2nd VBAC, Barely Made it to the Hospital – Birth Story Guest Post

This is Kiera’s birth story, written by Jenn.

Kiera is my 3rd child and my 2nd VBAC.  My first child was born via c-section 5 years ago.  We decided to go with a c-section after 2 hours of unsuccessful pushing and a sunny side up baby in lieu of a vacuum extraction.  Baby boy ended up being 8lbs 5 oz, which was huge for me at 4ft 11inches!  He had large contusion on his head from being stuck and I am convinced that a c-section was the right decision.

Baby #2 was a boy and was a successful VBAC (born 4 weeks early) after 12 hours of labor and only 15 minutes of pushing. He weighed in at 6lbs 11oz.

When I became pregnant for the 3rd time, I was still on the fence about attempting a VBAC.  My 1st VBAC was successful, but I chalked it up to baby being early and thus small.  Against my midwife’s wishes I scheduled a c section for baby #3 for August 2nd. Like our other children, this baby’s gender was a surprise!

On July 29th I went in for my weekly checkup and they had accidentally scheduled it for the next month!  My wonderful midwife squeezed me in anyway.  She asked if I wanted to be checked for dilation and I said “sure.” I’s had a few contractions in the car but nothing serious.  She told me I was 5 cm dilated!  She said to walk, walk, walk and not stray far from the hospital.  I went shopping and walked for 4 hours and NOTHING. Not one contraction. The hospital is 45 minutes from my home but I decided to go home for the night anyways, since I knew some women can stay at 5 cm for a while.

I went home went to bed and slept from about 10 PM until about 5AM, when I felt some contractions.  I went into the bathroom, took a shower, then got on my computer.  I updated my Facebook status to “today seems like a good day to have a baby.”  I decided to let my husband sleep til 7 knowing that “these things take time.”  My back started to HURT, back labor ugh. I never had that with the boys.  The contractions were very intense and went from 6 minutes apart to every 2.  I woke my husband up at 6:30 and called my in laws to watch the boys.

The in laws arrived at 7 and my husband began speeding down the road.  He beeped at and tried to flag down every officer he saw with no success.  We passed my grandmother’s house about 20 minutes away and I begged him to stop there but he kept on driving.  At the next street I felt like I needed to push, and when I did my water broke! All over the seat of the new-to-us van we had literally purchased 2 days before! My husband called 911 and they asked him “are you sure she didn’t just urinate?” He assured him it was my bag of waters and that we knew the difference. My husband pulled into the nearest fire station and they prepared to send an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived and there were 2 paramedics with me while my husband followed behind. Of course the 30 something year old dad of 3 told the 20ish year old “you have never delivered a baby I am putting you in charge”  The kid was so scared!  I told them I really felt like I needed to push, and the young kid sort of looked and said he couldn’t see anything.  We sped to the hospital. As we arrived at the hospital I began to scream “Ring of Fire Ring of fire!” The baby was crowning, they must have thought I was nuts or a really big Johnny Cash fan.

We pulled up to the ER at 8:03 AM where my husband met us at the door. I was pushed through the ER into an elevator and up to the maternity ward. As they were rushing me to a room surrounded by doctors.  I pushed once and then again.  The nurse told me “if you need to push go ahead and push honey.”  I said “no need to push the baby is out.” The nurse then lifted the sheet up and under the sheet was my baby.  They immediately placed the baby on my chest.  I said “is it a boy or a girl?”  They said “why doesn’t mom tell us.”  I lifted the baby up and it was a beautiful little girl.

We were both checked out and she was a healthy 7lbs 4 oz & 20 inches.  My midwife joked a few days later the she felt funny signing the birth certificate because I had done all the work myself!  It was the craziest and best day of my life all in one.  

The official time on the birth certificate was 8:06 AM. Just 3 hours of labor and 2 pushes; crazy indeed.  It has been almost a year since her birth and still think about it every day.  The moral of this story: Always listen to your midwife.

Jenn is 33 and has been married for 7 years. Formerly a teacher, she’s now a SAHM. Jenn currently resides in New Hampshire (where she grew up) with her 5 year old, 2 year old and 11 month old, though they have been stationed in Cape Cod, MA and Portland ME in the past. Jenn began cloth diapering when her oldest was 5 months old, taking a break when she returned to work, but has cloth diapered her younger children nearly since birth.

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