VBAC Delivery of a 10 Pounder

Once he started to crown, they tried to get me to reach down and feel him but it hurt so much to move that I told them I didn't care. They asked if I wanted the mirror and again I said I didn't. In hindsight, I wish I had the mirror, but it was just so intense I couldn't imagine shifting my focus for even a second.

At some point my midwife said that we had to go ahead and get the baby out and they got me onto my back and had me hold my knees out to the side. My midwife has a thing about a woman having her legs pried open so when the nurses started to do that she basically told them to back off and instructed me to hold them myself. I did 2 or 3 good pushes and felt that ring of fire then got the head out. I screamed as his shoulders came out along with a huge gush of water that was still trapped up behind his head and all of the sudden it was over and my little guy was up on my chest. I was shaking and crying and in a state of disbelief that he was here and that I'd pulled it off.

He had a nice full head of brown hair, dark blue eyes, and the most beautiful skin. We were totally in love with him instantly. He was so alert and just looked into my eyes and opened and closed his little hands on my chest. It's amazing how your heart is so full of love for your first and then magically makes just as much room for love for the second.

I'd requested that the cord stop pulsing before they clamped it so the next 30 minutes he sat skin to skin on my chest while we looked at each other and he nursed. His daddy cut the cord and they wrapped him up and took him away to get checked out. They'd said they thought he was at least 9 lbs but everyone was blown away when he turned out to be 10 lb 1 oz. My midwife laughed with me when she came by the next day saying, "Ten pounds! No wonder you didn't want to push."

I found out that day too that she'd discovered the cord was around his neck a couple of times and that's when she'd shifted gears and told me that I needed to go ahead and get him here.

Since we'd flown out of the car, everything including our camera was still outside. Luckily my doula had hers and snapped some pics of those first few minutes. I'm so excited to see what she got when she visits next week.

I delivered the placenta with one more push and my midwife said I had one slight tear that should heal on its own but she said a stitch would help it heal more comfortably for me. I'm still feeling like a bit of a freak that such a big baby came out of me so easily, makes me wonder if I'm like Grand Central Station in there or something.

There was some drama during delivery that I was only slightly aware of at the time. Apparently since I'd come in ready to push my midwife did not see the need to start the line for an IV or have me on continuous fetal monitoring - both of which are hospital policy for VBAC. So when somebody came in - while I was pushing - trying to get Dan to sign all of these waivers that I'd declined these items my midwife lost it on her saying something along the lines of, "don't make him sign that. She's pushing for heavenssake, I declined those items they didn't. Now get out of here." My midwife is known for being quite direct and one to buck policies that she doesn't think are medically justifiable so I wasn't surprised this happened but my husband said it did make things pretty tense in the room for a few minutes. I think while all of this was going on I told them to just go ahead and put in the heplock for the IV so they did - while I was pushing.

I feel so blessed and lucky that James got here safely and that he's healthy. And feel so lucky that I got the birth that I'd hoped for. Between the midwife, nurses, my husband and the doula, I could not have had a more supportive team. I'd really hoped for a med-free birth with daughter and was so heartbroken when I found out she was breech and that I needed a scheduled c-section. I know the ultimate goal is to get the baby here safely but for me birth is also a rite of passage that women have gone through since the beginning of time and I felt kind of cheated the first time to miss out on it. It was really healing for me to get to experience a vaginal birth and to make it through without meds - not that I had much time to mull it over or anything.

I had a great recovery with my c-section but it's been interesting to see how different the two recoveries are. Being able to hop right out of bed this time and go to the bathroom as compared to last time when I'd collapsed in pain trying to get from the bathroom back to my bed on that first trip.

James has checked out well. He's already back up to his birth weight which is great because it means we got the all clear to let him sleep as much as he likes between feedings during the night. He's just a hair tongue tied but since it doesn't seem to be effecting his eating they're going to leave it and just keep an eye on it again when he starts talking. He also has a VSD heart murmur but the pedi cardiologist said that there's a 90-95% chance it will close on it's own before his first birthday. A chance again during puberty that it will close and that if worst case it does not close, that he could still be an Olympic weight lifter just not an astronaut or a deep sea diver. He said it was more something he'd have to have checked out ever 3 to 5 years. So all things considered we can certainly handle that.

So that is the birth story of the vbac delivery of my big boy!

VBAC Delivery: Some Notes

A few things that others waiting for labor or mamas hoping for natural birth might want to know...

I did not lose my mucous plug, have the baby drop, or feel fluish or have diarrhea the day I went into labor. I felt the same as I had any other day during the last few weeks.

During early labor and during the false labor contractions, I just concentrated on what my body was doing - contracting up to pull up and opening my cervix - and finding the most comfortable position rather than on the pain. I had all my hypnobabies stuff on my nano but this alone worked for me. If I'd had a longer active labor, I may have felt the need to turn on the hypno tracks to get me through but I'll never know for sure.

I think pushing slowly and easily and being able to feel what I was doing really helped me stretch and not tear. There were a few times I pushed pretty hard and I could feel him moving almost too fast inside of me and it just didn't feel right so I backed of and used the gentle nudgey pushes that felt better for me.

Even during transition - which was crazy intense - the pain was still made bearable by the fact that I knew it would be over in a few more seconds and that I'd get a break. When I realized this worked for me I asked my husband to just keep reminding me that it was almost over and that the pain would be done soon with each contraction.

It wasn't until I forced myself to relax between contractions that I was able to start pushing effectively. I was just really floundering and freaking out before that.

Going without medications did everything I'd hoped it would - it moved my labor and pushing along quickly, I think it minimized tearing since I could feel what I was doing and work with the pain. I had a very alert and ready to breastfeed baby, and I felt like a million bucks as soon as LO was out.

I have no idea if I peed or pooped on the table and could have cared less. I'm usually a really modest person but it is totally true that you could care less who sees you with your bum in the air during labor.

Even though she really was only there for an hour of my labor, I would get a doula again without a doubt. Having her experience and her focus on relaxing and calming me was a godsend. She stayed for about an hour or two after delivery to make sure we were breastfeeding well, to do some crowd control with visitors, and helped keep me warm and comfortable as I got those post delivery shakes.

I'm not planning on having more children but if I did I would totally go for the med-free VBAC again. It was an amazing experience and worth every second of the pain.

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VBAC Delivery of a 10 Pounder: Reviews

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