My VBAC Birth Story after 1st BIG baby

From the beginning of my second pregnancy, I believed I would have another large baby, so I planned on having a repeat c-section. My previous OB told me that I was probably too small to deliver my first son and we opted for a scheduled c-section at 41 weeks 1 day. Big Brother was 10 lbs 7 oz at birth. Although it was a positive birth experience, it left me feeling like my body was not capable of vaginal delivery. I never experienced contractions or any signs of labor.

However, something about this pregnancy felt different. During my 3rd trimester, I started to consider a VBAC. My 36 week growth ultrasound suggested that the baby would be much smaller than my first son and I was once again excited about having a trial of labor. My OB was supportive. Although there was no way of knowing, I had to trust my instinct that this baby was smaller and I would be able to deliver him vaginally. I was having a ton of Braxton-Hicks contractions and that made me feel like my body was gearing up for the real thing. The most important thing was a healthy baby and mom, but maybe I could have those things with a VBAC. As a back-up plan, I scheduled a c-section for 39 weeks, 6 days (October 13) but in the last week decided to push the surgery date back to give myself more time to start labor.

At 39 week and 2 days, I started losing my mucus plug. (As far as old wives tales--it was DTD that really helped this along, I think!!)
I was excited because in a couple of days I had an OB appointment and she said she would sweep the membranes if I had any dilation. It was also getting closer to the full moon and I was very fortunate that my mom was arriving from out-of-town to help with the new baby.

The morning of my appointment, I felt a busy, nervous feeling. While my son was at preschool, I wrote out a very detailed note about his routines just in case I would be in labor soon. At my appointment, I was 1 cm and my OB could feel the baby's head. Baby was still high, but lower than the previous week. My OB swept the membranes and I came home to get ready for my mom?s arrival.

Later that night, I had some mild cramping and light bleeding when I went to bathroom, but figured it was just from the check earlier in the day. Around midnight I started to get very strong cramps and had to breathe through them. I was laying in bed and felt a small gush, and wondered if my water had broken, but we figured it was just pee. Several times that hour, I felt a little more water, but it was not clear if it was my bag of water.

By 12:30 I had downloaded a contraction timer on my smart phone. At first, the contractions were coming at different times, ranging from 10-15 minutes. I was amazed that they all lasted about 1 minute each! How could my body be so consistent?! Eventually I started getting up on all fours to get through a contraction, or squatting on the floor. I couldn't believe my luck that the night I start labor, my mom is here so I would not have to scramble to find someone to help with my 3-year-old son. All night I drank water, had contractions and went to the bathroom. I read that using the bathroom often could help relax and dilate you. By 4:00 in the AM, I must have fallen asleep between contractions and they were beginning to space out. I was really frustrated. The contractions between 4:00-8:00 AM were choppy I was beginning to think this was false labor.

Later in the morning, the contractions ramped up again and by lunchtime they were more consistently between 6-12 min apart--still about 40 sec - 1 minute long.
The pain was more intense and scary for me. Nothing I did would relieve the pain. When I sat down on the toilet, it got worse and my husband had to help me up. I would hang on to him in pain. I was feeling terrible and begged my husband to go to the hospital. He reminded me that we did not want to be "on the clock" especially since we were unsure if my water had really broken. I called L and D and although my contractions were not 3-5 min apart, they told me to come in.
My husband said, let's just wait until it's more consistent. I struggled through 2 more hours as the contractions got worse and more frequent. We finally packed up and started the 30 min drive to the hospital.

When we got to L and D, I felt another small gush as I sat down on the table to get checked. The nurse told me I was 3 cm, but she kept her hand in checking and all of the sudden she said "oh--your water broke." She tested it and it was amniotic fluid. So I was definitely going to be admitted. My hospital only admits you for a normal labor if you are 4 cm dilated.

Once admitted, I labored standing up, on the toilet, and sitting on a birth ball. I called the birth ball the "devil ball" since it made my contractions worse, but we knew that was good for my labor. The pain was getting unbearable. I felt like an animal. I was out-of-control during the contractions. The contractions were registering very high on the monitor and were coming every 1-2 min, sometimes one on top of each other. I threw up at some point. I felt like I was dying. After 3 hours, I was checked and I had only progressed from 3 to 4 cm. I was so disappointed and I knew that a slow labor could mean a c-section was coming.

We had planned on holding off on epidural until as late as possible and I did not want narcotics during labor. Even at 4 cm, when the midwife mentioned epidural, I was ready! It was a difficult time for me and my husband. He was very against me getting an epidural since he was concerned it would start a string of interventions that would end up in a c-section. He reminded me about our ?plan?, but I felt very sure that I could not handle the pain anymore. The midwife told us that my pain could be worse because of scar-tissue from the c-section. Although my husband was not supportive, I consented to the epidural.

Within 15 min, I was able to rest and only felt slight cramping and pressure at contractions. That was great, but we also noticed my contractions had slowed down and decreased in intensity. I tried shifting from one side to the other every hour, but no change. I advocated for myself and asked what else we could do. The midwife suggested sweeping the membranes again, although that sounded strange since my waters were already broken. My husband asked if we could talk with the OB and she suggested starting with the lowest dose of pitocin and seeing how things went. After a fairly low dose of pitocin, my contractions were stronger and closer together so I tried to get some rest.

At about 1:30 AM (about 5 hours after the epidural) I started feeling strong pressure in my bottom and felt like it was a good time for me to get checked. The nurse came in and said, ?I don't feel any cervix! You are fully dilated!" I was so excited! I always feared I would never fully dilate and it was not something I was capable of.

After about an hour, the nurse came in to help me start pushing. I had a low-level epidural, so I could feel the contractions and knew when to push. I pushed on my back and my side, using a mirror. Eventually the baby was getting much closer and we could see he had a lot of hair. The midwife came in and lowered the bottom of the table. I was surprised she was not directly in front of me, but to the side for delivery.

During this time, I spiked a fever and I remember the nurse saying we needed to get the baby out soon, so that really put the pressure on me to push! I was scared of the pain of the baby's head, and it was intense, but bearable in a different way than regular contractions. I could not see what was going on, but I could hear everyone getting excited as the head emerged. Then I heard her say ?1 shoulder, 2 shoulders? and then all the pain stopped and he was out! After a little more than 1 hour of pushing, Little Guy was born! I was the first person to hold my son. He started crying right away. I felt so incredible about my new baby, and also that I was able to deliver him this way!! I remember saying "I can't believe I did it!!"

I had a 2nd degree tear and the midwife repaired it while the epidural was still on, so I felt very little. I wondered how much my baby weighed, but the nurse wanted me to breastfeed first. He nursed on both sides 30 min each. "Little Guy"looked just like my first son, but smaller. He weighed 8 lbs 13 oz--a pound and a half less than my first baby! I felt so fortunate and kept reminding myself that I had originally scheduled Little Guy's birth date, October 13, as my c-section date and I was so glad that I gave myself a chance to try for VBAC.

I wanted to add this note:  I bonded equally well (very well!) with both boys--no matter what method they came out. That wasn't different. For me, it was more an issue of recovery and "can I do this"--also just wanting to avoid more complications from major surgery. I feel really lucky that Little Guy was in the best position for delivery and he tolerated labor well. It could have easily gone a different direction, but I went into it knowing that at least I would give it a try.