"unsuccessful' VBAC birth story
Hi all! I lurked here for months and wanted to post my birth story of an induction VBAC turned R/C-S for any moms who are considering a VBAC but are afraid of "failing." I didn't see many stories of moms where the VBAC wasn't "successful" so I thought it might be helpful to post here.
I was 5 days overdue and my Dr. gave me the option of induction or R-C/S. I decided to try induction. Of course I couldn?t sleep the night before because I knew we?d be going in to get induced early in the morning and I didn?t know what time they would call! Both Mitch and I were tossing and turning all night and awake by 4:45 a.m.
We got the call about 6:45 a.m. to head in to the hospital, and it was about 9:00 a.m. before they got my Pitocin going, so the morning felt like it was dragging. I was really excited to have a great nurse because she encouraged me to use the birthing ball and take walks in the hallway as we waited for the Pitocin to kick in.
They decided to break my water at 11:45 a.m. and the contractions really got intense quickly after that. I had an internal monitor measuring the contractions because I was attempting a VBAC and they needed to keep a close eye on me. Well, it turned out the internal monitor was twisted because it was measuring my contractions at ?30? but they were very painful. When they fixed the monitor, they were up to ?139? and higher!
I was really doing well managing the pain, but definitely also ready for the epidural, which I got at 3:45 p.m. That?s when things got a little crazy. When they put in my catheter, it drained quite a bit and that shifted the baby around and he didn?t really care for that! His heart rate was going down and they had me in several positions to try and keep him happy but also at the same time to help him to move down a little bit. He never got lower than a -3 station, he was so high!
About 6:00 p.m., several doctors came in because the baby wasn?t tolerating the contractions. They had already cut my Pitocin in half (to a level 4) and then they cut it off completely and put me on oxygen. They used an ultrasound to check on my c/s scar and said that it looked intact but that it was pretty thin.
They were very supportive and went through the options with me, giving pros and cons for both vaginal and c-section deliveries without pressuring me either way. I really wanted to talk to my Dr. so luckily he arrived shortly thereafter and we decided to go ahead and do a c-section.
Everything moved very quickly then and within about 15 minutes, we were in the operating room. I had pretty violent shakes and some numbness in my hands, but other than that was feeling well. It seemed to go very quickly and I felt a lot more pressure this time than last time. My OB would later tell me there was pretty much no chance I would have delivered vaginally because of how high the baby was and the fact that he was also facing straight upwards (sunny side up). His head just wasn?t pushing down on my cervix correctly and he couldn?t descend.
When they held up the baby and my husband said ?It?s a boy!!? he and I were both so excited! Charlie started screaming right away and got pink immediately, which was a relief because my daughter took a little while to start breathing and that was terrifying! Seeing the look on my husband?s face when he realized he had a son is something I will never forget!
It seemed to take a very long time to finish up the surgery, and I did get sick during that portion. I just really wanted to feel better! When I got back to recovery it only took about an hour for me to feel more human, thankfully, and I was able to nurse Charlie and snuggle him and watch his first bath and everything which was great (for my daughter they took her to the nursery to do that so I missed it).
I have no regrets about how things turned out and I really appreciated how supportive the nurses and doctors were and the fact that both the baby and I are safe and sound.
Re: "unsuccessful' VBAC birth story
M/C #2 - October 2016
MMC #1 - April 2016
I think it's wonderful that you had such a great staff around you. No regrets at all, when you know that you have up to date information on hand and had all your options on the table and YOU are the one making the final decision.
Congratulations on the birth of your son!
Thank you for sharing your story. It is good to hear from someone who tried to VBAC and ended up with a RCS but still is glad she tried.
Your birth story this time around sounds similar to my reason for needing a C-section with my first birth (minus the induction).