So I have seen a lot of questions from moms facing a second csection - and especially from those where the first experience was horrid.

Background: with my first pregnancy/birth I was induced at 41 weeks and 3 days after not going into labor myself - at all. No dilation. After three days of induced labor, pain, and a failed epidural, I “caved” and had a csection. I felt the WHOLE surgery and was rather traumatized by it. NOT an experience I ever wanted to repeat.

10 months later we ‘magically’ conceived our second son (I have PCOS and was told I would never conceive naturally - oops!). While I was a candidate for a VBAC at the beginning of my pregnancy, that possibility soon disappeared as boy #2 was measuring quite big! (My labor stalled the first time because my son couldn’t fit between my pelvic area...). So we scheduled a second csection for when I hit 39 weeks.

Day after Halloween we dropped my 19 month old son off and headed to the hospital to check in at 10:30am. We were ushered into a small L&D room where I changed into a gown, my vitals were taken, tons of questions asked, and baby was monitored. Finally, around 1pm we walked (yes, walked), to the OR. I sat on the OR table and the anesthesiologist walked me through the spinal tap. I made sure to communicate my severe anxieties over the upcoming surgery and my fear of feeling the surgery again. This anesthesiologist and the head OR nurse were AMAZING. They were sympathetic and took me seriously. They took extra steps to make sure I was comfortable and plenty numb before the surgery began.

Spinal tap is WAY different than what they give you through the epidural btw... it is a deeper injection and it was super effective. I honestly only felt the pressure this time and had a slight issue catching my breath (heavy baby sitting high up on my lungs while I laid on my back).

At 1:12 my second son was brought into this world by an amazing team weighing 10lb 10.5oz and measuring 21 inches. WOWZA! He did have hypoglycemia and needed to go to the NICU for several hours to eat formula and be closely monitored (my husband went with him while I finished my time in recovery and was moved to my room). But everything checked out and my son was moved into my room that night, healthy and sleeping. My husband went home with my oldest son and I relied on the night nurse staff to help me with my son. They were also amazing.

I was up and moving the next day, just an hour after removing my catheter and IV. I chose to only take ibuprofen/Motrin as opposed to the stronger pain meds, but I will say this - do NOT try to tough it out! If you cannot get out of bed and walk to the bathroom without wanting to cry in pain, take the stronger meds. You NEED to walk a bit to recover. My pain tolerance seems to be pretty high and my recovery has always been somewhat easier for me in comparison to my friends. I walked the halls that first afternoon.

I chose to go home on day 3 to the shock of the nurses and pediatrician, hehehe. While I was definitely sore and still needed to take it slow, I was ready for my own bed and spending time with my family all together (my toddler did NOT do well with longer visits in the hospital where he wasn’t allowed to play with stuff).

It is now a little over a week after having my second son and I am feeling very blessed. This second csection went MUCH better than my first, and the recovery was even better too. If you have fears and anxieties, PLEASE make your nurses aware so they can help you.

Oh! And bring a water bottle and breast feeding pillow... helped a lot during my recovery. Take their gas and stool softener meds.