MY REDEMPTIVE HBAC
With my 1st daughter I thought I was 100% prepared for natural birth. I was attempting a birth center and had taken their classes as well as another natural birth course online. However, I did nothing to prepare my body during pregnancy properly and like many I developed the beginnings of preeclampsia and my daughter was asynclitic so I had 4 days of exhausting prodromal labor and transferred to the hospital where the cascade of interventions landed me in an emergency c section.
When I found out I was pregnant with my 2nd at 40 I had been a doula with quite a bit of experience and education in helping VBACs. I felt like I had decoded the secret to birth and how to truly have a natural vaginal birth. My vaginal attempt success rate with over 60+ mamas so far is 100%! No emergency c sections on my watch! This lit a fire in me to not only attempt a VBAC but I was doing an HBAC with my favorite group of midwives Home Birth Honey in Austin.
Using my new found education and experience I controlled my diet, added 600mg -900mg (I would alternate) of magnesium a day and exercised to prevent preeclampsia. I did a low carb/sugar diet to prevent gestational diabetes which also leads to preeclampsia. I began prenatal yoga with one of the honey’s amazing midwives @catmcgrath and it was 90 minutes of pure connection to my body, breath, and pelvic floor.
I practiced spinning babies a few times a week with 3 sisters of balance to make sure my babe was in the right position this time for birth. Prodromal labor (days of intense contractions that aren't making much progress) is usually caused by mal position of baby.
At 39.5 I began feeling intense pressure sensations that felt similar to contractions but more of an intense pubic pressure during the day. I would have to stop and breathe through them. In my mind I would just say "this is intense Braxton hicks preparing your body for labor" then go about my day. At night they would get more period crampy but I knew getting myself to go back to sleep and sleeping through them was important because when real labor (active) labor kicked in I needed to be rested.
My husband and I woke up every day at 39+6, 40, and 40+1 and had sex before our toddler woke up. I knew semen was an amazing prostaglandin and sex releases oxytocin. One of my midwives suggested inserting an evening primrose oil in my vagina at night to help soften my cervix as well. As a doula and HBAC I didn't want to mess with the nature of things too much but had read benefits of it so I waited until 40+1 and inserted it that night. I awoke on 40+2 May 26th @5:30am with my 1st STRONG surge.
I knew the feeling all too well after laboring naturally until transition (7cm) with my 1st. My body was kicking into late early labor and I would probably soon be in active. I got out of bed with my husband and sleeping toddler (I wanted my husband as rested as possible to help me when I really needed him) and went to the guest room which I had turned into my labor room.
As a doula I knew the 1st thing I wanted to do was progress to active as quick as possible and the best way to do this was to lay on my left side with peanut ball. (This is very intense and will make contractions stronger.... this is WHAT YOU WANT!) I also knew my body was working hard at effacing 1st so if I got checked when my midwife came I wasn't going to focus on dilation number. I told myself to "soften, open, relax" as each surge overtook me.
By 8am things began to intensify and I knew I needed to get my very clingy toddler out of the house so I wouldn't be distracted. I texted my mother in law to see if she could come get her for the weekend. (I also wanted a few days to bond with just the baby once she came). I woke my husband and told him he needed to get my daughter up and ready and take her to meet his mom. I then texted my doula as I went to the restroom and lost my mucus plug which also had quite a bit of bloody show. I knew this was a great sign that I was in real labor. Bloody show means the cervix is dilating.
My doula arrived around 9am as I was laboring in the room again on the peanut ball and my contractions were around 3-4 minutes apart. I wasn't timing them as I know that takes you out of it mentally. I was just listening to my birth playlist and would have about 2 per song. My doula @mellisareeves suggested I labor a bit on the toilet... dilation station as we call it...and so I did. This is when things got very intense and I transitioned to full active labor.
My bowels began emptying and I was experiencing more bloody show. I agreed it was time to inform the midwives I was in labor. I was also GBS+ so if my water ruptured I was going to get antibiotics. (The c section with my 1st was ultimately due to severe infection from prematurely allowing them to break my waters at the birth center which caused insanely high blood pressure as well so I wanted to avoid infection at all cost) I knew I didn't want any reason to transfer so I was very open to the antibiotics only if my waters broke.
The midwives arrived around 11am and I labored for a few hours with them here. I wanted to move to the tub as I began feeling intense urges to push with contractions. And I needed a break to rest and I knew water could help me get a much needed break. As I labored in the tub my body felt like it was pushing and I had to roar and scream through each surge. I opted at this point to get a cervical check because I didn't want to push if my cervix was not ready. I just knew I had intense pressure with each contraction and my waters had not broken yet.
My midwife checked me around 1pm and said my bag of water was bulging and I was almost 90% effaced (most labor is to efface you then dilation will happen) she had helped stretch me from a 1 to a 4 easily she said. So now I was 90% and at a 4. I looked at my doula and knew because I was so soft I needed to try toilet again but I wanted to stay laying down for a moment longer so I did the peanut ball and the surges got extremely intense.
Finally I knew I needed to use gravity to dilate and hopefully break my water (the intense pressure I was feeling with each surge was my water bag) so I opted to go back to the toilet. I surrendered to each surge and pictured my cervix dilating further. I labored on the toilet for about an hour before I needed the water again. As I labored in the water I began feeling the intense urges to push again with each surge again. So I asked my midwife to check me again and break my water if I was close to transition.
4pm She checked me and broke my very strong bag of water. The fluid was clear, baby sounded great, and she said I was a 5 but now I was a 7! So I was officially in the hardest part of labor now. Transition.
I went into the water again because I knew transition I needed all the help I could to relax. My body began intense fetal ejection reflex about 45 minutes in the water and my midwife felt me and I had a bit of a cervical lip which she held back and I pushed 3 times to be officially complete. (We brought the baby's head down past that lip to keep me open to 10cm)
I got out of the tub and moved to the birth room where I alternated pushing positions while experiencing FER (Fetal ejection Reflex) mixed with a little pushing on my part on top. I roared and screamed through contractions and I kept saying "I'm not suffering I LOVE IT it feels good to scream" so my husband and entire birth team knew. From pushing on my left side to the birth stool to finally caving and pushing on my back... that was where I made the most progress and got baby girl past my pubic bone!! Once her head was out I knew by the way my midwife was talking I had a shoulder Dystocia. (The baby’s shoulder was stuck)
Witnessing this as a doula and having been spinning babies certified I KNEW the protocol to fix it and immediately said "I need to flip over? Lunge?" She looked at me and said yes. I flipped and pushed a few times and she wanted me to flip back and do nipple stimulation and they bicycled my legs. This entire time I knew she was going to dislodge because shoulder Dystocia is all about just moving the pelvis to help baby navigate better. And after 20 seconds I felt a very strong surge and BOOM out popped baby! 7:43pm my redemptive HBAC happened.
She came out struggling a tiny bit to breathe and I sucked the fluid out of her nose and mouth with my mouth to help her (it was primal!) and my midwife listened with a stethoscope and said her pulse was great... she still hadn't taken her 1st breath but AGAIN I knew with my experience this was normal and could take a few minutes for her to come around. As long as we kept the cord connected to the placenta she was getting oxygen and much needed goodness!!! (A hospital would've cut the cord IMMEDIATELY and taken her to a warmer to suction and been aggressive making her cry)
After about 60 seconds she began her squeaky cry. She was pink and perfectly healthy!
My choice of having my second birth at home was the best thing I could've ever done! My cord pulsed for 20 minutes!!! That was much needed blood pulsing back into my girl that a hospital would have deprived. I had her on my chest for an hour before weighing and measuring her. My husband made all of us food, and as soon as everyone left we just sat on the bed with our baby girl in awe of what just happened. Many things that happened in my birth could have been traumatic to someone without the education or experience of witnessing just how normal shoulder dystocia or a baby coming out not breathing was and how to be patient with these things.
I manifested not only the birth of my dreams (on a Friday holiday 3 day weekend, good sleep leading up to it, no all nighter had to be pulled, fetal ejection, no need for perineum repairs due to them not rushing my pushing stage) I mean I started labor in the morning and had her 14 hours later right before bedtime. It couldn't have happened more perfectly. We FaceTimed my daughter and she was so excited to meet her baby sister. I was on a high!