🇺🇸 My Birth Story Abroad - Adam's Birth

I did it! I finally sat down and wrote Adam's Birth Story!

My friend just read it and started to tear up and said it is beautiful. Let me know if you connect to any parts of it!

Remember that the #MyBirthStoryAbroad project is built with the idea that we can all connect with each other somehow... So, here it is:

At the end of February 2017, I was almost 37 weeks pregnant. I had been going for fetal monitoring (CTG) due to a possible preeclampsia for a week. It was a Monday, and I was in my gynecologist's office in #Budapest. Laci was with me. The doctor mentioned that he had noticed arrhythmias in the baby's heartbeat and suggested "a c-section as soon as possible." He commented that both my baby and I could be at "risk of death." I froze.

I had never heard the word "#preeclampsia" before ... I decided not to look anything else up on the internet as I was afraid to find information that might scare me more.

The doctor opened his agenda, and told us that the first gap he had that week was Thursday. Laci and I looked at each other and nodded. A part of me was super happy because I was going to have my baby in my arms in just 3 days.

I don't recall feeling particularly nervous over the course of those 3 days. I prepared everything, researched what I might need for an surgery like a #CSection, and that's it.

That Thursday we left home at 7:00am so that we could be at the clinic around 7:30.

We arrived and they took care of us immediately, they took me to the operating room and told me that Laci couldn't be there during the administration of the epidural. That room was so cold it felt like being in a fridge. The staff was friendly, and I felt a mixture of sheltered and completely alone and vulnerable. I started to shake and got nervous.

Luckily, it was a very quick procedure and I was quickly transferred to the operating room. I couldn't stop shivering ...

Laci entered the room after what felt like a minute and for a second I became even more nervous. I was relived to see him but that room was very cold! I was placed on the operating table, and Laci immediately held my hand. They explained to us about the operation's dynamics. They even tried to describe how it may feel:

"You're going to feel that we touch you, that we stretch you, but it won't hurt" and with that, I got a little nervous again.

-"What are they telling me? That I'm going to feel things but that it won't hurt? ... That's not possible! It sure hurts, I am sure I will feel it ...."-

And with those thoughts in mind I looked at Laci and begged him to start talking to me. To tell me a story, a tale ... And so he did, although I don't remember anything he said to me. But it calmed me down, it distracted me.

After what felt like a rather short time, I noticed "something" that I can't describe. It didn't hurt at all though. Suddenly, the doctor's voice blended with Laci's. I didn't understand a word... Laci stopped his story and said: "That's it" and in the background I heard our baby's cry... All of a sudden, I had Adam held up in the air by two hands, almost touching my cheeks, or my hair. I started to cry.

I don't remember his smell, or the touch of his skin against mine because he was immediately taken away from me.

At that moment in time, everything seemed normal to me. I was happy.

Laci told me that he was going to go up to the room with the baby to do skin-to-skin immediately. In the meantime I was going to have those 7 layers of cuts sewn. "Ok!" I said to him with tears in my eyes. It was about 10 minutes of sewing and time flew by.

They took me upstairs, to our room, and there I found Laci comfortably holding Adam on his bare chest...

Back then everything seemed normal, everything seemed correct. To this day I am glad that I felt that way at that time. However, 3 years have gone by and I do see things differently, but that is a reflection for a future blog entry"

If you've gotten this far, Thanks for reading!