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Backstory: I had a c/s with DD1 for FTP and fetal distress. I arrived at the hospital 8 cms dilated with a bulging bag. But she was having heart decels the whole time and there was meconium in my water, so after laboring another 5 hours with no progress a c/s it was. Looking back she was posterior which explained the strange labor pattern as well as her distress.
birth story: I was so committed to having a VBAC. I really wanted to experience birthing my child and knew it was the safest option as well. (we moved between DD1 and DD2 so I had a different midwife/ob this pregnancy) At my 39 week appt, my midwife discovered this baby was also posterior. I was so discouraged, however she stressed that there was still a good chance I'd deliver this baby vaginally. I was at least glad to know that baby's position wasn't a surprise and I had time to work on it before labor. I went to the spinning babies's website and tried some of the positions/exercises but couldn't really tell if baby moved.
on Wednesday, 10/10 (my birthday!) I awoke with some cramping. I was soooooo hoping baby wouldn't come on my birthday and was thinking this is some cruel joke. But they never progressed in intensity or became timeable. This continued Thursday, Friday and Saturday. After going to bed Saturday night (around 9 pm) I noticed an increase in the intensity of the cramps. They were now full-on contractions. I tried to cope until the morning and then call my mom, but caved at 2 am (she lives an hour away and was 'on-call' to come help with DD1 when I went into labor) After calling her I called the midwife to figure out when/if I should come in. The contractions were definitely intense, but they were all over the place time-wise. She told me wait until they were 5 minutes apart for at least an hour.
My mom arrived a little after 3 am and helped me cope with the contractions. I was having back labor and it hurt so bad!!! After awhile I sent her downstairs to get my husband because she wasn't rubbing my back hard enough and I needed some serious counter-pressure. Around 5 am I had him run some bath water for me because 1)I thought the water would help like with DD1 and 2) I was ready to get clean/dressed for the hospital. The bath lasted all of 10 minutes - it wasn't helping at all with the pain and I was just pissed off that the water didn't cover my whole body (we had a jacuzzi tub at our previous home)
So I went ahead and got dressed and finished packing the hospital bag after informing the midwife that I was coming in. We finally got to L&D around 7 am. Great. We arrived right at shift change. Checked in with the receptionist then sat and waited for probably 15 minutes. I asked the receptionist WTH was the holdup and she got someone to come out for me and take me to triage. I get a student nurse. Great. She asks me a zillion questions while I'm trying to cope through some seriously painful contractions. I had decided on the way to the hospital that I was definitely getting the epidural because I had been up all night and it would give me a chance to rest before pushing. But all these delays were like cruel jokes preventing me from getting some relief! FINALLY the midwife checks me and guess what? I'm 8 cms with a bulging bag. deja vu, anyone?
They admit me, and there's a serious flurry in the room to get everything setup and pump me full of fluids so I could finally get my epi. And it was the best one ever. I wasn't numb, could feel and move my legs, but it dulled the pain of the contractions. So I'm thinking I could finally rest, but no, there's a zillion more questions they have to ask me to officially be admitted to the hospital. It was ridiculous. My midwife breaks my water and says she'll be back to check on me in an hour or so. I'm trying to nap but at this point I'm feeling serious rectal pressure. I told my nurse and she gets the midwife. Well, what do you know? I'm complete. She can tell from baby's head that she is still posterior so they get me in a strange position to see if baby will turn and descend into the birth canal. About 15 mintues later I can't stop myself from pushing. That was around 10:40 am So I start pushing with each contraction. Baby is still posterior so I'm thinking this is gonna take a couple hours. Well as I'm pushing she says she sees baby turning! And at 11:02 am on Sunday, 10/14 my little Rachel was born. I was in shock! I couldn't believe I just pushed out a baby. I had two small tears up top near my urethra (the recovery has been a breeze, so I'm glad they weren't on the other end!) I thanked all the staff and high-fived my nurse, lol. Even though I had been up for over 24 hours at that point the adrenaline and endorphins had me on cloud nine.
My vbac baby was born at 39w3d, weighing 5lbs10oz. She latched with no problems in the hospital and has been nursing like a pro ever since. She was 9 lbs at her 1 month checkup! I just want to say thank you to everyone on this board for the help as well as the birth stories. I will mention that with DD1 I was gung-ho about a natural birth and that plan failed big time. This time I just wanted a vbac so I wasn't as concerned about getting the epidural. Now that I know I only had it for maybe 2 hours before baby was born I think I could have done it naturally. But if we have another baby I'm not sure I could pass up the awesome experience I had with the epi.
Good luck to all of you hoping for a vbac!
Congratulations!!! I hope to have a similar experience!
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