did you know… April is C-section awareness month?

Flashback to the fall of 2020 (a brutal year!) — I woke up with a fever 2 days before my due date, and my doc told me to go to the hospital to get checked out. We weren’t prepared to deliver that day and were shocked when they said I had an unexplained infection and they’d need to induce.

(I laugh now at my internal dialogue “But I’m supposed to have my baby in October! I wanted an opal birthstone!” 🙈)

It turns out I had chorioamnionitis (placental infection!) and after 12 hours of labor I was still very sick and baby was in distress. I cried when they said I’d have to have a c-section — this wasn’t the way my birth story was “supposed” to go!

In the operating room, Robbie and I scanned through our “mellow” birth playlist for the right song, eventually locking eyes… it was “I Need My Girl” - The National and T entered this world screaming (singing???) along!

It’s been 3 years since that day, and I still have moments processing birth trauma. I get triggered by social media and certain comments from others…. claiming this 7 layer major surgery is the “easy way out” or the baby was “ripped from my body without being ready and didn’t get that hormonal bond from a vaginal delivery” (ummm have you seen me and my little bestie? 👯‍♀️) or I would have trouble nursing (we went for 2 years 3 months! 💖)

All this is to say… I look at my vivacious, healthy daughter and am so grateful to have her — our beginning was just a blip in our mama baby journey!

Belly birthers are strong. Vaginal birthers are strong. ALL moms are strong.

I saw a quote from @kotuttle that really hit me in the feels >> “For me the joys and rigors of motherhood vastly outshine and overshadow the birth experience and story. So if you didn’t get the birth you were hoping for, just know there is so much more to look forward to in motherhood that can redeem even the most harrowing of beginnings” 💖

SHARE this with a c-section mama who could use a little encouragement ✨

pattern: @mamamademinis photo by: @alexispetersonphoto