My VBAC story!

My daughter was born on the 23rd...

I started having contractions on the 20th, a day after my normal appointment. All that day, and all the next day I had real contractions and constant bloody show, but didn't call the hospital because of their "5 minutes apart for an hour" rule. I definitely had real contractions, but anywhere between 8 and 20 minutes apart with little contractions in between the big ones. On the afternoon of the 22nd, I was fed up. I told my husband "This can't be right. I know I'm not having contractions every 5 minutes, but these ones are hard enough to be doing some kind of work!" So I called my doctor, and she asked if I could come in to see if I had any cervical change at all. I said yes I can be there in 10 minutes, and we were out the door. When we got there, my doctor checked me and said,"Well, you are in active labor, so you can head on over to the hospital, and I will see you there soon!" Thank the Lord my husband decided to pack all of our bags and stuff (after I insisted we wouldn't need them, LOL!)

We got to the hospital at about 5:00 pm, and i was dilated to 3. My water still had not broken, and my doctor said no to breaking it, wanting my body to do it's own thing so there was no added stress to me. I labored with my irregular contractions until about 9 pm or so, at which time I had dilated to 5.

Just let me say here that I don't know how women do the no drug thing...my contractions were so painful that I shook through each one and had trouble breathing the right way! Kudos to the natural mommies!

I then got my epidural around 9:30 or so, and they would come and check me every couple hours or so. 

At 5 am, I had finally dilated to 7. My husband decided to go to the store to get my sister a sandwich, and get some movies from our house (we live like 10 minutes from the hospital). His parents decided to go home to wait, along with his brother and his brother's girlfriend(they all live about 45 minutes away). My best friend also had to leave, because she had to work.

Then I started feeling the contractions through my epidural. They didn't hurt, I just felt the pressure of them. It felt like my daughter was going to come shooting out! I knew something was going on if I could feel them that much. They checked me at 6:30, and whoa, I was dilated to 10! My doctor said "Well, she's right down here on the perineum, so you can start pushing and we'll have a baby in about half an hour!"

My sister dashed for the phone, called my husband, and told him to get back right away! The nurses all started getting the cradle together, turning on warming lamps, etc. My husband walked in about 10 minutes later(thank God!)and my doctor had me start pushing.

The whole time I was pushing, all I could think of was my scar bursting open. But my doctor was right there, so I just kept on.I pushed 3 times, then two short pushes, and she was out. It took all of 10 minutes!

My husband, my sister, and my mom watched baby Ashlyn come into the world at 6:58 am.She weighed in at 7 lbs, 3 oz, and was 18 3/4 inches long.  I am so glad I decided to switch doctors at 7 1/2 months pregnant...it allowed my husband to be able to experience her birth (it's his first child) and I am so thankful for that. My in-laws and my best friend missed it, but I know that everyone was there that was supposed to be there.