Noah's VBAC Birth
This story is long overdue to this group, but I just never got
around to doing it while on maternity leave. I got my VBAC!
So here's my story:
After I put my daughter to bed, I was watching TV and feeling some
slight pressure waves. I'd been having them off and on for about 3
weeks at this point so at first I ignored them. Then I decided that
it would be a good idea to practice with them and I got on the floor
and rolled around on my birth ball. It was then that I began
feeling some wetness. My water broke with my dd, so I immediately
knew it was the same sensation. I went to check and there was clear
fluid.
My mucuous plug had been coming out the day or 2 before. I had
visited the midwife that day and she said with the plug coming out I
could be back by the weekend. (She didn't mention I'd be back that
same night.) I also found out at that visit that I was GBS positive
so I knew I'd have an IV and need to go to the hospital sooner than
I planned.
I told dh that my water broke and we called and left a message for
the doctor (who works with my midwife). At this point I was pretty
frustrated b/c I knew my water breaking put me on a time clock and I
also knew that I was not in active part of my birthing time
(labor). We talked with the doctor and she wanted me to come in.
So after my mother-in-law came (they got there so fast and they live
pretty far away - I was hoping their long drive would buy me some
time) and picked up my daughter we left for the hospital.
We got to the hospital and the nurses had an incredibly difficult
time finding my cervix. After they finally found it, turns out I
was only 2cm. Actually, I was happy with that b/c I never dilated
with dd nor experienced any pressure waves. She was breech - so
when my water broke we went immediately to the hospital and had a
c/section.
My doula arrived and after they got me hooked up to the antibiotics
we started walking the halls trying to get things going. My
pressure waves never got into a regular pattern throughout the
night. In the morning the ob arrived and she checked me, I was
still at 2cm and she explained that my cervix was really posterior
and the way that my baby had engaged his head he was not adequately
opening my cervix. So we discussed our options and decided on a low
dose of pitocin. I got really upset at this point and the ob was
wonderful and left so we could talk it over and I could work past
this emotionally.
The pitocin got started and immediately kicked things in gear. For
the first part of the labor I was using my Hypnobabies really well
and working really well with the pressure waves. I was standing up
and leaning over the bed or the table and would sway and dance with
the pressure waves. However, when they checked me after quite some
time I'd only gone to 3 cm.
The nurse suggested that the way the baby was positioned wasn't
helping me to dilate and suggested I do the side lying position in
the bed. She called it the power position or something. So, I got
in the bed this way and 2 things happened. First, it worked
wonderfully as I could immediately feel my baby moving around and
changing his position and second, this position was very difficult
and the pressure waves became very powerful and this is when I lost
some of my hypnosis focus. I'm glad I did it though b/c it got him
to move and soon after that I begin to dilate more efficiently.
I did lose my hypnosis focus and had quite a bit of pain, but I
worked with my pressure waves using A LOT of vocalizations and my
doula did a lot of back rubbing. Once I hit transformation, I was
so out of it and wanting it to be over. I yelled at everyone in the
room at one point or another. By that time, my midwife was there
and I told her that I was quitting and going home. LOL! A lot of
this part is fuzzy to me now, but I remember saying "get out, get
out, get out!" over and over again to help me get through the
pressure waves.
I started to feel like I needed to push and was check and was around
9 1/2 cm so I had to wait. I think I pushed some anyway, I couldn't
help it.
I was finally told I could push and tried some different positions.
None of them were working and I was exhausted. I had been in my
birthing time for almost 24 hours at this point and no sleep for
almost 36 hours. So eventually they got me in a sitting type
position on the bed where I could lay back in between pressure
waves.
I still had a lip and my midwife wanted me to push past it. I think
that took some time and I remember feeling inside that it would take
me awhile to push the baby out and being really irritated with my
family b/c each push they kept saying that this one was it, but I
knew it wasn't. Eventually I could feel his head right there and
really pushed hard. I heard the midwife say she saw his ears, so I
pushed with all I had and finally got him out. I found out after
that it was 2 hours of pushing. I definitely felt the ring of fire,
but that was good in a way b/c I knew when that part came it was
over. :-)
The best part!! The midwife placed my baby on me and after a few
seconds realization hit me that I was actually holding my baby and
he was gorgeous. He latched on right away, like a pro. That was
really cool, too. It was almost like the breast crawl video - we
just put his head there and he did the rest.
His stats:
Noah
Born March 20th at 9:04 pm at 37 weeks 2 days
7 lbs. 10 oz.
20 inches long
I am really grateful for Hypnobabies. Although, I did experience a
lot of pain the program helped me in the beginning parts of my
birthing time and when things were not going planned I still had a
positive feeling that everything would turn out fine. The main
reason it did not work for me is simply b/c I stopped using it and
no matter how much my doula kept trying to get me to use it I kept
refusing. So that was my own fault. Hypnobabies was also a great
help to me throughout my pregnancy, especially with my RLS.
My son is doing great and it was just an absolutely amazing
experience.
Kristen