The pregnant woman sitting next to me at the park talks jubilantly about her upcoming birth and the way she hopes her labor plays out. I smile and nod, feeling excited on her behalf. I have four children, and the birthing days are solidly behind me. "Did you write a birth plan?" she asks me. "Yep. Every time." "What happened?" I hesitate, always hating the answer. "I had three C-sections." I am the ultimate cliché, the woman who detailed her plans for birth, going slightly over the recommended limit of one page for a birth plan. My husband and I took a birthing class and watched "The Business of Being Born", taking notes for later reference.
I dreamt of unmedicated birth, immediate skin-to-skin contact, and going home quickly after labor. Then, for three separate reasons – breech baby, three-weeks-overdue baby with no signs of labor, identical twins with TAPS – I was taken to a sterile OR to be sliced open, my children removed from my body that was numb from the waist down. I baked under the heat of the OR lamp while still shivering and wondered what I had done wrong. I was handed my babies before I promptly puked. Still, I attempted to cradle them in shaking arms, my body wrecked from all the medication. It wasn't until I needed a procedure to obtain a sample of my endometrial lining that l learned I have a defective cervix, one that simply will not dilate. It was a painful discovery, both in a physical and emotional way, but I chuckled maniacally thinking of my still-saved birth plan stored on my computer.
How the hell was this little discovery supposed to make me feel? A friend said I should be grateful. In countries where access to C-sections isn't promised, I would have likely been dead, an obstructed labor taking my first daughter as well. I tried on gratefulness and truly did feel thankful that all of my births ended well. However, I still felt like a fool, a woman who felt humiliated by my own body and its betrayal of me. I've had a year to absorb the defective cervix news, and in that time, my feelings have changed.
Today, my decision to write birth plans makes me proud. I'm glad I did it, that I trotted into my doctor's office each time with my wishes spelled out in ink. I'm glad I was educated about childbirth, that I went from knowing nothing about having a baby to researching and planning for months for the birth I felt was right for me. It was my first step towards mindful parenting, the process of weighing all my options and settling on what I believed was the ideal outcome for our family. Of course, the ideal didn't pan out, but having a plan in the first place gave me a jump-off point to work from.
What could we salvage from the plan? How could we adjust? What was best for everyone when the circumstances shifted? This lesson, it turns out, is one that every parent will have to learn at some point. We all have the ideal plans for how we're going to raise our kids and how they will turn out. Then life happens. We regroup. We save what we can. We find ways to be thankful along the way and fully grasp that none of this was ever truly in our control. We keep trying. I also gained experience in standing up for what I believe is best for my kids. When I planned to VBAC with my son, I received a variety of responses. People laughed at me.
They expressed shock that I wasn't signing up for another C-section without a fight. Many questioned if VBACs were even a thing and if I was endangering my son by trying. I held my ground. I now do this regularly when people question my decisions to homeschool, to not dress our twins in the same outfits, or to try gentle discipline instead of spanking. I didn't successfully VBAC, but I knew it was the chance I wanted my son to have, so I tried to give it to him.
I wouldn't take that back. Writing a birth plan prepared me for looking ahead and making conscious choices. It taught me that I don't have to follow the crowd or someone else's way of doing things. I can chart my own course and do everything possible to navigate the experience and land where I want. I can also live through it when life inevitably has other plans.
Birth is not going to go exactly as you had imagined, planned, or expected. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to be your own best advocate in the delivery room.
ParentCo.
Author