My due date was originally November 4, 2002. About two months before then, complete strangers started stopping me to stare at my stomach and comment that I looked "ready to pop." So at my 34th week check-up I mentioned this to my doctor. She agreed I did look "kind of big". She measured my belly and it measured 37 weeks.
At 36 weeks, the doctor scheduled me for an ultrasound to find out how big my baby really was. It was then estimated that he weighed around eight pounds and that his head was already 9.8 cm. in diameter! My doctor said: "I hate to sound pessimistic but it really looks like a C-section."
I was very upset. I had wanted to have my baby the natural way, without any drugs and here I was stuck with a huge baby inside me. I couldn't understand why he was so big. When I had been tested for gestational diabetes months earlier, the results were negative. At 37 weeks my doctor did another ultrasound and decided that if there was hope for a vaginal delivery I should be induced the following week, rather than waiting for my due date. My baby still hadn't dropped.
We were told to come to the hospital at 7 a.m. There they hooked me up to an IV, some monitors and started inducing me. At around 1 p.m. I was still only 1 cm. dilated and they broke my water, which was very unpleasant since I was barely dilated. As a result I flooded the delivery room. The nurse said she had never seen so much water come out of anyone before. It was everywhere!
At 4 p.m. I was only 2 cm. dilated and they were already shooting the maximum dosage of Pitocin into me. Finally, around 7 p.m., my doctor came to check on me and found me sound asleep… my contractions had stopped completely. She said that this is the body's way of telling us that the baby can't make it through the pelvis and that a C-section is necessary.
Even though I was mentally prepared for surgery I got really scared. Thoughts raced through my mind. What if they mess up? How will I feel lying there awake while they are cutting me up and stitching me back together? I started crying and my husband reassured me that everything would be fine and that he wouldn't leave my side throughout the whole thing.
The Cesarean was faster than I had expected it to be. The anesthesiologist kept talking to me during the operation and constantly measured my blood pressure in order to make sure I was OK. That put me at ease. Ten minutes into the procedure the baby was out!
My doctor said: "Wow, he's big! If I'd known he was going to be so big I wouldn't even have tried to induce you."
I heard my son crying while they were washing him up and weighing him in (at nine pounds, three ounces). He was still crying when they put him on my chest wrapped in a blanket, while the doctors continued to work on me.
I looked at him and couldn't believe it. He was perfect! I started talking to him and telling him how much I love him and he stopped crying. As my husband and the nurses took Aidan to the nursery to give him a bath, I lay on the operating table thinking that I was now the mom of a beautiful baby boy. That was the happiest day in my life.
For those of you who have high chances of delivering by Cesarean section, don't worry about it. Once you see your baby it won't matter how he came into the world. My baby was born happy, healthy and rested. And that was the most important thing to me. Also before I gave birth I was very nervous about being alone with a newborn, taking care of him, I'd felt I couldn’t handle it. By staying at the hospital longer I learned everything there was to know about taking care of him. When we finally brought Aidan home I felt calm and confident.
Remember that the whole point is for a little human being to be born. The details don't matter. Aidan's story
