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Plan for a Cesarean Birth

I don't know yet how this baby is going to come into this world. I don't know if I will labor and push him out like I did his big brother, or if I will be spread-eagle on a table while a doctor cuts into my body and removes him like his big sister was born. Either way, I hope I can bring him home, and I also hope the birth is as close to perfect as circumstances allow.

Wait, perfect? Yes, perfect. My perfect birth would be a combination of the two births above. I would prefer to push him out, scoop him up and hold him, listen to his first cry. I pushed Freddy out, I scooped him out of the water, but he did not cry. It has been over a year and the sound of a newborn cry is the hardest thing for me to hear, because I'm still waiting for the one that never came, and as much as I want to respond the cries I have heard, they aren't for me to answer.

I heard Tiri cry, but I didn't meet her for almost a half a day after she was born. I saw her, but only flashes, glimpses, before I succumbed to the drugs and drifted off again. I don't remember her first nursing sessions (it was her third when I opened my eyes to see my husband holding her to my breast. I remember thinking good, she's eating, because falling asleep again.)

They say the third time is the charm.

I don't know how I will give birth, but I know how I *want* to give birth, and I need to plan for the variable. What follows will be a rough outline of my desires if this baby is born by cesarean section.

I've been reading about "gentle cesarean". Today I read a wonderful post on Birth Without Fear: Compassionate Elective Cesarean Birth. It brought tears to my eyes. She knew she was having a section, and she knew what she wanted from her birth. She met her baby right away, she nursed him as soon as he wanted to, they didn't cut his cord immediately.

For my birth, if it comes to surgery, I want the same thing.

I want to meet him right away. 

I want to hold him, nurse him on the table if he is so inclined. 

I want delayed cord clamping (don't tell me it's impossible, I know it isn't!) 

No eye drops, but he can have the vitamin K shot. 

No bath until I am well enough to be a part of it. (Another thing I missed with Tiri. They took her out and bathed her. Jerek was there, but I was left behind.) 

No formula. I'm a Guernsey cow when it comes to milk production and content. I can feed my baby juuuuuust fine. 

Skin to skin with mommy and daddy as much as possible. 

Rooming-in, do not take my baby without my permission, and wherever baby goes, either I or his dad goes. 

NO circumcision. 

This is rough, but I wanted to get it all spelled out now while I was thinking of it. I will be discussing this with both the doctor I have an appointment with tomorrow, and with my midwife.

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