VBAC SUPPORT

Hi Ladies,

I'm another failure to progress after being induced at 40 weeks 3 days. I was 40 weeks on a Tuesday and doc said I had to choose that Friday or Monday because she won't allow me to go over 41 weeks - we actually chose the Monday but the doc had already put me on the list for Friday, so things were wrong from the start. She inserted the gel or whatever it was and 4 hours later broke my water. The nurse checked me just before 7pm that evening and said I was at 6 (dilated), when the doc came she told us I was stuck at 5 and was wheeled to operating room within 30min and cut open.

To be honest, I didn't take it very well. I look at photos taken at the hospital of myself and still cry remembering that expression on my face. It took me a long time to get over it and I'm still not very 'over' it. If there was no chance in hell to have a vbac I will not even have tried for a second child.

So I stayed with my gynea and had my 20/21 week scan and appointment. The gynea informed me that she booked me for a c-sec on 6 Nov (we have never spoken about it before today) and I told her I still wasn't sure that that was the way I wanted to go and she informed me that I'll have to get a new doctor and that she doesn't know of any doctor that would support me.

So of today I am gynea-less and rather relieved. Thinking of going the midwife route. But watching "I didn't know I was pregnant" the other night, I'd like to go the "oops, didn't know I was in labour and had baby in the bath" route - one can dream, right?

Hi there ladies,

Elamsmom, sorry I only saw your message now. You can contact me or Kim about a book. If you still want to do a course, I have a few ladies who lives far away form me and are interested in doing a Saturday course, we are thinking of doing longer sessions so that we can fit it in in less than 5 weeks to minimize travelling. Let me know if you are interested. anina@beautifullyborn.co.za

Anni, how are you? I see today is your EDD, are you still walking or are you holding that baby already?

Joybaby, just get hubby to join the first class, tell him he doesn't have to do the rest if he's not interested. In my experience the first class turns the daddies into believers.

Jacadebra and charlene, thanks for sharing your lovely stories! Always helpful to know what others have accomplished.

Hope you all have a great journey with your pregnancies and awesome birth experiences!!

Hi Ladies.

I'm a vbac mamma!

I had my son via emergency c-section in 2008. Was in labour what felt like forever, and eventually had a csection as he went into distress. Seems the cord was wrapped very tightly around his neck, and was suffocating him when he tried to descend which is most unfortunately

I was determined to have a vbac with my second. I asked the doctor (new doc) for a trial of labour and he said "sure" as he was keen to get a new client on board. When I was very far along he started telling me that he thinks that my daughter will be too big to deliver naturally.. blah blah. He estimated her to be under 4kg's, for heavens sakes. Anyway, I got rather angry with him, told him that if he wants to try force me into a c-section he must come with a better excuse because I don't believe babies are "too big" to birth naturally. I've know 45kg girls who gave natural birth to almost 4kg babies so, I wasn't interested in this excuse.
I basically insisted on my trial of labour as there was no "danger" to my baby or myself!

Went into labour in the morning at 37 weeks... was determined not to go to the hospital early.. because I just know how doctors LOVE to use failure to progress and I know that labour can take ages (as it had with my first, and with my mum's pregnancies) and can be slowed down if you are lying in a bed doing nothing, like I did with my first labour anyway. I wasn't 100% sure, but I carried on my day as normal, just breathing my way through things etc. Eventually I almost left it a bit too late... LOL... but luckily the hospital was less than a kilometer from my house. My daughter was born shortly after arriving at the hospital, no meds, and weighing a TINY 2.83kgs! She was wide awake (as not affected by any med's) and was breastfeeding within 20 minutes of giving birth .

I didn't do hypnobirthing - but along similar lines, I did do lots of positive affirmations in the build-up to my birth, I got myself into the right frame of mind - took away as much fear and negativity and just kept reminding myself that my body was made to give birth this way and that I really wanted to have a natural birth. Reminding myself that these overwhelming and weird feelings were nothing to fear, but were a natural progression and were GOOD!

It was an intense but awesome experience, and I was delighted to be out of the hospital quicker, and to be able to pick up my 2 year old, and drive wherever I wanted to without having to worry about abdominal pain etc.

If you really want your vbac, and you can't go on a hypnobirthing course... just educate yourself as much as you can on natural birth for starters, yes, so you know what you might be able to expect, and get your mind ready way before the time, using positive affirmations to prep your subconscious.
And another thing that I found made such a huge difference, is breathing properly! The minute you start to feel pain, and get stressed, you hyperventilate and then the pain is hectic. BUT, if you slow your breathing taking nice deep breaths, and focus on your breathing and your positive affirmations, you can manage just fine.

OH, and ironically enough my daughter's cord was also around her neck, but as in most cases, they were just able to slip it off after she came out, because it wasn't tightly wrapped.

Good luck ladies, look forward to reading about your vbac birth stories in the future

Hi Ladies,

I thought I’ll come and share my story, although it was not a successful VBAC story, I at least tried.

My first girl was born with a C-sec, because I had high blood pressure from week 13 of my pregnancy. And by week 39 it became too dangerous for baby and me. Dr did an internal to see if an induction was possible, but my cervix was still close and dr said that he can give me one, but he can guarantee me that I will be in labor for 24hours or longer.

With my second pregnancy I decided to go for the Vbac, but my gynae moved overseas and the gynae in his place just said NO and gave me all the negative points. So I decided to find myself another gynae. I moved from a gynae at Kloof to one at Pta East. And it was the best thing I could do. The second gynae also said that we will have to wait until week 36 to see if my blood pressure is still ok and if baby is in the correct position. Well everything went according to plan, and the morning of the 2nd of Feb, (my LG due date) I started to feel contractions. I was so glad and started to time them, they were 5min apart. 5h I went to wake up my DH and we went to the hospital. They monitored me and said that my contractions was very strong, but when they did the internal, my cervix was still close. So the waiting game started. The minutes became hours. 4h that afternoon I was only 1cm. I burst into tears and really could not believe it. The doctor came to me and said that he is not going to send me home, but if I want to I can stay overnight and see what happen but he can almost guarantee me that nothing will happen the night either, so 5h we decided to go for a C-Section. Mia was born that evening 18h30 and the next morning 8h I was on my feet and walking around. She was 4.04kg at birth, so maybe the Lord knew something I didn’t. And at the end all that mattered is that my baby girl is healthy and well.

I really hope to see a lot of successful VBAC stories here shortly.

Hi Elamsmom.

You can contact Kim at Beautifully Born and ask her to post it to you.
She may be able to refer you to a hypnobirthing instructor in your area.
www.beautifullyborn.co.za/

If you can afford the classes it's much better to do that.
I still need to chat to hubby about this as I really want to do the class.

@MissesMom: Where can I get the hypnobook?

Thanks for yor story! Even though it was assisted, I love hearing about VBAC mommies!