Day2Day Joys » VBAC

Birth, Babies, and a VBAC

KT — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 04:00:16 +0000

Written by KT @ One Organic Mama, Contributing Writer

In light of Rachel’s wonderful news (seriously – check out her ADORABLE new addition!!) – I thought I would share the story of my VBAC. It has been almost two years since my beautiful E entered the world and we have been blessed every single day since!

One reason I think it is important to share this story is because on a few occasions mamas have asked about my VBAC and have mentioned that they don’t know anyone who has ever had one. I figured I would write about mine so that perhaps it could help with your birth decisions. :)

First let me say, there is no judgment here. None.

How could I judge? Birth is unpredictable, sometimes uncontrollable, scary, and awesome. So no matter what you did, it was the right thing for you.

What is here was the right thing for me.

A Brief History

I had D in 2009 via emergency c-section 3 weeks early. The “emergency” was high blood pressure. In some cases this can lead to preeclampsia, a very serious condition. In my case, 6 months of blood pressure medicine later, I was diagnosed with something far less threatening.

White coat syndrome.

Sound serious?

It’s not. It means I’m afraid of doctors.

I mean not literally, but my blood pressure is high at the doctor’s office and no where else (except the dentist office… they freak there too).

So my “emergency” was anything but an emergency. My “high blood pressure” was anything but high. I was uneducated, uninformed, and terrified (hello white coat syndrome) about what was safe and what was in my best interest as a mama.

I thought that was the job of the doctors and nurses.

Well.

After I was given drugs NOT APPROVED for use in laboring women, or to put women into labor, or for pregnant women, or for breastfeeding women, surprisingly, D didn’t react well.

Read more about misoprostol here:
NIH
Drug Danger

After his bad reaction over a series of hours, they tried to remove the miso (ick, gross), and stop my labor.

He still wasn’t doing well, so 24 hours after arriving, 3 weeks early, for fake high blood pressure, he was delivered via c-section.

Thankfully he was ok. Unfortunately, my lack of knowledge continued, my milk didn’t come in for 7 days, and I continued to have “high blood pressure.”

Flash forward almost three years…

I’m much more knowledgeable about my wants and needs and I know a lot more about birth.

I have an amazing doula.

I have had successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).

So. Honestly, I wasn’t itching to have a VBAC. I love the natural, organic and earthy community so much. They embrace, share, educate and love with kindness and without judgment, but scheduling a date to have a baby sounded kind of nice and organized… and who doesn’t like a plan?

I however… want to get out of the hospital.

In addition to my white coat ridiculous syndrome, I also have hospital hatred.

No offense nurses, doctors, cafeteria workers.

I hate it there.

I hate the windows that won’t open.

The non-organic milk.

The processed food.

The gross bathrooms.

The scratchy sheets.

Those air mattresses that adjust constantly.

The fact that the bed is also a scale. Come on.

The 13 channels (3 of which are the same).

The CONSTANT nighttime interruptions the night after being in labor for three days and having a baby.

I want OUT.

So. That was where my desire for a VBAC was born.

Sure, after reading the interwebs I learned about how awesome I would be if I had one, and how great they were for the babies, and how babies should come on their own time, and all the great things that come with natural childbirth – ALL bonus for GETTING OUT of the hospital.

So. If you’re looking for the story – here it is.

Let’s start with 1 day before my due date.

I break my back. (walking down icy stairs in April). #lifeinMassachusetts

I go to work, as a high school teacher, (yup, I was still working) suffer through the day, call my doula who suggests a chiropractor.

Or as I like to call them… hocus pocus.

Well, thankfully he did relieve some of the pain and write me a note to NOT go back to work anymore.

So. Bed rest.

Sounds awesome, but still isn’t (I was on it with D too because of my “high blood pressure”) this time around bed rest included considerably less peanut butter m&ms, darn organic lifestyle and no Dawson’s Creek marathons. Booooo.

3 days before my scheduled (just in case, back-up, I would find a way to skip it anyways) c-section was scheduled (a week past my due date) I went into labor.

Don’t get too excited.

I called my awesome, amazing, doula. In the middle of the night. #theydon’tgetpaidenough

She came over, chatted, hung out, slept on my couch.

I was having contractions every 5-7 minutes.

All night.

Doula went home.

All day.

All through my nephew’s birthday party.

All night.

All morning.

All afternoon.

Until my 3pm doctor’s appointment.

I decided perhaps I should make my way to the hospital.

They were getting a little closer and certainly hurt more.

I’m not a complainer, screamer, whiner

When I arrived, they locked my doula out in the waiting room while I was in triage.

“oh I see you already had a c-section and you’re late” they said.

translation – “how soon can we get you to the OR?”

“how are you feeling? how often are your contractions?” they said.

translation – “if you don’t progress on our timeline we will just send you to the OR”

“oh you’re 5.5 cms already!!?!” they said.

translation – “oh you’re serious about this VBAC, we should let your doula in and get you in a room.”

So, they admit me, THREE days to get to 5 cms CRAZY.

I hang out, get attached to all sorts of hardware (which by the way you CAN decline. YOU are in charge). I get some antibiotics because I am group b strep + (again you can deny these- not my style though).

They have me on a monitor that I can only walk 3 feet from, I walk in crazy, you belong in an institution style circles for hours.

My doula calls the nurse she knows and gets her into our world.

She is AMAZING.

My doctor is on call.

1 in 16 chance.

Amazing.

She wants to break my water (you can say NO), I say yes.

WHY? because I am worried after being in labor for 3 days, that I won’t progress fast enough (according to their timeline) and they will throw me in the OR, slice me open, and MAKE me stay in that hospital/jail for 5 days.

My fantastic, angelic, wonderful, amazing doula, recommends that IF I want to get an epidural I get it before they break my water.

Smart lady.

note: I am all for natural childbirth – as is my doula – after a discussion we decided – I decided – that a broken back is not usually part of natural childbirth and that I wanted some pain relief – sometimes your back (coccyx) breaks OUT in childbirth, mine was broken IN already – be jealous

My nurse, doula, and husband were awesome. Lots of laughs, sarcastic jokes, making fun of horrible residents, etc.

At 12 pm I started pushing.

I push for 3.5 hours.

My doula and nurse did everything they could think of to help, push bars, positions, sheet to hold onto, fluids, juice, hot towels, cool towels, throw up buckets, they were amazing.

3.5 hours later my little babe was born, on the date of my scheduled, I’m not going anyway c-section.

If you have questions, concerns, NEED to know more, need doula recs, contact me! I am happy to help you. I am very happy with my decision.

I was allowed to walk an hour after I had him.

I was out in ONE day. Home with my big boy and my little boy.

Seriously, ask if you have questions. I am happy to help You should be able to PM the page through the link.

Here is my quick list of tips if you want a VBAC:

GET A DOULA
GET A DOULA
Get your doctor on board – make sure they are supportive or a trial of labor/VBAC – if they aren’t find a new one
STAY AT HOME AS LONG AS POSSIBLE – the hospital clock starts when you arrive – keep that in mind when you *think* you are in pain at home
Stay home longer
EAT before you leave your house (thanks doula!!) – once you get to the hospital they treat food like it is some rare treat you can never have. On your way to not going to the hospital too soon – go out to eat.
Walk
Make sure YOU are making your decisions (even if you are memorizing the doula’s words – they have to come from your mouth – it’s easier if you agree!)
Know that some of this all is left up to chance. Even the most prepared trial of labor may end up in a c-section. Be at peace. You have a baby!
GET A DOULA

Have you heard of white coat syndrome? Has it effected your health-care choices? How did you make your birth decisions?

The post Birth, Babies, and a VBAC appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

Amanda’s VBAC Birth Story

Guest — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 05:00:37 +0000

Guest Post by Amanda of Attached Moms

Six years ago I became a mother. It was on that day, February 23rd, that, after a failed induction, I was rolled in to surgery, puking and shivering and became a mother. It would be a few hours until I met my daughter but, giving birth, no matter the way, can change a person.

Within weeks of my daughter being born, my husband and I sat down and watched a movie we had put off because we didn’t want to stress right before having a baby. That movie was “Business of Being Born.”

As my daughter lay in my arms, we were consumed by the movie and at the end my husband asked, “Is this a script?” You see, all the bantering that went on in the movie, we heard. Everything from “You won’t get an award for this” to the nurses asking my husband whether or not he wanted to see me in so much pain. We heard it all. Of course, in retrospect, we should have watched it before giving birth. For a year after, perhaps even longer, my husband would tell people about the movie if he heard they were expecting. It touched him that deeply.

Preparing for a VBAC

From there on out, I researched my options. I had chosen the hospital for my daughter’s birth because it had a slightly less cesarean rate than the other hospital the practice I was with had an option for. Little did I know I’d be the only one “choosing” the less-posh hospital so the doctor on call wouldn’t visit me and instead relied on the bantering nurses to determine how I was not progressing.

The same nurses who laughed and said “you don’t think people actually use those” when I showed up for my induction with a birthing/yoga ball. I should have known then that things weren’t going to go well. The same nurses who didn’t feel my stomach at all to find that my daughter was transverse.

I decided to wait until my daughter was 2 to try for another kiddo, since statistically it meant for a higher VBAC rate.

In the end, I ended up getting pregnant a bit sooner than I had thought. My son was born 26 months and 5 days after my daughter came into the world.

I shopped around for a new doctor. My insurance didn’t accept a midwife, so I looked around. Then, someone told me a midwife overseen by an MD in the same practice was accepted, so at 23 or so weeks, I dropped my OB (one who claimed she was vbac friendly as she had a cesarean and a natural birth herself) but her questions like “what’s your shoe size” and the like just didn’t make me feel like it would happen. So, I changed and guess what, I was happy.
For the first time, someone talked to me. They told me what my chart from my daughter’s birth said. We discussed things. I tested my own urine. I was in charge and encouraged to question the norm and research what it was that was being requested of women at visits. I was told what to expect and I was told that I should prepare myself for a variety of things.

The midwives in the practice were encouraging. When the nurses at the hospital gave me the “dead baby card” when I didn’t want continuous monitoring, I was given my options, including to sign to refuse the monitoring (a few days later the hospital changed their policy and didn’t require the continuous monitoring for VBAC attemptors) and after that hour of crying and labor stopping, it started back up.

A few days of labor (26 of which in the hospital) and not too much pushing, my son was born via vaginally. Yes, I had tried staydol. Yes I requested an epidural, as I was coming on the 24 hour mark of possibly when my water broke and had had meconeum, but baby was showing fine. Not having the epidural fully take worked to my advantage as I could tell when my body wanted me to push versus having to be “told” when I was contracting. In the end, I did what my body was prepared for. I was ready for a VBAC, but I wasn’t yet confident, but I had one. Now I KNOW my body can do it and I am happy with the results.

Growing from my cesarean

My daughter’s birth helped me grow as a person. I became less trusting of authorities. I’m not sure that before I would have even thought of that to be a positive quality, but really, questioning is a good thing. Not just of doctors, but of everything we hear. We shouldn’t take things for face value. We should be inquisitive, we should want to know when/where/why and how.

Now, we’ve moved abroad and unsure if we’re looking at another baby for us. I consider adoption would really love to have a little snuggly baby and go through pregnancy once more, and maybe even consider a homebirth, but, again, I read a lot of statistics and know that things aren’t necessarily in our odds when it comes to health. But, if we do decide on number three, of if we have a surprise, a baby would be welcome, no matter the outcome, birth and otherwise.

So 6 years ago today, we came home from the hospital and our journey as parents began.

Have you ever had a VBAC?

Amanda McMahon is a freelance content writer who currently lives in the Mumbai, India vicinity with her husband and their two kids. Originally from Michigan, she misses the snow, but not as much as everyone seems to be getting this year. You can find her blogging at Attached Moms and, her newest venture after being amazed by the lack of transparency in schools in India.

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