The VBAC of my Second little Princess
After DD1's birth I was a little scared about labour. With DD1 I was in labour for 35 hrs and then ended up having a c/s due to 'failure to progress'. I got to 10cm dilated but she just wasn't moving down. I knew from the time they told me that I needed a c/s with her that I would be having a VBAC second time around. But even though I really really wanted a VBAC I always had some doubt in the back of my mind whether I could do it. I just couldn't imagine having my baby naturally.
At 3am on the 20th of feb 2011 I woke up with period type cramps and got up to go to the toilet. Got back to bed and had another cramp. Tried to go back to sleep and had another one. Started thinking these were more like contractions with a definite start and end, rather than the pre-labour I'd been having for the last few weeks. But I really didn't think it would be labour as I was only 2 days overdue and expected it to be longer because DD1 was 12 days over. So I tried to sleep but couldn't because the pains kept coming and I couldn't get comfortable. DH woke up at 3.30am because I kept tossing and turning and asked me what was wrong. I told him I had cramps and he rubbed my back during one. He asked if it was a contraction and I told him 'well, that's the fifth one in the last half an hour' and he was shocked and laughed. We decided we needed to get some sleep because this was probably going to be long and we were so exhausted last time. But that didn't last long, I was too uncomfy, so we got up at about 4.15am.
DH got a mattress for me to lie on and I tried to lie in the lounge room and watch a movie (the Notebook, my fav :) ). But I couldn't lie down, it hurt too much. So I sat on the fitball instead. Couldn't concentrate on the movie so went onto the computer and sent a msg on FB to Sara (my student midwife) telling her I was in labour. Checked out FB and BB for a bit longer and then decided I'd better pack my hospital bag because I still hadn't done it, lol. So between contractions I packed my bag and went to the toilet about 100 times.
Contractions were starting to get a bit more painful now so I asked DH to put the TENS machine on for me because it said I was supposed to put it on at the start of labour.
DD1 woke up at 5.30am and DH entertained her and gave her breakfast while I did my thing. I got the heat pack and put that on my front while pressing the TENS during a contraction. Pretty soon I couldn't sit on the fitball anymore and felt like I needed to walk. DH and I were worried that I would use up my energy too soon like last time and that I shouldn't be walking around yet and should be resting instead but I couldn't help it, it hurt too much and I needed to walk. I was hungry but didn't feel like eating so had a chocolate 'up & go' instead. That didn't last long before I spewed.
At 6am DH messaged my mum to say we might be needing her today. She lives an hr and a half away. DH was great, reminding me to think 'open' and breathe etc. I felt like I needed him more though but he was looking after DD1. She was getting a bit worried about me so he was trying to distract her. So at 6.30am he rang mum because she hadn't got the txt yet. We thought it would be good if she came to look after DD1 for the day while I laboured at home so DH could be with me. Mum said she would have a shower and get ready and probably be here in about 2 hrs.
The contractions continued to get stronger and closer together. During each one I would walk down the hallway and back slowly, pressing the button on the TENS machine and holding the hot pack on my belly while breathing in slowly through my nose and out through my mouth doing the 'horse lips' (thanks Ina May, lol) and thinking 'open' and 'down'. I kept up this routine and when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed DH would come and walk with me and count for me during the contraction so I knew when the peak was and when it would be over. That was really helpful.
By 8am the contractions seemed to be getting pretty strong and closer together but I was still thinking in my head that it was just the early stages and thinking I was pretty wussy to be in so much pain already and wondering how I was going to cope when I got further along! I kept up my little routine of walking up and down the hallway but now I also had to make noise. When I breathed out I would make a sort of moaning/humming noise. It seemed to help with the pain somehow. I was getting worried about how I would keep this up for the rest of the labour and that I was using up all my energy way too soon but I couldn't help it. I wanted to stay home as long as possible because I knew that would give me the best chance of getting my VBAC but I was now starting to wonder when we should go in.
DH rang a friend of mine who is a midwife and knew I was in labour, she asked how I felt and I said I didn't know, lol. DH asked when a good time to go to hospital was and she said if I'm having 4-5 contractions in 10 mins I should go in. DH started paying attention and in the next 5 mins I'd already had 3 more contractions. DH then rang Sara (student midwife) and asked what she thought and she said to give my m/w a call now and let her know what's going on. So then DH rings my midwife and got her backup midwife Karen who I actually liked better and wanted as my m/w in the first place, yay!! She was great, asked how I was doing (I said 'I don't know' again) and she said I could stay home as long as I felt comfortable and just to call her with about 1/2hr notice of when we wanted to go in.
So at 8.15 DH rings Mum again to see where she is because I want to know how long she's going to be, I feel like we should leave when she gets here. Mum says she'll be about 25mins and after hearing contractions are 1.5-2 mins apart speeds the rest of the way :doh: So then DH rings Sara and Karen back and tells them we'll be leaving here at 9am and be at the hospital at about 9.30am. I'm still convinced I'm only in early labour even though contractions are close together and pretty painful, and am now worrying that we're going to hospital too early again.
Mum arrives at 8.35am and DH packs the car and gives her the instructions about DD1's nap time and lunch etc. I ignore them and keep walking. I say bye bye to my girl and we leave at 9am for the hospital. Not looking forward to the 30min car ride. I have contractions about 2-3 mins apart in the car lasting about a minute. It was difficult not being able to walk and I had to concentrate on my breathing really hard. I remember one contraction when we were almost there where at the peak of the contraction I felt lots of pressure and made a sound that sounded like pushing :o I was glad we'd decided to get to the hospital then but still thought I was in early labour but was glad the baby might be moving down more and engaging.
We arrived at the hospital at 9.30am and went in to the 'Pregnancy Assessment Unit'. I remember a lady staring at me as I was walking in having a contraction but I really did not care. They took my BP and listened to the baby's HB and everything was fine. We just had to wait for Karen to arrive to go to the Birth Suite. I couldn't stand still in the little room so walked out and paced around the desk where the midwives were.
Karen arrived and we went to the Birth Suite at about 9.45am. DH went to move the car and bring the stuff in and Karen checked my BP and the baby again and felt my tummy. I continued walking around the same during contractions and Karen asked if I wanted to get into the shower which I did! I thought it was too early to be using the shower already but I couldn't resist. DH came back and then the OB on duty came in to introduce herself. I was expecting to be told about the risks of declining continuous fetal monitoring, a cannula, and vaginal exams but Karen had already talked to her about my birth plan and she was really nice! All she did was say 'I know you're already informed about all that stuff, I just wanted to introduce myself so that if I did have to come in for any reason we would have already met'. So that was great!! DH then helped me get into my swimmers and took the TENS off and I got in the shower at 10am. Bliss!! I love the shower in labour!!
I had one shower head pointed on my back and DH was holding the other one on my tummy during contractions. That felt so much better and I think helped me relax a lot! Sara arrived at about 10.15am and came to talk to me in the shower. DH, Sara, and Karen were all encouraging me and reminding me to breathe. It was so great to have all that support and felt much different from last time. At 10.25am during a contraction in the shower my waters broke! DH and I were both very surprised! Things actually seemed to be progressing.
At 11am during a contraction all of a sudden I had a massive urge to push which made me lean over and hang on to DH. Karen was over the other side of the room doing some paper work and obviously heard me and came over and asked if I needed to push and I said 'yes, I think so, it feels like heaps of pressure'. So she said for me just to push when my body tells me too. With DD1 I had a premature urge to push and was told I couldn't push and had to stop and I kept thinking about this. I didn't believe them that I was far enough along to push and thought I shouldn't be, lol. So I wasn't really pushing as much as I could because I was scared I was going to hurt myself. They even told me that the baby was moving down but I didn't believe them. I also thought that I was handling the contractions ok and was expecting them to get a lot worse before I got to the pushing stage.
So after pushing but not really pushing for a bit I told them I was worried I wasn't fully dilated yet and asked if I could be checked to make sure. So Karen checked while I was squatting in the shower and said 'there's no cervix there at all'. I couldn't believe it! But I felt better now and started putting more effort into pushing. The contractions were now further apart so I got a nice break in between and they didn't seem as painful because I was concentrating on pushing.
At first I was standing in the shower and during a contraction I would lean back on DH who was sitting on a chair and squat down between his legs. Then I felt like I needed to sit on the loo so I did that. Then I tried leaning over a fitball and kneeling on the floor. I was pushing but felt like I wasn't doing anything to move the baby. Karen and Sara told me I was doing well and that the baby was moving down but I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel that the baby was moving at all and my belly looked the same to me, I expected it to look lower. Karen then suggested I try the birth stool so I gave that a go. That seemed easier because I could be supported while kind of squatting. DH sat behind me and I leant back on him while pushing. I pushed on there for a while but still felt like nothing was happening. DH, Karen, and Sara were really great during this time. I was thinking that I couldn't do it and that this was really hard and I didn't know if I could push the baby out but their encouraging words were really helpful. I tried to just listen to them and believe I could do it and take their suggestions.
Karen asked if I could get on the bed just for a minute so she could have a quick check to make sure the baby was coming down ok and I said yes because I wanted to know myself. Karen then left the room for a minute to go talk to someone I think and DH went to the toilet. I had been pushing for a while and I thought someone would say something soon because it had been going on too long. I thought Karen must have gone to tell the OB what was going on. I was leaning over the bed and Sara was next to me and I asked her if it was taking too long and if I was even doing anything with my pushing. She said everything was fine and reassured me.
Karen came back and I got up on the bed on my right side and she checked and said the baby was right there and I was pushing him/her out! Sara got a mirror for me and during the next contraction I could see a bit of the baby's head! A bit discouraging when it goes back again after the contraction, lol. The bed actually felt really comfortable after standing for a long time so I decided to stay there. The mirror was also great and the fact that I could touch the baby's head and see what was happening helped a lot. I felt like I could push better when I could see what I was doing and that I was actually moving the baby. So I layed on the bed and pushed and pushed and slowly I could see the head coming out more and more. I loved seeing DH's face then. He looked at me and was saying 'that's really our baby's head! look! you can see it! you're doing it! you're pushing it out! you're going to get your vbac!' and Karen said 'Yes, there's no doubt now, this baby is definitely coming out vaginally' and I realised that omg I was going to have a VBAC!! Then I concentrated on pushing that baby out now before someone came in and decided to use suction or something!!
I was feeling like this was never going to end when Karen said 'ok in the next one or two contractions your baby's head will be born!' Wow, I couldn't believe it!! And she was right. With the next contraction I gave a big push and the head moved a lot, then I was told to stop pushing for a minute and just do little pushes. I was watching in the mirror and saw the head come out and saw a tear (yuk!) which made me stop pushing and look away. But that didn't last long, I looked back to see my baby's head coming out with beautiful dark hair. When her head came out so did a lot more fluid and they could see a lot of meconium. So Karen said they would have to press a button which meant people would come in to make sure baby was ok when she came out.
Then I had to wait for the next contraction. The weirdest feeling having a head sticking out of me, lol, and she kept turning her head. DH says she wasn't moving much but it felt like a lot!!! So strange. The next contraction came and I pushed and Karen helped her shoulders out and out she came at 1.05pm! I saw her lying on the bed in front of me and saw she was a girl which was a shock! We didn't know what we were having but I was expecting a boy for some reason. I was so happy to have another little girl. Unfortunately she wasn't breathing and they had to cut the cord quickly and take her to suction the meconium out before getting her breathing so she didn't breathe any in. DH went over with her and watched what they were doing and then I heard her cry which made me feel better. I kept asking if she was ok but I felt ok and knew she would be alright. I think I was just so happy to have done it I thought everything was going to be fine!
I then felt a big gush of blood and Karen came over and said she had to give me the injection for the placenta which I agreed to. Then I had to push the placenta out which I don't think I did, lol. I tried to push when they told me but I don't think I did anything, felt like I had no energy or stomach muscles left!
Sara helped me get my bikini top off while I was waiting and then my beautiful girl was brought over and put onto my chest. She layed still for quite a while just looking around and then we had our first breastfeed. DH and I started ringing people and my Mum said she would bring DD1 in straight away as soon as she woke from her nap. I was so glad I didn't have to be away from her for long!
It was over an hour later that Karen stitched me up (I had a second degree tear) and DD2 was measured and weighed. I was then able to get up and have a shower, unbelievable!! We were then taken to our room. Mum bought DD1 in to visit and meet her little sister. It was so beautiful seeing them meet and DD1 is in love with her! I had to stay over night because of the meconium just so they could keep an eye on DD, but I went home the next day.
It has been such a different experience this time having a VBAC. My recovery has been so much better. I was only sore from the tear for about 5 days and it feels fine now! So much better than being sore for weeks after my c/s. And I have been able to be up and about and look after both my girls. Everything has been so much easier and less stressful. I didn't even get the baby blues!! lol.
Ok, that was long, thanks for reading :)
The stats:
Weight: 3880g (8lbs 9oz)
Length: 51cm
HC: 34.5cm
Labour time: 10 hrs from first contraction to birth, 2 hrs pushing.
