At 30 weeks with my second child I was terrified when they told me the baby was breech. What does that mean? What happens next? They told that they would check again at 36 weeks to see if she had turned. But until then there wasn’t much I could do. Of course, I took to the Internet and found (and did) all of the crazy positions that were used to try to turn the baby. I laid on the floor with my pelvis against the couch. I put 10 pillows under my pelvis while I laid in bed. Anything to avoid the dreaded C-section.

But it must have worked, because at 36 weeks she had turned head down. Hallelujah! No doctors were going to push on my stomach to get her to move, and I didn’t have to worry about having a C-section.

Wrong.

I had to be induced at 41 weeks 2 days with my daughter. She apparently was real comfy in there. The medicine they gave me the night before the scheduled induction sent me into labor. I went from 1 centimeter to 10 centimeters in 15 minutes. At that time the nurse said, “I’m going to have someone else check you.” Well, that scared the crap out of me. And yep, Miss I-Like-the-Warm-Womb had turned again and was breech. This was at 1:50 a.m., and I was rushed to an emergency C-section. My husband was signing papers as they rushed me down the hall. They put me completely out, as my body was going to deliver this baby no matter her position.

The next thing I knew it was 5 a.m. As I woke up, I saw my beautiful daughter Charlotte Opal for the first time. It was love at first sight. She was perfect. And I was in pain. But I got this fancy button that I pushed when I needed some more morphine. Mmm… morphine. The hardest part was knowing I missed the first three hours of my daughter’s life. But we were both healthy, and that’s what mattered.

The hospital stay and recovery from my surgery was actually great. I was up and moving around noon. The angels (okay, nurses) delivered me medicine exactly on time and would take my baby when I needed to sleep. Except for this one nurse who kept telling me to brush my hair. I don’t know what that was about. I was actually surprised that I was not in more pain. I’m not going to lie, going to the bathroom was still scary, but was easier than my vaginal birth.

Once we got home, the biggest problem was the no lifting requirements. That was hard with a two-year-old who wanted Mommy. After a few weeks, I felt awesome and basically returned to normal activities. This was unlike my previous birth. I was in pain up until 12 weeks with my vaginal birth. The one thing I really liked with the C-section was that I could sit on the floor and play with the kids. But with my vaginal birth, no way. I recovered more quickly than I expected.

If I were to do it again, I would definitely have another C-section (but I’m not, my baby shop is closed). I know all women have different experiences, but my C-section was great for me, even though I was terrified. I’m glad I got to experience both births. And the best part? My two beautiful children.

What birth experience have you preferred?