; but as soon as I was stitched I held her skin to skin and she had the opportunity to try to go towards the breast. Once we got into the recovery room we were able to get her latched. So within an hour or so I'd say we were able to start our nursing relationship.)

* The amount of time baby is spent away from mom and dad should be minimized. (Matt was able to hold her in about 5 minutes. I was able to hold her about 50 minutes after she was born. And she roomed in with us and never went to the nursery. When they did need to take her do her hearing test Matt went with her and I believe this was 2 days after he was born.)

Some other things I wanted but didn't have the opportunity to share with anyone.

* I do not want my arms strapped down. (They weren't)

* I would like a mirror to be able to watch my baby come out or have the drape let down to see my baby born. (This was offered to me by Dr. P when I first met him- I was not sure if I was 100% on board with watching and said I would decide later. I didn't even think about it. Matt was given the opportunity to video tape the entire thing but he declined just incase he passed out or something.)

* Please don't carry on side conversations in the operating room. (This one DID NOT happen. But I think if I would have spoken up it cod have. I remember the nurses talking about their lunch or something. I remember thinking "I don't care about your lunch, shut up! I'm having a baby and don't want your lunch to ruin my thoughts! I was going to ask the nurse that was in charge of standing by my head to ask them to stop talking, but instead I asked Dr. P and Dr. H what they were doing.)

* I would like to be told what is going on and guided through the procedures. (I wasn't given a play by play- but they did tell me the main things that were going on behind the blue drape- and when I asked they did tell me.)

* I wanted warm blankets if I got cold. (My teeth chattered from the spinal, and they did help cover my arms up and rub them to help me get warm. It didn't help though)

* Have our music played during delivery. (Matt and I got a cd of all the songs played at our wedding, and we planned to play that during delivery. But we didn't bring it, and I never asked if it could be piped into the operating room anyway.

* Take pictures. (As I said in my birth story, Matt didn't bring the camera into the operating room with him, I wouldn't have remembered either. I asked where the camera was and he said he didn't know. I told him in my purse and he had no idea where my purse was. Poor boy was pretty shaken up. The nurse in charge of my head said they couldn't get it if it was IN my purse. And I said I didn't care if they went through my purse, I wanted pictures. The anesthesiologist took charge and made someone being Matt my picture. They took the camera out, got batteries out of my purse as well and put them in the camera and offered Matt the opportunity to stand behind the blue drape and take pictures. He declined, worried he would pass out, so the anesthesiologist took pictures for us.)

So all in all- our c section was a success. We have a beautiful baby girl and she arrived safely and they let us keep her. All of the "I wishes" aren't that big of a deal! There is always next time ;)

I will share my natural birth plan another day since I worked hard on writing it up!