At 38 weeks pregnant, Aria Noreen was still in breech position. I had a scheduled c section for Monday, October 9th, but miss Aria had other plans.

Friday, September 29th, at around 6:30 a.m. I woke up and as I headed to the bathroom (for the 5th or so time since going to bed,) I immediately noticed a warm liquid running down my leg.

My first thought was, “oh no! My amniotic fluid!” — but I’ve also thought that before, and so I went back to bed for another 15 minutes. Then I got up again — and even more water gushed.

I called Shane into the bedroom and said, surprisingly calmly, “Uhhh, I think my water broke.” We were scheduled to go to the OB’s office for our 38 week appointment at 10a that morning anyway, but I called the doctor on call and explained what was going on.

“Yep, that definitely sounds like what’s going on! Go ahead and come straight to the office and we’ll check.”

The day before I was swimming laps, and the day before that, pushing a sled and lifting weights — and feeling great, too — and now I was likely going into labor!

After a quick shower, and grabbing a couple last minute things, we got out of the house in about 20 minutes to the office. This was quite the car ride, where Shane passed a woman who was driving slow in a no-passing zone! We both waved sorry, and were met with a horn blowing and getting flipped the bird – sorry, not sorry.

When we arrived, Dr. Kim confirmed that indeed my water has broken. I wasn’t having contractions or anything, and other than being soaked, I felt completely fine. The front desk staff actually looked at me with wide eyes when I’d walked up and calmly told them that I was seeing Dr. Kim because my water broke.

“Go! Go up stairs!” they said.

A quick ultrasound confirmed that my water had broken, and we were directed to go immediately to the hospital where they would begin to prep me for an emergency c section. This was about 8:45 a.m. by the time we left, and we were shooting for around a 10a surgery.

The entire car ride to the hospital, we just kept repeating, “omg. We’re going to have a baby today!!” It seemed utterly surreal. I was texting my parents, my clients scheduled for that day, and our housekeeper, who was on her way to clean, as well as a couple friends.

As soon as we got to the hospital and checked in, they started monitoring baby and prepping me for surgery. I had a long non stress test, got an IV of fluid started, and tried not to panic over the eminent. I felt fainty a couple times, and all I wanted was some water, but couldn’t since I was going into surgery. A cold rag on my forehead and wrists sufficed.

Then before I knew it, Shane was dressed in his OR gear, and things were happening!

We were ready for the gentle csectionl

What is a gentle c section?

• Delayed cord clamping
• Immediate skin to skin contact in the OR
• Dad cuts the cord
• 2 support persons allowed
• Baby stays with mom the entire time after birth (no taking to the nursery)
• Breastfeeding within an hour of birth

I walked to the operating room, and Shane waited outside while I was prepped and got my spinal. I was VERY nervous about this, because I’ve read several weird side effects that I was worried would make me faint/panic.

However, once I was in the room, the mood was surprisingly positive, light, and excited! They explained everything to me very thoroughly, and I felt extremely supported. They reassured me that everything would go well, and my baby girl would be placed on my chest ASAP after her delivery.

To get in my zone, I just kept my eyes closed and repeated, “Jesus” as my mantra in my head. It did the trick to keep me calm as I received my numbing shot, and then the spinal. The spinal wasn’t super comfortable, but it also didn’t hurt much.

Almost instantly, my legs started to feel warm, and then started to numb. They moved me into a supine position, put the blue curtain up from my chest down, and brought in Shane, who sat down right next to my head.

It was so weird to have him there, and us just having a normal conversation (in between mentally going into my mantra.) Before we knew it, a nurse told me, “they’re making the incision, Paige!”

It was really cool having her there, giving us the play by play. Within minutes, one of the doctors said, “that’s a cute butt!” and “we have a chunky baby in here!”

Then all of the sudden, they told we have a baby! Since it was a gentle c section (meaning as baby and mama/daddy friendly as possible) they then lay Aria on my legs as they suctioned her nose and mouth.

Then…the best sound I’ve ever heard in my life — our baby’s cry. Shane and I looked at each other and instantly started crying, saying, “that’s our baby!!”

We were able to do delayed cord clamping — about two minutes, and after that, Shane was called over to cord, and she was brought over to my chest.

Instant. love. World = changed.

She remained on my chest for the entire time that they stitched me back up, and I just held her, (and she held Shane’s finger.)

After about 10-15 minutes, she was given to Shane, and they transferred me onto a recovery bed and we all went back to our recovery room.

Shane continued to hold her while they monitored my blood pressure and did some other things for 10-15 minutes. Then, I got in lots of skin to skin time, and breastfed her for the first time. It really was magical.

Honestly, from start to finish, it was SUCH a positive experience. I can’t believe we were in the doctor’s office at 8:45, and she was born at 11:19.

The c section itself wasn’t bad at all for me. I did feel a teeny bit of pressure and jostling, but it was very minimal. I also didn’t feel drugged up or out of it.

Other than the numbing, I felt zero of the other side effects from the epidural. Some people report shaking, shivering, and intense pain in the shoulder from air going into the diaphragm, but luckily I experienced none of these.

Once we were back in the recovery room, that’s where we all stayed. This hospital only takes babies to the nursery if something’s wrong, so she stayed in the room with us the entire time, until we left two days later, since I was recovering and feeling quite well.

As I’m writing this, I’m one week out from the c section, and I’m planning to write a post on my c section recovery experience, as well.

Welcome to the world, Aria Noreen! You’ve changed our hearts and our worlds forever.