“My suggestion is that you have a c-section. That’s what I would tell my daughter in your situation,” my doctor told me when I was 38 weeks pregnant with my first baby. I’d just had an ultrasound showing that Landon weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces- with a full 2 weeks to go, and zero dilation! I started crying when I saw the weight pop up on the sonographer’s screen. I knew what the doctor would say, but even so, I cried when he told me.

But I had a realization while mowing the lawn today- (it’s my best thinking time!) that God didn’t allow me to go through this experience 4 times without a reason. I feel like one of those reasons is to encourage other women in the situation. Any time one of his followers goes through something, he can use that person to help others! (This is actually part of the premise of my book.)

Anyway, I’m here to tell you: natural birth is best if possible, but a c-section is not a death sentence! It doesn’t even mean you can’t have lots of kids. I’ve got 4 and the mostly-green light for another from my doctor if we so choose. Now, it doesn’t even mean you have to be doomed to c-sections for all your babies, even though that’s how it played out for me.

Also, here’s a letter I wrote to c-section moms who may be emotionally struggling with the prospect of a c-section.

Here are the top 5 tips for having a c-section that I wish I’d known before my first one:

1.) Take your pain meds.

Take your pain meds. Take your pain meds. Yes, this one is important. With my third surgery, I decided to be “tough” woman and forgo meds for about 8 hours on the third day, which is coincidentally usually my worst day of pain following a c-section. Not sure what I was thinking, but it had me in tears until the meds could take effect. Set a timer if your phone if you need to. (you certainly don’t want to take them too often!) The medicines won’t hurt your baby even if your breastfeeding. And on that note…

2.) You can totally breastfeed!

I breastfed mine 14 months, 16 months, 17 months, and 19 months. It DOES take your milk a little longer to come in because you may not have gone into labor naturally (signaling your body to start lactating) but it can happen. Get a lactation consultant involved, get your mom involved, get your friends involved. You can even e-mail me if you have a specific question!

3.) Walk as much as you can, as soon as you can.

I recovered really, really well from all of my surgeries and I think it’s because I walked, a lot. I didn’t have a choice when Landon was born because I had to walk 2 blocks from our hospitality house to his NICU room everyday (sometimes multiple times a day) Don’t overdo it, but begin walking the hospital halls on day 2 if you’re allowed. This will also help ridding your body of all that extra fluid that built up during your pregnancy and surgery.

4.) Ask to keep your baby with you at all times after birth.

Most hospitals I know of are doing this now, but it never hurts to check. My first three, the babies were whisked to the nursery while I was taken to recovery. We were separated for hours. With Canaan, our last, he was all set to go with me to recovery, but as soon as I got there, he had to go to the NICU for a few hours. I was so worried he wouldn’t nurse after that (he was gone for 8 hours) but he literally nursed all.night.long. My night nurse said she’d never seen an 8-hour-old baby nurse that much!

5.) Keep a pillow close by.

Whether you use a Boppy, My Brest Friend, or just a plain ole’ bed pillow, these are great to have close by. Not only for nursing, but having something around my abdomen helped me feel more secure. It’s also nice told hold against you when you have to sneeze (or laugh!).

 And for a just-for-fun tip: Wear your lipstick for the delivery. No, really, one upside of a c-section (a planned one anyway) is that you can get all dolled up for the hundreds of pictures to come and baby will most likely be born before the lipstick wears off! I did NOT do this with my first one and I look like death warmed over in the pictures. So that’s my bonus pointer for ya. 🙂

Also, be sure to check out my friend Kirsen’s post on The Complete List of Post-Pregnancy Tips. LOTS Of helpful in there, c-section or not! One of her best tips- bring a back scratcher with you. Seriously, it’s genius y’all!