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VBAC
Luv4Minnesota
member
Had my VBAC!
Luv4Minnesota
member
in VBAC
Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement through this journey. I am still in shock that baby Ben is here and I was only in the hospital for 30ish hours!
The short version is I woke up to contractions, labored at home for about 2 1/2 hours, headed to the hospital where he was born just 16 minutes after we walked in the door.
Here is his (way too long and detailed) birth story.
I woke up around 2:15 to go to the bathroom. Not at all unusual at this time, but when I got back to bed before I fell asleep again I noticed a contraction. Not very painful, but definitely different than the braxtion hicks I?d been having. However, I had had these for 2 hours the previous Saturday night so I wasn?t convinced they were actually going to go anywhere. I slept on and off, noticing contractions on and off. Around 4:15 I got up to go pee again and noticed bloody show. At that point I woke Rob up and told him I was having contractions but I wasn?t sure if it was really going to go anywhere or not. He asked how far apart and I told him I didn?t know. So then I started paying attention. The first two were 10 minutes apart, then 7, 5 and 4. At 4:45 I decided to get up and go to the computer to start using contraction master. I perused the internet, bounced on my exercise ball and timed my contractions. Rob came downstairs around 5:00 and said he couldn?t sleep. My contractions were still not painful but had picked up to about 2 ?-3 minutes apart and consistently lasting 30 seconds. I pulled up the website on the laptop and headed upstairs to take a shower. At this point I decided this was really it, but was surprised at how not painful these contractions were and that they weren?t getting any longer even though they were close together.
By 6:00 they were still coming quickly and I was starting to sway/bend over through them. I decided to text Trish, our doula and let her know where things were. We exchanged a few texts and then she called me. She said she didn?t mean anything mean by it, but I sounded ?too happy? between contractions to really be in active labor yet and if it was OK with me she?d go back to sleep for a little bit. I agreed that would be fine and I?d let her know when I needed her.
About 10 minutes later I found myself vocalizing through my contractions and bending over which had been feeling good was creating way too much pressure so I just swayed through them. I texted Trish and told her to jump in the shower and head over.
At this point we decided to call our friend to come stay with Alex until he woke up. She got there around 6:40 and helped us get his carseat into her car so she could take him back to her house when he got up.
At 6:30 I called my sister and had to put the phone down between contractions to focus and vocalize through them. She reminded me later that I yelled during one of them ?I?m so hot!?
After getting off the phone I really really felt like I had to pee and tried to sit on the toilet but couldn?t pee. It was during that contraction that I yelled for my puke bucket and Rob decided we were leaving and Trish could meet us at the hospital. (Good decision, Babe!)
It took me a good 10 minutes to get to the car, I couldn?t walk or talk through contractions and had one leaning over the hood of the car in the garage. Rob was getting anxious and said we had to go and could he drag me into the car. I yelled I?d be there in a minute and he opened the sliding door and I knelt over the backseat. By this time I was screaming and I was starting to feel like my body was pushing.
The drive was crazy. I was so hot but the windows were down which felt so nice. Between contractions I was able to breathe and slow down, but during contractions I was yelling and screaming and cursing. Then I felt my water break and I yelled that this baby was coming now.
Rob was on speaker phone with Trish and when she heard me she explained that Rob could pull over, she?d call 911 and we could deliver in the parking lot. I just screamed GO GO GO and wanted to get to the hospital, NOW.
The rest of the 10 minute ride was unbearable and filled with screaming. Rob pulled up to the ER entrance and we left the van there and he and Trish supported me up to the door
About 7:15 we walked in the door and there was a woman waiting with a wheelchair. I knelt facing her and she pushed us to the elevator and right to our room in labor and delivery. I remember them asking me if I could put on a gown and just staring at them. Trish helped me get my pants off and a nurse got down and told me she was going to check me. She declared me complete and the doctor asked me to get on the bed and put the back up so I could get on my knees and lean over it. I had been standing leaning over the bed so she wanted to support the position I was working with which was awesome. I also asked what station the baby was at and they said it was too difficult a position to tell, but that they could feel his head. That was encouraging to me.
I pushed a few times in this position as they tried to find baby?s heartbeat but were having trouble. The doctor told me I could stay in that position and they could do an internal fetal monitor or I could move. I knew I wanted to avoid an internal monitor so I quickly slid down on my side and a nurse helped me get my leg up so I could hold it back for pushing. I pushed through a couple of contractions and they pronounced that he was at a 2+ station and I cried out AMEN! Rob asked what that meant and I told him it meant we were getting our VBAC. I knew then that this baby was coming out without surgery this time and that gave me so much strength and power to keep pushing through.
They announced he was crowning and I just couldn?t believe it. I was pushing with my body, no one was counting, I was breathing as I needed and just going with it. It was incredible. My body stopped contracting with his head partially out. I expected this to burn like crazy but it actually was just a nice break from the contractions to relax before meeting my new baby. I reached down and touched his head and couldn?t believe how soft and squishy it was, I had to ask if that was his head and got several happy yes?s from the room.
Then the doctor told me that he was getting a ?pretty good head squeeze? and his heart rate was not tolerating well so I needed to get him out with the next contraction and really focus on when the doctor told me to push and stop. As the next contraction started I let them know it was coming and she directed me how to push. It was absolutely amazing to feel his head out, then wait for the shoulders to rotate and feel them come out too. As the shoulders came out I reached down and helped the doctor pull him out and onto my chest. He was amazing! Born at 7:31, just 16 minutes after getting to the hospital, and 3hr 16min after I woke up and started timing contractions.
This whole pregnancy I had planned to labor at home and show up pushing. I just never know how close I would actually cut it. Had my contractions been as strong as they got at 6:40 for any longer amount of time I would have headed in earlier but things changed so fast that we just thought we had more time.
It was an unbelievable experience! Good luck to all the other mamas planning their VBACs, you can do it!
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Re: Had my VBAC!
Great story! Congrats!
Yay! Congratulations!
This is the kind of birth story I read and and think "that's the kind of birth I want". Well except maybe for the part about your water breaking in the car, I could skip that :-).
Wonderful! Congrats!!!
Do you mind if I ask which hospital you delivered at?
Yay! Congrats and great job!! I definitely underestimated how fast my labor was going to pick up, too - labor is quite the wild ride.
Enjoy the new baby!!
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
This! Congratulations. What was the reason for your c-section?
Thanks so much everyone! My recovery has been SO MUCH better than with my c/s. When DS1 was born via c/s we were in the hospital for 6 days...with this little guy I have been home since 30 hours after he was born and feel great. The first few days were a little rough since I had a 3rd degree tear and I am still a little sore today but overall I feel 100,000,000x better than I did after the c/s.
Harpersmom-yes, my water broke in the car but somehow there wasn't a ton. I'm thinking his head blocked most of it since he was so low when it broke and the rest came out when he was born. But there wasn't any on the floor or running down my legs when I got out, crazy.
Preg_Amy--I'm no longer in MN, sorry!
MyAntionia-Yes! I did get the doctor who I had hoped to deliever and she was awesome!
nosoup4u-Wild ride barely sums it up!!
cchili-My first c/s was due to "failure to descend", baby was also posterier and later my OB said I had CPD. I continuously told my doc that I was sure it was his position and mine (on my back for 12+ hours before pushing for 4 in the same position) was the problem and reason for the c/s--they always disagreed and just said we'd see this time. I showed them!