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My name is Danielle, I am a cesarean section mother, and I love the Unnecesarean blog. Why? Because of my experiences as a pregnant woman and a mother. It all started what seems like forever ago, but in reality it was only April of 2007. I learned I was pregnant with my first child Camden. I was not really educated about birth, pregnancy, or natural birth in general and in turn I paid the price. I started seeing a practice of two female Obstetricians thinking the care I would get through them would be similar to the midwifery model of care, and I was completely wrong. At 21 years old, healthy, and having the typical bumpy, sick, miserable pregnancy, I was labeled high risk and it seems like everything from then on out was as medicalized as it could possibly be. But I was so blinded by the mentality that doctors know everything and that I was doing what was “best” for my baby, because that is what they told me, that I followed along like a lemming walking straight off of a cliff. During the last month of my pregnancy, after experiencing a family tragedy, my pregnancy took a turn for the worse. I was getting sick daily, losing weight but continuing to eat like I had previously. At my last check up at 39 weeks my OB brought up an induction because of what was going on, and because I thought it was best for my son I went ahead with it not knowing anything about it. No talk of what it all entailed from my providers, just went right into it.

Well long story short after being on Pitocin for 6 hours, my OB decided I was not going to dilate any more and I needed a c-section. Or maybe it was just that she wanted to be home for dinner?

At 4:37pm my eldest son Camden entered the world.  During the surgery one of the OB/GYN’s commented, someone of my size (petite frame and short stature) would have never been able to birth that baby. Ya ok!  My mother, my size, gave birth to an over 10 pound baby, HER FIRST CHILD!

My recovery sucked, I hated my experience, I hated the pain, I hated not being able to get in and out of bed without help, I hated breastfeeding because my son leaned on the painful incision, I hated every detail about it. It was not necessary by any means.

I still to this day hate it.

When Camden was 9 months old I became pregnant with my second child. I knew right off the bat I was not going to jump on the surgery band wagon and just sign up for that oh so common repeat cesarean. I searched high and low for a provider that I was comfortable with. I interviewed several providers and in the end picked a practice of midwives, which included a HBAC mother herself, HBAC = Home birth after cesarean for those who are not familiar with the term.

I had the picture perfect pregnancy. Uneventful, calm, relaxed, no bumps in the road, I did not even throw up! Not to brag or anything. (Haha) But in the end I was “diagnosed” with gestational diabetes, which to this day I do not believe I had. Not an elevated blood sugar, no big baby, nothing.

On May 16th 2009 I was doing a booth for ICAN at our local hospital when I went into labor. I had been telling my second child all along, you must stay put until I am done with this commitment! Well I guess he kind of obeyed. I went home to rest but that didn’t work as my labor became more intense as I went along. I called my doula, and my midwife and she told me to stay home as long as I could, if I went to the hospital the “clock” would start and I would not be given a really fair chance to VBAC.

I labored, and labored, and labored until my contractions were on top of each other and I decided we should head to the hospital because it was about 45 minutes away.

We got there and I was floored, I was only 2-3 cm!!  My doula was completely dumbfounded. That was my first “blow” to my VBAC. As time went on, and I did not progress, I opted for an epidural. Me, the woman who swore she would never have one again, hated them, they are EVIL went ahead and had one so I could sleep after being up for almost a day.

It was all down hill from then on out.

My contractions continued to progress, but my cervix did not follow, and my son did not proceed to move down into the birth canal like he was supposed to. Still to this day I wonder if he got lost on his way.

My Midwife consulted the on call OB/GYN who came in to talk to me, along with the Resident who was on call. They were both amazingly warm, friendly, and comforting, and at that point I knew that a cesarean would be how my son was born. But I was not as bothered by it this time around, because after nearly 26 hours of labor, something was wrong, seriously wrong. My mothers intuition turned on and my son was in trouble.

It turned out he was in trouble, and he would have never been born vaginally.

Benjamin Emil was born at 1:59pm with a giant bruise on his poor little forehead. He was jammed behind my pelvic bone and despite the Chiropractic adjustments during labor, staying on my hands and knees for hours, nothing would move him. It took two Obstetricians to actually un-lodge him from behind my pelvic bone.

During my recovery in the hospital, my midwife would come and chat with me every morning, and we talked at length about how necessary it was for him to be born that way, without that cesarean section he likely would not be here today, and I am so grateful for my second cesarean.

The story I tell is a story of a completely unnecessary cesarean section with my first child, and a life saving cesarean with my second.

The story I tell is a story of pain, and hurt, and betrayal by the one person I trusted the most, my Doctor.

The story I tell is a story of hope for other mothers to learn and become educated from my words.

The story I tell is the story of my sons, the loves of my life, and the ones who have made me the mom, advocate, and woman I am today.

My Birth Journeys from Danielle Elwood on Vimeo.

All in all, I am now the North East Regional Coordinator for ICAN, a chapter leader, and the head of a maternity care campaign in my state of Connecticut. My experiences, my children, and my battle has made me become so active that I have been honored to support other women who have been where I have, and I have helped others to prevent unnecessary cesareans.

I love what I do.

I love the birth community.

I love ICAN.

I love being a Birth Activist!