Right on schedule: The birth of Barker
May 4, 2015 was one of the most exciting days for my little family. It’s the day our sweet Barker Hayes was born. I had a repeat scheduled C-section for that day. A few weeks before I was sure I wouldn’t make it that long, but somehow we did.
That weekend before the C-section, I was a nervous wreck. My family came to town on Saturday followed by in-laws on Sunday. We were so excited to celebrate and be together, but I just couldn’t get my nerves under control. The fact that I knew I was waking up at 5 a.m. to go have surgery scared me to death. The night before I barely slept.
On the big day, my husband, Barrett and I woke up and got ready to leave while everyone else was still snoozing. By the time we got to the hospital I was completely calm. I’m not sure how I managed to do that, but I wasn’t nervous one bit.
That morning my doctor had another C-section to do before ours, so we were scheduled for 9:15 a.m. We went to labor and delivery, and they took us to the room where we would be staying while we were in the hospital. Seriously? That was relatively easy. I changed, and they started my IV. At about 8:30 a.m. my doctor came in and said, “We are almost ready to go; we just have to count the utensils.” Of course none of our family was there yet. About five minutes later they were rolling me down the hall.
With my first C-section I was pretty much out of it, so I didn’t remember a thing. This time I went into the room and sat up on the table to have my spinal done. (I forgot how completely painful that is!) My legs started to go numb within seconds. The room was freezing. I thought to myself, I can’t handle being this cold the entire time. And at that moment the nurse was bringing me warm blankets for my arms.
A few moments later my husband and our pediatrician came in. (My doctor and our pediatrician both have children that go to the school where my husband is the principal.) During the surgery, the three of them were talking about school stuff! Seriously there I was in the middle of a C-section, and you are talking about when the last day of school is! But it actually helped me to not feel so nervous, and it took my mind off of what was really going on.
A few minutes later I felt some serious pressure, and then I heard the doctor say, “Oh, I see some hair.” Then we heard the sweetest sound of his little cry. They brought him around for me to see, and he looked identical to his big sister. My husband and the pediatrician took him to the nursery and to meet our families while the doctor finished the surgery.
When they left someone turned on a radio, and I heard, “Celebrate good times, come on!” not long after I was headed to recovery. My whole experience with a repeat C-section was amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a more relaxing birth for our little guy. We are so in love and can’t remember life without him!
Send us your birth story! Whether you had a home birth, hospital birth, 37-hour labor or emergency C-section, we’d love to read the tale of your little one’s grand entrance. Write up your birth story (click here for tips on getting started) and email it, along with a few photos, to birthstory@pnmag.com. We’ll share it on our Birth Day blog and may even print it in an upcoming issue!
