Mama Amy Motroni shares the C-section birth story of her daughter on the Honest Birth birth story series! Amy was induced at 40 weeks and after 28 hours, she was ready to push. Her daughter’s heart rate kept dropping, so Amy’s daughter was born via C-section!
Hey mamas! Welcome to the thirty-fourth post in my Honest Birth series! I’m excited to share another real mama’s birth story, because I think it’s so important to share our childbirth experiences with each other. My goal with this series is to provide a place for women to share their birth stories without holding anything back, as well as compile stories for pregnant mamas to read in preparation for their own childbirth experiences. Every mama is different and every birth is different, and I believe that when we share our stories we help each other.
Today I am featuring Amy Motroni! Amy lives in California with her husband and two-year-old daughter. She has a blog called The Postpartum Party where she offers advice, encouragement, and support for new and expecting moms. She remembers how hard that phase was and wants to help new moms in any way she can. She also loves to travel, write, catch up with friends while drinking wine or mojitos, and she loves binge watching her favorite TV shows. This is the first time Amy has ever shared her birth photo, and I am thrilled that she’s doing it here on Honest Birth! She said her daughter’s birth felt like such a whirlwind and a bit of a hot mess. She was always a little envious of those people who have picture-perfect photos in the hospital holding their new baby, but bringing a human into this world isn’t always so picture-perfect! Today Amy is going to be sharing the C-section birth story of her daughter, Evelyn!
Ready to read all about her daughter’s birth? Here we go!
The Birth Story of Evelyn Motroni
I was one of the last of my friends to get pregnant so I had heard several birth stories before I ever had my own to tell.
The common thing among the majority of them was that labor and delivery never went according to plan. Lesson number one in motherhood is that babies have their own opinions and it’s hard to have complete control over most, if any situations.
I had a very loose birth plan (yes I wanted the epidural and no I didn’t want my whole family in the delivery room), but I also knew that anything was possible and I wanted to be prepared for that.
I went to my 40 week appointment, thinking my doctor would tell me to just keep waiting and wishing to go into labor. Even though everything was fine with my pregnancy, to my surprise she asked if I wanted to schedule an induction within the week.
If my baby came before then, we would cancel it, but this gave us a plan just in case my baby wasn’t making any moves.
We scheduled the induction for the following Tuesday and I went home with a plan.
Driving to the hospital on induction day was the strangest thing. It was so anticlimactic and nothing I had pictured from movies or TV shows. My husband and I went out to breakfast that morning as one last hurrah before we were parents. Then we just drove to the hospital and checked in. It was totally uneventful and incredibly odd.
They tried some more natural and less invasive induction methods first and those took forever. In about 6 hours after being induced with Cytotec, I hadn’t even progressed one whole centimeter.
They inserted a foley bulb to try and help me progress. When the time came to take it out, the nurse struggled. She had to grab another nurse to help her. I’m not sure what happened but they got it out and there was a lot of blood and a lot of pain after that.
My legs started shaking uncontrollably. I had never experienced anything like it in my life. I asked for the epidural because I was in so much pain. The anesthesiologist told me to try and sit still but my legs would not stop moving.
Luckily I was able to keep my back straight enough to get the epidural. Once that kicked in, I was able to rest and sleep.
My body continued to slowly but surely progress. Eventually I was to the point where I could start pushing. Yay! It had been about 28 hours and I was ready!
As soon as I gave a few big pushes the doctor stopped me. My daughter’s heart rate dropped every time I pushed. We took a break, hoping that would help, but my daughter’s heart rate continued to drop every time I pushed. We played this waiting and pushing game for a bit before the doctor recommended a C-section.
I was devastated. Selfishly, I remember thinking that I had done all that hard labor for nothing. But I trusted my doctor so off to the delivery room they took me.
The anesthesiologist came in to do the spinal and I remember them telling me, “When you get in the operating room, you’re going to feel like you can’t breathe. Just remember if you’re talking, you’re breathing.”
I really didn’t think much of it. I’m not bothered by needles or blood or medicine or any of it, so I was just going with it.
As soon as they laid me on the operating table I. COULD. NOT. BREATHE. Being a rule follower and Enneagram 9, I politely told the doctor, “Excuse me. I know you said if I’m talking I’m breathing, but I really can’t breathe right now.”
I was gasping the words out. I knew they weren’t going to let me suffocate right in front of them but that is exactly what it felt like was happening.
The doctor came very close to me and said, “keep talking so you know you’re breathing.” I panicked and did the first thing that came to my mind.
I started singing my ABC’s. I was choking the letters out one by one, and before I knew it, my daughter was here!
I couldn’t believe how fast the surgery was. They put my sweet daughter—Evelyn—on my chest right away. I was a bag of emotions but glad she was here and it was finally finished.
I grieved my birth story for a long time. I wondered if I made a mistake getting induced. Maybe I should have done something differently. I was sad that I didn’t get to see the labor process through fruition and have a vaginal delivery.
And then around Evelyn’s first birthday a friend of ours lost their baby at 40 weeks. We were devastated and crushed for them. It was then that I realized it didn’t matter how Evelyn came into this world. She was healthy and happy and all ours. My birth story wasn’t a beautiful one, but someone beautiful came from it.
I love, love, love how Amy ended her story. Birth really can go so differently from what we plan, and while it’s hard to accept when it goes totally different, the most important thing really is a healthy baby and mama! Thanks to Amy for sharing Evelyn’s birth story and thanks to all of you mamas for coming to read it! Make sure you follow Amy on Instagram and Pinterest, and check out her blog, The Postpartum Party. And check back next month for another Honest Birth post!
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