Isaac William Parton's arrival
:baby: With my second pregnancy, I was determined to attempt a VBAC after a Caesar with my first child 2 years prior. My obstetrician was concerned about my decision and cautioned me against the dangers of labouring with a uterine scar. However, armed with knowledge from some fantastic web sites, I decided to go ahead, and 4 days before my scheduled induction, began to give all those “old wives tales†a go to encourage my body into spontaneous labour.
I booked myself into 3 sessions with a local acupuncturist, went for a brisk walk, blew up balloons, ate hot curry, took a homeopathic remedy, had acupressure, drank raspberry leaf tea, you name it – I tried it.
On Sunday, after my 3rd acupuncturist visit, I started to feel a bit out of sorts. I began to experience ‘period like’ pains in the late afternoon. After dinner, I went for a walk with my dad which strengthened the contractions and by 7pm was in established labour.
At 10.30pm my contractions were 3 minutes apart and we made the trip to the hospital approximately 40 minutes drive away. By the time we arrived, I was having contractions 2 minutes apart.
Due to my uterine scar from a previous caesarean, I was monitored carefully and was unable to be as mobile as I had wanted to be during the labour.
The midwife examined me at 1am and determined that I was only 1cm dilated. At 2am I was examined again, this time by the obstetrician, and he expressed concern over my baby’s heart rate, and advised to place a trace on the baby’s scalp. In doing this he broke my waters and the contractions were suddenly very painful!
The anethesist soon arrived and said he was going home, so if I would have liked an epidural it would have to be done straight away, or at 9am. After no pain relief thus far, and the contractions becoming unbearable, I decided to have the epidural.
At 4am I was again examined by the midwife. I had now dilated to 4cm.
When my baby’s heart rate had dropped slightly at around 5am, the midwife explained that sometimes this can be due to full dilation having occurred.
She examined me again and found that I had dilated the remaining 6 cm in the hour since she checked me. She told to start pushing, and 27 minutes later, assisted with vacuum suction, my son Isaac William was born vaginally weighing 8 pounds and ½ an ounce.
