I did it!! VBA2C at Sunshine Hossie!!

To start with I want to thank belly belly and all the people who responded to my posts and questions, and all the others who posted their experiences and thoughts, I am still processing my birth emotionally and physically, baby was born on Wednesday morning at 5:30am, after 2 emergency CS at 9cm dilated and being told that I couldn't do it, I, or should I say WE - me, my baby, my midwife, and the caseload midwife program at Sunshine birthed him!! And for the record he was 40 weeks and 3 days (ahh alarm bells, vbac and overdue... ) and he was 4.57kg, just bigger than my other 2, so he was big!! Two more obstetric myths disproved!! I have now hit day 3 and am crying at nearly everything, and still can't quite believe that I really birthed him!! As I process things, and things at home settle down, I'll post the full story!!
Kate

Congratulations Kate.
Cant wait to read your birth story :)

congrats huni!!!!!!!!! well done im so happy for you....you did it!!
xox

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! for you, I'm thrilled to hear this!!

xoxoxo Congrats, can't wait to hear more xoxoxo

Awesome stuff to hear!!!!!! Congratulations on your new baby AND your birth!!

Wicked!!! Congrats mate - I'm so happy you got this!!! :dance:

Can't WAIT to read your birth story.

Congratulations and well done!!! You had am amazing gorgeous mw who guided you well and believed in you!

Huge hugs for getting what you wanted!

Ooooh Kate, that's just awesome to hear! It sure is a wonderful feeling and you have every right to feel emotional about it :) :hug:

oh my! u are a legend! u did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woohoooo! U are a great inspiration to all us fellow c/sectioners! welldone and thankyou for sharing!!

Congratulations Kate on the birth of your baby boy and on your successful VBAC, I can't wait to read your birth story if you choose to share :D.

well done :leap:

Brilliant work - cant wait to read your Birth Story

YESSSSSSS!

Well done Kate! I am so incredibly happy for you, impressed by you and excited for ME too!! I am one of those who has been watching you to see how you go as I hope to VBAC if I ever manage to get pg again and live close to the sunshine hospital. Your birth is truly inspirational. Especially super fantastic to bust so many myths in one go! :clap:

Congratulations on the arrival of your little bundle of joy :dance:!

And, for the VBAC: a big congratulations to you, your team, the hossy and your little boy! But most of all, you go girl :thumbsup:!

Congratulations hun. You have done an awesome job!! Well done.

Woohoo! That's awesome news Kate :) I can't wait to read your birth story!!

I have tears in my eyes what an amazing job well done!!!!!!! Can't wait to read the birth story!!!

WOW!!

Well done Kate and congratulations!!

Can't wait to read the BA...when you can post through the tears ;P lol

Enjoy your babymoon xx

woohooooo!!!!! Thats AWESOME congrats! :clap: I can't wait to read your story.

Fantastic news!!!!!!! Congratulations and enjoy your gorgeous big baby :)

Thats fabulous news !

Congratulations -

Take care

xxxooo

That is awesome Kate. You can be very proud of yourself for being brave enough to challenge the system and trust in your body's capabilities. It CAN be done!!

Your birth story will be a source of inspiration to many!

X

Congratulations! Well done :)

That is such fantastic news!!! I asked my caseload mw about you and she said you did it! Im so proud xxx

Thank you everyone, I still can't quite believe it, but I really did it!! My journey started after my "failed vbac" with no. 2, I couldn't really understand why I had got to 9cm again, and still ended up with a CS, and the doctor said to me in the recovery room that there would be no more labours for me, "elective" CS from now on. Something didn't sit right, and I researched and researched, reading up on material about CS and VBAC after multiple CS, on the internet, books, and I'll spare you all the details as I was quite obsessive about it, and it took a long time, but essentially in my case, with no other medical indicators other than a uterine scar, a VBAC after multiple CS is only marginally riskier than after 1, so what was the big deal. I was a candidate for VBAC after my first child, what was the difference. Of course obs and hospital policy make it very difficult for a woman refusing, but the caseload midwife program at Sunshine was different. I still had to see an ob, but he was prepared to concede that the research I had done was valid, and that while it would cause the obs great angst and was not really the norm they couldn't stop me, and would do their best to look after me should something go wrong. He was the first doctor who I felt actually discussed the issue openly with me, rather than resorting to emotional bullying, he expressed his concerns, but respected my views as well. We had to agree on some compromises, such as short active labour, and monitoring, but I was going to be a supportive environment so was happy to do that.
My midwife and I discussed in depth on several occaisions all the things that had happened in my previous births, all the things that could happen this time, what we would do if this occured, etc, so we both knew exactly where the other stood, and mainly she understood my wishes, which was to have a natural delivery, but obviously not at all costs. If it had not been for this trust, and continuity of care, and the fact that I felt safe delivering with her, knowing that she had my wishes and interest at heart, I may not have been able to carry through. I was in the frame of mind that I couldn't trust an obs decision to do a CS as it would be based on what was good for them, not me, but was scared that I might wrongly decline one and lose the baby. So, that trust was so important.
Anyway, I went into labour myself, my waters didn't break this time, and once my labour was established, regular and strong contractions, and one false alarm when everything fizzled after getting into the car.....I went to hospital. That was when my 6 hours began, and that was at 12 midnight! I had my waters broken, which really brought on the good stuff, and I walked, rocked, squatted, grunted, I am honestly not really sure what I did, I just let my body do it, gravity assisted and drug free, as lying on a bed with pain relief would have slowed things down, and my experience from the last 2 times was ending up with a CS! I had a very sore throat afterwards, I grunted a lot, as I read in a few places that low gutteral noises don't cause you to tense up as much, and I think once I started that I just kept doing it. I remember feeling out of my body, and tingly, and that exhilerated but exhausted at the same time. I nearly lost my resolve a couple of times, but my midwife and my Mum who stayed with me kept me going, and then I got to 9cm, and panicked! That was where I got stuck the last 2 times, what if I couldn't do it, and the doubt set in. My midwife got the doctor at that stage, apparently she tried herself but couldn't get the right spot, but the doctor stretched my cervix with her finger as I contracted and basically pulled me the last cm, and then I was ready to push. I couldn't believe it, I was lying on the bed, not really knowing how I got there, and the doctor was asking me if I knew how to push, and I was looking at my midwife who had just told me that his head was only about 4cm away, and all I could say was does that mean I'm not having a CS? And she was smiling saying it looks that way! And then the doctor was asking again if I knew how to push. That was funny because I had absolutely no idea, I had done so much research and invested so much energy in getting to that point, and had not even thought about how I would push. I have an artificial knee, which makes many of the best positions impossible, and we couldn't find the birthing stool, next time we will have given this part of labour a bit more thought!! Anyway, I was only allowed to push for 15 mins, as the ob on duty was terrified that the pushing would be too much pressure, but rather than resort to CS she helped me get the last cm, and I had suction to assist my pushes. So, I had some intervention at the end, but still this was much more preferable to surgery! Anyway, I was still in a state of disbelief, especially when they said his head was crowning, and then out, and I could hear him crying, and all I could think was I am having him, I am really doing this, and then I had to cough rather than push and his body came out - it felt very strange to have him half in and half out - and then he was there, on my chest, my beautiful baby boy! Of course with the suction and short pushing time I had to have an epis..and then lost quite a lot of blood, so I didn't get the physiological third phase, but again my midwife and I had discussed that scenario too, so I didn't need to question it, but I had my baby, and it was the most incredible thing ever!
I think that the main things that enabled me to do this was the research that I had done, finding a midwife who I could trust and sticking to my guns. I also had him a little overdue, which is generally used to discourage women, as overdue babies are bigger and big babies can't be born.....bollocks! He was bigger than my other 2, he was 4.57 kg!
So, I am not going to offer a medical opinion and say that all women can and should vbac, but many of us can and want to, even though we are generally led to believe otherwise, and should be given the opportunity to attempt it. Each woman's circumstances should be considered, rather than a blanket no trial of scar policy applied. So, do lots of research that is applicable to you and your situation, ask lots of questions, have a detailed birth plan that covers lots of different scenarios, don't be afraid to say no to something that you don't want, and be clear on what you want to happen. I had maintained from the beginning that even if I agreed to a CS I wanted to go into spontaneous labour first, so baby still gets to choose when they are born, unless of course there was a medical indication that warranted otherwise. And, I was keeping the baby in recovery, so both myself and the hospital knew what I had discussed and agreed on for different scenarios. This was all recorded in the notes, so I couldn't have another ob turn around and say no. I think the caseload program at Sunshine is very good at making sure that this is all organised, so the process is in place to make sure that what you have agreed on is respected. No matter how my birth turned out, and I would have felt that my wishes had been respected, a much better birth experience that I had before, and yes, it is very healing!!
I hope I have made sense, I am happy if anyone wants to ask questions, keeping in mind I can't offer a medical opinion, but only what I know based on my own research and my experience! I will definately be going back to Sunshine to have my next baby with a caseload midwife, hopefully the same one!!

Hey you should tell this story to LaDeeDa, she's a bit down about her OB saying that they won't support her if she wants to do a VBAC next time as her next bub will probably be bigger than Blue was. I'm sure your experience would be great for her to hear!!

And congrats honey!! We're all sooooo proud of you!!

She should ask her ob if his concern is based on actual medical facts, and if so to quote his sources, (he won't be able to as there are none, or none that my several months of research revealed, neither could any ob quote me any) or just his opinion, and to point out that she would rather submit herself to surgery based on medical realities than myths. There is an article on bellybelly about big babies, and silent knife and the henci goer book, as well as several of the natural parenting/birth, homebirth, independant midwife websites quote studies and sources as well. The WHO is another good source, anyway, I am proof to the contrary, and I think it is more about positioning than size, as babies heads are squishy for a reason!

I also forgot to say thank you to the ob on duty who tried less extreme methods of intervention, helping my cervix the last cm and using suction rather than surgical extraction to hurry things along. Not all obs will automatically go for the extreme last resort as a preference! So thank you to the ob as well!!

Fantastic!! Well done Mumma! I just had a vba2c 3weeks ago...it is amazing to know you did it hey?

Awesome story. I got stuck at 9cm and ended up with my second CS, so I wonder if they could have stretched me the last cm?? Also DD head was sideways, so maybe it wouldn't have mattered. How far between your CS and VBAC? I REALLY want a VBAC next time and want to know how long to wait before TTC again to give me the best chance.

You are an inspiration!! Well done :)

You are trully such an inspiration.I have been told point blank that this 3rd baby is c section because my other 2 were,but you have inspired me to look further into this for sure..Well done :p