My VBAC Birth Story | Part 1

Disclaimer: If you aren’t into reading birth stories and all the details that go along with them, I suggest you skip to the next post.  I will be sharing my full birth story here with all the fun/gross/normal details that go along with that.

Baby D’s VBAC Birth Story

• Previous Cesarean Section
• Gestational Diabetes
• Very Big First Baby
• Thick Meconium
• Heart Decelerations
• Double Wrapped Cord
• Posterior Baby
• Vacuum Delivery

To say that I had the cards stacked against a vaginal delivery would be an understatement.  Thankfully I was blessed with an OB who gave me my VBAC. An OB who was willing to give me and my body every opportunity to get it done, believed I could do it, and watched my baby like a hawk to make sure we were still on the right side of safe.

Speaking of safe…

I think it is safe to say that this baby boy wanted to let mama know he wasn’t going to do anything according to anyone else’s schedule.  It was decided a few weeks before my son came into this world, that due to my gestational diabetes, a predicted large baby, and my desire not to be induced I would be scheduled for a repeat C-section on December 6th, my son’s due date. That is unless my son decided to come on his own prior to that date in which case both my OB and my high-risk OB were willing to allow me to attempt to VBAC.  (Vaginal delivery after cesarean).  I was really hoping to avoid a repeat C-section and at 39 weeks I began to try any and all at home natural inductions methods.  To my surprise I was still pregnant the day before my due date and not really feeling any different.  I had been having bouts of long Braxton Hicks, but they never turned painful or regular.  At my last OB appointment I was told I was 2 cm dilated and soft, but still posterior and high. (This meant that my baby was “sunny-side up” which can make labor longer and more difficult.  Thankfully I didn’t ask what it meant until later…)

On December 5th I woke up and took what would be my last picture of this pregnancy.

Squishy had preschool that afternoon, so I decided while he was there I was going to go walk the mall in a last ditch effort to get my labor started.  I spent 1.5 hours walking that mall, and let me tell you – I was a pregnancy cliché!  I’m sure I looked pretty silly waddling in circles around both levels of that mall.  Before long, I had to go pick up my son and I waddled back to my car.  I was feeling like baby was lower, and very uncomfortable, but no lasting contractions.

Since it was the last day I would spend with my son before I brought his baby brother home, I wanted to make sure he had a really great day.  Since pre-school lets out really close to his nap time we usually just go home, but today I surprised him by allowing him to go to the playground after school.  He was so happy.  As I sat and watched him, he ran and played with his school buddies.  Not too long before I was about to tell him he needed to get ready to go home, another mommy at the playground turned to me and said, “Um, your son just said he was going to jump off that ledge.” (See playground platform with pole to slide down about 8-10 feet off the ground.)  I looked at her and smiled, and said, “Oh, he won’t jump he is pretty cautious when it comes to things like this.”

Then my son screamed.

Yep, he jumped.  As I ran full speed towards him, he tried to stand and immediately collapsed.  He couldn’t put any weight on his leg.  Visions of broken femurs and shattered ankles flew through my head.  I heard myself yell, “WHY DID YOU JUMP? IT’S OKAY BABY, MAMA’S HERE. ”  As I got to him, he collapsed in my arms screaming.  I asked him where it hurt, and as I did, I noticed the other mommies were around me as well.  One happened to be a nurse and she jumped in and started to assess him while another mom made a make shift ice-pack.  Several tense tear-filled minutes later, it was determined that it was unlikely anything was broken, but I needed to watch him just in case.  I picked my 41 lb son up, grabbed his sock filled with Starbucks ice, and walked the long distance to my car.  I’m still not sure why he jumped.  He has always be so cautious to do anything risky on the playground, but I was very VERY thankful he was okay.  By the time we got home he wasn’t even limping, but I was having contractions that actually hurt.

After a quick lunch I put my son down for his nap.  He asked me to lay with him, and suddenly that seemed like the best idea in the world.  I had a lot I had planned to accomplish during his nap, but in that moment I couldn’t see anything better to do.

I fell asleep snuggling with my son.  About 2 hours later to my surprise I woke up to a painful contraction.  I was sure they would have gone away if I laid down.  I laid there for another 10-15 minutes and had 3 more contractions that felt like they were coming in a pattern.

I got up, my son still sleeping and discovered a bit of bloody show.  I knew then that this was probably it.  I called my husband who had run out to do something and let him know.  By the time he came home not too much later, I was timing them.  They were 3-4 minutes apart but only lasting 45-1 minute.  My husband wanted to go the hospital right then, but I wasn’t sure.  I called my OB’s office and was informed by the after hours operator that if I thought I was in labor I needed to go to labor and delivery.  I asked her if I could have my OB paged because I was scheduled for a C-Section the next morning.  I was worried that they would send me home until my scheduled appointment.  She said she couldn’t do that, and to go into the hospital if I thought I was in labor.

So with no advice to be had from the OB I did what any girl does next… I called my mom.  She listened to me, and told me I should listen to my instincts but probably go in.  At least I think that’s what she said, I can’t really remember our conversation to well.  I spent the next hour trying to accomplish basic tasks and getting interrupted by contractions.  It took me forever to add the few things left to pack to my bag, and I decided that I couldn’t go until I ate something.  One giant honey crisp apple, 2 cheese sticks, and one very anxious husband later we were on our way to the hospital.

As we were walking into the hospital I joked with my husband that they may send me home if I wasn’t dilated enough.

That turned out to be a very bad joke.

Read Part 2 of my VBAC birth story.

• Biography of the Author(Read Below)..
• Latest Posts (view them )..

Emily

Emily is a wife & mom living in Las Vegas. The owner and writer at Our Knight Life, Emily loves sharing her two adorable boys and journey through motherhood. Emily has run four half marathons to date and is always training for her next big race. She also enjoys creating healthy recipes for her family and sharing family friendly product reviews.

Latest posts by Emily (Posts)

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