Successful VBAC’s can happen in 85% of women who had a previous Cesarean. I’d like to encourage women and couples to get as much education and re-education as they possibly can about childbirth and VBACs in general. There are some great resources for the support and information you will need for this momentous and joyous day to come. With the right support and effort you can do it. You won’t get what you wish for, but you will often get what you work for!
Recommended books and DVD’s for VBAC:
Here is Rachel and Nick’s story:
Hi Liza, we had our baby! Last Saturday morning, two days before the due date. It was incredible!
I woke up at 2:45 in the morning feeling a very long contraction. When it ended I felt like my water may have broken. I took some notes on taco and began wandering around the house figuring out my contractions. They were all about one minute long and one to three minutes apart, mostly two minutes apart. They were manageable on my own so I let Nick sleep.
I kept watching for the emotional signposts because it was really important to me to stay home until the very end of first stage. After two hours I woke up Nick and asked him to help me. I called Dr. Cap and he just told me to go to the hospital when I felt it was time.
I started to think that I wanted to leave for the hospital before my daughter woke up so we called my parents and asked them to come help us get ready. I still did not feel like I was in transition or even late first stage. The most fabulous thing we discovered was when my back started to hurt, Nick tried the hip squeeze. Miraculously, doing the hip squeeze relieved both my back pain and cut the contraction pain in half. I don’t know why, but it was an incredible trick. So he had to squeeze my hips for each contraction and then I’d let him leave for 30 seconds to go pack the car, then he has to come back to squeeze my hips again!
We hopped in the car just before seven. I had four or five contractions on the drive to scripps enc., but still felt pretty in control. I had a few contractions on the lobby floor while we checked into the hospital, but I quickly got a room and the nurse checked me. You are complete! she exclaimed, Don’t push! Wow, those were the sweetest words I’ve ever heard!
Dr. Cap showed up shortly and told me to start pushing. It was a lot of work but not too bad and only lasted 45 minutes. I was on my back, tilted further back than I wanted, but Cap said that was best. As the baby came out, I reached down to take her. They told me to give one more push and she came out and I lifted her onto my chest! I just held her there for a while, and finally a nurse asked if it was a boy or girl. I never even thought to look or ask. Nick took a peek and found it was a girl! Total labor, start to finish: 5 1/2 hours.
Dr. Cap was a fantastic coach. He was so calm and gave me lots of guidance and encouragement. But I couldn’t have done it without the encouragement that Nick was also giving me, telling me over and over how much progress I was making. That was the most helpful part, to know that I was actually getting closer each time.
Baby nursed right away! They never washed her and hardly took her from me at all. We did vit K but no eye drops.
So my birth plan was followed to the letter. The only thing that happened was I had to have the Pitocin IV after the placenta, due to excessive bleeding.
Looking back on it I couldn’t really identify having gone through transition, I never felt like I couldn’t handle it, but now I realize I was pretty irritable near the end as we rushed to get to the hospital, so maybe that was it!
We are at home now doing exclusive skin to skin, in bed all day, and it is beautiful. We named our baby girl Laurel Jane.
Thank you for all the support, education, and wise words as I prepared for that wonderful day.
Rachel
