It's A Girl...

After Little Miss was born I put pen to paper and wrote out the story of her birth.  Here it is for your entertainment and encouragement. 

On October 12, 2016 (my Daddy’s birthday) I had a routine 37 week check up with my OB.  She checked my progress, which was the same as the week before, 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced and she said the baby was still “high”.  I left that appointment a little bummed as I was hoping for a little more progress.  You see I was hoping, wishing and praying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section) since The Boy ended up being an emergency C-section (The Boy's Birth Story).  My OB doctors’ policy was to not induce labor in a VBAC due to the risks involved but also not to let you go to long before scheduling a repeat section.  They had already went ahead and scheduled a repeat section for November 9^th, when I’d be 41 weeks, if I didn’t go into labor on my own.  I had so many feelings surrounding this.  The Boy’s birth was traumatic (to me) and I wanted to avoid that at all cost.  I also wanted more children and having repeated C-sections can limit the amount of pregnancies in some cases.  I just wanted a different experience.  I wanted the joy of birth.

Back to the story though.  The rest of that evening went normally, cooked supper, ate with the family, took a relaxing bath and went to bed around 10:30pm.  At some point after we went to bed I started having some mild cramping, not enough to wake me fully from sleep but I was kind of in that ‘sleep/awake’ phase.  Finally it was enough to make me want to get up and get awake enough to figure out what was going on.  When I got up I went to the bathroom but right as soon as I got in front of the toilet my water broke.

It was 12:10am and I decided it was time to wake up Hubby and page the doctor on call.  Contractions started pretty much as soon as my water broke and from the very beginning they were coming two minutes apart but weren’t too intense.  I talked to the doctor who said that as long as wasn’t having any pain between contractions (can signal uterine rupture which there is a 1% chance of this with a VBAC and it is an absolute medical emergency and life threatening for mom and baby) I could decide to come to the hospital when I was ready.  I felt pretty ready at that point since I had a cord issue with The Boy and I wanted them to monitor her/check me to make sure history didn’t repeat itself.  I called my parents, it was nearly 12:30am at that point and it takes them nearly 35 minutes to get to my house.  Once they arrived my contractions had gotten more intense. 

Hubby and my wonderful Mama and I headed to the hospital while my Daddy stayed at our house with The Boy.  We got to the hospital at about 1:30am and made our way up to the labor and delivery department.  We checked in and was taken to a small area for them to check and see if I was, in fact, in labor and far enough to be admitted.  They hooked me up to the monitors and one nurse said my contractions were beautiful, however I didn’t quite agree at that time!  The nurse checked me and said I was 3cm, 100% effaced and the test came back that my water had indeed broke (I had had no doubt).  They decided to keep me and I walked to my delivery room, stopping in the hall once for a contraction.  They were getting progressively worse.  Around an hour after we arrived the doctor got there and check me again I was at 5 cm.  I was progressing quickly but didn’t fully realize it since I was in a lot of pain.  Once I knew I was progressing I asked for an epidural.

I had been thinking all along I could do this naturally but in that moment I just didn’t think I could go through to much more of those contractions.  Apparently before I got the epidural hospital policy determined I needed to have labs drawn and have some fluids via IV.  So they started an IV (which was quite hard and painful since I had to try to keep still during a contraction).  After the IV was in and the fluids were started I knew I couldn’t labor/have contractions on my back any longer.  It was far too uncomfortable!  So I sat up on the edge of the bed with Hubby in front of me on a stool holding the baby’s heart monitor, since it wouldn’t read well in that position, and my mama on the bed behind me putting counter pressure on my lower back.  I stayed there for a long while.  The only relief I felt from during the contractions was the counter pressure and vocalizing. Once the labs were back and fluid was going good our nurse said I could get the epidural however the anesthesiologist on call was called away to an emergency so I’d have to wait.  It wasn’t too much longer after that that something changed and I started having the urge to push/bear down.

We called for the nurse to come and our doctor came as well.  Later I found out that they knew something had changed before we called because my vocalization had changed and gotten louder I suppose.  The nurse has stated later that they heard me in the hall…oops!  The doctor stayed in with me for a little while and gave me the go ahead and try to push/bear down with contractions while I was still on the edge of the bed.  At that time they told me there wasn’t really any time for that epidural I had asked for.  I had mixed feeling about that.  I really wanted the pain relief but I also really had wanted a natural birth during my whole pregnancy.  As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!   

 All that pushing/bearing down with the contractions must have brought her down more because after a little of that I laid down on my side and the doctor checked and said I was at 8-9cm.  It was probably close to 4am at that point, but I can’t be certain, I didn’t really register what the clock was saying until after she was born.  Only about 4 hours after my water broke and 2.5 hours after we had arrived at the hospital and it was nearly time to get her here.  I continued pushing, bringing her on down.  It was horribly painful and there was a moment when I said “I don’t think I can do this” and I really meant it!  But the doctor and my Mama reassured me that there wasn’t any other option! Ha! I really don’t mean to scare anyone off from a natural birth, it was a wonderful, beautiful and empowering experience but be prepared that you will have more pain at that time then you feel like you can stand.  I think part of my issue with the pain was that it all happened so fast that I never got a chance to “get ahead of” the pain.  Now a few months out I do have the grandiose idea that I can do it again naturally.  God’s gracious gift of forgetting.   

After sometime of pushing she was crowning and the doctor asked if I wanted to feel her head, which was a wonderful moment that gave me the push to power through.  The doctor said she had hair!  After that I was ready to meet her, so I kept pushing and before I knew what was happening she was here at exactly 4:41am.  They placed her on my chest, rubbed her down a bit and then placed her inside my gown for some skin to skin time.  In the next few hours I was able to hold her, nurse her and get a few pictures.  They weighed her at about 7am.  She was a whopping 5 lbs 6oz and 19 inches long. 

I suppose I can’t complain too much about a quick 4.5 hour labor even if that meant that I progressed too quickly for an epidural. 

I feel like a part of my heart was healed with that time with her right after birth.  I have had such a hard time with not being awake for The Boy’s first moments of life and missing that birth to chest precious time.  Now I feel like I have gotten to experience a birth rite and so I no longer have that hurt when people talk about when their baby took its first breath.  God was gracious to give me that and it is something I will cherish and remember the rest of my life.

Have you tried for a VBAC?  Comment below with your experience!