Birth Story-natural Hypnobabies VBAC turned RCS

DH and I went into regularly scheduled doctor's appt first thing August 1st (39w 3d). I was 4cm, 40% effaced, -3 station. Next, went over to L&D for regularly scheduled NST. Cervical exam by resident proved I was 4cm, 60% effaced but still at -3 station. The entire time I had irregular mild contractions (I had had them beginning in 2nd tri). Because baby had 1 decel during NST and I was showing cervical change, Doc admitted me. Just as DH and I were falling asleep at about 11:30pm, I had a "real" contraction. Now I know what a contractions really feels like. I had 2 more "real contractions" and we let the Nurse know that I was now in active labor. Then we called our parents and my doula. Everyone was at the hospital by about 1am. Once the real contractions began, I listened to my Hypnobabies mp3s. It was incredibly helpful and made contractions much more comfortable to get through. Note to Hypnomamas: if you really want to get the most from Hypnobabies, I would strongly suggest that you not have any visitors coming in and out of your room. I noticed that the contractions following my break in concentration were really intense. Each time I broke focus, I felt like I was going to lose control. By about 4am the next morning, I was about 6cm, fully effaced, but baby was still very high up. Getting through the contractions at this point was very difficult and I stopped using the hypnobabies and relied more on massage and counterpressure from Doula as I was experiencing very intense back labor. At this point I asked the nurse to called the anesthesiologist as I felt I had had enough. She proceeded to then remind me of how much I had wanted to stick to my birth plan and asked me to give her 10 contractions and then she would call the anesthesiologist. I agreed and with the help of the nurse and doula, I labored through another 40 contractions or so in different positions trying to get the baby to move down. By 6am, my doctor came to check me and said I was at 8cm, fully effaced, but the baby was still way high up. When she checked me, my water finally broke. (Another note: everyone had been a little worried that because the baby was so high up that when my water broke there was a risk that another body part or the umbilical cord would come out--but everything was fine.) At this point, everyone agreed that I had done EVERYTHING within my power to have my VBAC but for unknown reasons, my baby was just not descending. I decided to get the epidural and was wheeled off to the OR. During the operation, we heard the doctor announce, "There is a window in the uterus. There is a window in the uterus." in a matter-of-fact tone. I later asked her what that meant and she said that my previous c-section scar had opened during labor and when she got to my uterus she could see my baby's hair poking through my scar. Needless to say, I am sooo glad that I didn't continue to try for my VBAC as that could have been disastrous. Baby Eli was born at 7:01 on Aug 2nd. He was 7.8 lbs and 20 in long.

My recovery has been just as great as after my first c-section 3 years ago. 1 month later, the only activities I haven't resumed are exercise and sex. After my 6-week, I'm going to register for a super sprint triathlon in order to keep my weight loss on track. I lost all of the pg weight by day 8 and have since lost 5 more lbs. I'm bigger to begin with so I still have quite a bit to lose.

I'm so happy with how everything turned out. Good luck to all of you in the future and I hope you all have had wonderful birth experiences by now