I did It! Successful VBAC! XP: Dec. 2011 Moms

MissBHaven1024 · December 2011

Birth Story: In recent days, I had been quite upset with being overdue and could feel my VBAC dreams slipping away. My midwife was on call at the hospital over the weekend and we agreed that I would come in on Sunday and be checked; if Sienna was low enough, she would rupture my water and get labor started.

Sunday morning I woke up having painless back cramps every 5 minutes, and just figured that maybe I slept wrong. DH and I relaxed and watched football and went on a nice walk in the Seattle sunshine for an hour or so. My MW called me at 4:45pm and said it was a good time to come in and be checked, so off we went to the hospital.

When I arrived at 5:30pm, they had a room ready for us, so we didn't have to spend any time in triage. When I was checked, I was 5cm, 80% effaced and LO had FINALLY dropped (she had been riding high for weeks). It was game on, and my water was broken! For the first two hours, we walked the halls and I couldn't feel the contractions at all, just the back cramps. Around 8pm, I felt LO drop even lower and my contractions really intensified. I couldn't talk or walk, or catch my breath for that matter. I was planning on laboring in the tub and holding off on the epi for as long as possible, but once these contractions came, all bets were off, and I was looking for the doc with the good drugs!

Thank the Lord I got the epi when I did, because 10 minutes later, my contractions were every 1-2 minutes and remained in that pattern until delivery. At 10pm, I was 7cm, and by midnight, I was 8cm. I could feel lots of pressure but no pain, and was able to rest and watch tv. At 3:30am, I felt like I needed to poop. My MW checked me and I was 10cm and LO was at a plus 2 station.

I pushed for 1.5 hours and used a mirror to see my progress since I couldn't feel much (if you think your vagina is puffy now, wait until this moment ha). With every contraction, LO's heart rate would drop because the cord was draped across her body, so every time I made progress, my MW had to push her head back in to take the pressure off of the cord. Things got hectic and I was threatened with a vacuum and emergency C-section if I couldn't get her out soon. That was enough for me, and I pushed like I had never pushed before! Her head popped right out, and her body quickly followed! I had done it! I got my VBAC!

Sienna Ruby was born on December 5th (4 days overdue) at 5am on the dot. She weighs 6lbs, 6oz and is 19.75 inches long! I have a 2nd degree tear that required about 15 stitches I believe, and that's been uncomfortable, but other than that, everything was amazing. We did skin-to-skin right away for over an hour, and she was nursing within 30 minutes! It was by far one of the greatest experiences DH and I have ever had! We are already back home and DD is loving on her baby sister! We're all just smitten with her!

Here is a picture of her 10 minutes into skin-to-skin:

And here she is this morning sleeping peacefully: