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After my previous labour and emergency c/s with Lucy, I was determined to have a VBAC.
Sunday 31st October - DH and I woke at 4am feeling really ill, and were both very sick. So we went to DH’s parent’s house for the day so they could take care of Lucy(and us ), and we both went upstairs to their spare room to get better. I got out of bed at about 8pm feeling a little better, but still pretty rough, and finally went to bed again at 10pm.
Monday 1st November 2004 - I woke up at about 5.30am with tummy ache. I tried to go back to sleep, but it kept on coming and going. At first I assumed it was just my stomach complaining from all the retching I’d done the previous day, but by about 6am, I’d realized that although very mild, they were coming quite regularly.
Over breakfast we decided we would go to the hospital to be checked over. I’d not eaten or drunk anything for over 24 hours and because of my previous c/s, the doctor had said I should be monitored as soon as anything happened, so a trip to the antenatal day unit was thought to be a good idea.
We arrived at the hospital at about 12.00, the pains were 6 mins apart, but a little stronger. I could still lightly breath through them though. The day unit put me on a monitor, and explained after 30 mins or so that the contractions were very mild and still far apart, so they would probably send me home for a bit, but said they’d do an internal examination first.
I’m not sure who was more surprised when the midwife said, ’I don’t think you’ll be going home today, as you are 5 cm’s dilated already. I’ll just go and book you into delivery!’
After a bit of a walk, we went to the delivery room and contrary to what my consultant had said, the midwife didn’t want to constantly monitor me, and was happy for me to be completely mobile. The only thing the mw said she would have to do was to put in a drip line into my hand, in case of an emergency due to my previous c/s. I didn’t really want it, but as it happens they decided to give me some intravenous fluids, as I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for 36 hours so was quite dehydrated. So although un-necessary for the birth, it turned out to be a good thing!
She suggested I sat on a birthing ball to help the baby get into the right position, which I did whilst reading the paper for an hour or so. The contractions hadn’t changed much, so the midwife said perhaps a hot bath would relax me and help things along.
By about 4.00pm the contractions were painful enough for me to need to really concentrate and for DH to rub my back. The midwife came in and said that she needed to monitor me for 20 minutes, and to examine me to see how I had progressed in the previous 4 hours. She said I was 7cm, and that I should go for a walk around to try to speed up and increase the strength of the contractions.
The examination obviously kick started things, as I only managed a slow stroll to the lifts and back because the contractions were a lot stronger and I had a show. They were still only 3 or 4 minutes apart, and about 45 seconds long though.
When we got back to the room at about 4.45, the midwife suggested I sat back on the birthing ball, leaning on the bed and that I could start on the gas and air.
At about 5.15 I decided that I’d had enough of the pain, despite the contractions still being quite far apart and short, I realised I was a wuss, so I sent DH out in search of an Epidural.
The MW came back in and watched me have a contraction before asking whether I felt any urge to push. I said I did a bit, but not a real urge like I had with Lucy.
She said she needed to examine me before she called the anaethstatist(sp), and when she did she said that I wouldn’t need an epidural as I was 10cm, the baby’s head was quite low and that I was ready to push.
She sorted the room out, and broke my waters at 5.40pm.
I pushed for 30 minutes and at 6.11pm Jessica was born. She arrived quite quickly. As her head crowned I panted (as I was told to – good girl!), but as her head was delivered, the force of the contractions sent the rest of her out as well in one quick movement.
She was put straight onto my tummy, and DH cut the cord.
I had a brief cuddle then she was taken away to be checked, as her breathing was a little shallow. After about 10 minutes they said she was fine, but we had to wait for the first feed as they had started to stitch me up. This took almost an hour.
Then, I got my cuddle, and Jessica had a good feed.
So, I got my wish of a VBAC, and despite the stitches it went exactly how I wanted it to! – Spontaneously going into labour (almost certainly due to the tummy bug the day before!), Minimal pain relief, using water to help, being mobile, virtually no interventions (the ARM only happened because I was ready to push) and only having intermittent monitoring using a handheld device.
I am completely besotted with her, and Lucy is being quite good with her, but mostly ignoring her, which is probably for the best.