My Hypnobirth/VBAC Story

704bride

Water breaking/Foley bulb catheter
My water broke at 2:30AM on 11/6 and some contractions started, but then stopped.  I had a few more when I got up in the morning, but then those stopped, too.  I'm a VBAC mommy, so my midwife suggested castor oil to try to get things started, so we could try to avoid pitocin and another c-section.  I had a few more contractions on my way to the hospital after taking that.  I continued to have a few while they hooked me up for an NST.  My cervix was very soft and I was 50% effaced, but only dilated about 1 cm.  It?s hard to tell how quickly I would have progressed on my own at that point or if I was truly in labor.  My midwife suggested inserting  a Foley bulb catheter  that fills with water to dilate my cervix to try to get things moving without medicine.  It was uncomfortable for a little while and I had to stay in bed for about a half hour.  I continued to have contractions.  I was told that when it came out (up to 12 hrs later), I would be 3-4 cm dilated and if labor wasn't continuing on its own, she would want to start Pitocin.  The thought of Pitocin definitely made me nervous.  I spent a lot of time rocking in a chair because being in bed or sitting on the exercise ball were both too uncomfortable. 

Labor Progressing
DH and I started an episode of Modern Family, which was nice for a little while, until sitting in the chair got to be uncomfortable, too.  I was just feeling way too much pressure down low and found myself pushing up on the arms of the chair with my arms during contractions, which I know was making my body tense up (even though I kept my hands from making fists or squeezing anything).  By around 9 or 10, I was getting impatient for the bulb to fall out because I had hoped I would have progressed further by then.  They checked my vitals every 2 hours and every time they came to check, I was surprised another two hours had gone by.   Contractions started to come pretty close together and some seemed to last for quite a long time.  I was exhausted (partially due to almost no sleep the night before) and desperately wanted to lay in bed to try to sleep in-between contractions, but laying in bed was really uncomfortable.  I began to doubt myself and wondered if I would be able to make it through without any medication.  I had visions of being in labor until sometime the next day.  My midwife asked if I wanted Morphine or something to help me sleep.  She seemed to think we had a long night ahead of us.  I said that I didn?t want anything because I know of two people who took Ambien to help them sleep and it totally back-fired on them.  I didn?t want to deliver my baby while on any drugs, not to mention that I didn?t want him to get anything.  I ended up laying in bed and dozed a bit. 


Pushing
Around 11 or so, I suddenly felt the urge to push and out came the bubble, so it was assumed that I was now 3-4 cm dilated.  VERY shortly after that (maybe 2-3 contractions??), I was feeling the urge to push again.  I couldn't understand why, so she checked me and said I was about 7cm and 100% effaced.  Everything after that started to happen so quickly.  I had contraction after contraction with almost no break in-between and kept feeling the urge to push.  Finally, I think she did something to help push my cervix aside and then said I could start pushing.   At one point after I started pushing, she held up her hand to show me how much of the head she could see.  I couldn?t believe it was only about the size of a silver dollar, yet she sounded so happy!  They set up the mirror so that I could watch my progress.  I had really hoped I would only need to push a few times, but that didn?t happen.   I pushed for about an hour and seriously wondered if I would have the energy to keep going.  It was HARD work.  I was exhausted.  Seeing her getting everything ready was so encouraging though!  I was surprised to hear her say that the next time I felt the urge to push, she might have me push and then blow through one of the urges because she didn?t want him to come out too quickly.  I couldn?t believe it when he actually came out on my next push. 

After the birth
They put him right on my belly (where we saw for ourselves that he was a boy!) and then I was able to hold him close for hours before they took him away from me.  He had a hard time latching on to nurse, but I think it was because I had to lay on my back as they stitched me up.  Stitching my tears after it was all over was AWFUL.  I had second degree tears (I sometimes wish I hadn?t tried so hard to push him out, but I was worried that I was getting too exhausted and wouldn?t be able to get him out) and a sulcus tear, which is a tear that goes into the vagina.  They thought that was from his elbow on his way out.  Trust me ? it is not easy for them to access a tear on the INSIDE of your body without causing considerable discomfort.  I could not wait for it all to be over with and was so glad that I was holding my little boy through the whole thing.  After he was born, DH made a comment about avoiding a c-section.  It suddenly hit me then that I actually got the drug-free VBAC that I wanted!  I was so proud of myself and DH told me he was really impressed with how I did.  So, Jonathan Cameron was born at 1:11 AM (only about 2 hours after I was only 3-4 cm dilated!) on 11/7/11, weighing 7 lbs. 14 oz and measuring 20 ? inches.

stahlop

Congrats!  That picture is adorable.

indiana101

Awesome story, thanks for sharing! Absolutely love your picture too! I haven't heard too many birth stories with the foley bulb, so this is very encouraging.

Kristine Schilling

You just gave me tremendous confidance!

One question... where was the hypo part? lol.

704bride

Kristine Schilling:

You just gave me tremendous confidance!

One question... where was the hypo part? lol.

I probably should've added some stuff in, but it got to be so long!  The main things that helped me the most were knowing that I could do it, remembering to breathe, and to not make fists, clench my teeth - basicallly to stay as relaxed as possible.  I also visualized a blue balloon filling with air, then drifting away with each contraction for a little while, which really helped tremendously.  DH also had relaxing music playing, which I really liked.  I kept thinking that I should listen to my Hypnobirthing CDs, particularly near the end, but I couldn't tell if it would annoy me more than help.  Then all of a sudden, it was time to push!

Blue Pansy

Great story, and that pic is sooo cute!