A positive VBAC birth story of a big baby
I loved reading this birth story as it really showed the entire journey from a hard birth that ended in surgery through to loss and then a joyful birth. Ashley worked so hard in learning all about her options and rights and fully understanding spontaneous labour and natural physiological birth.
She drew deeply upon her faith and used this in all of her affirmations. I do hope that you enjoy reading this hypnobirthing birth story as much as I did.
Over to Ashley…
With every positive pregnancy test I've been blessed with, I have had the “Ah, it’s got to come out” moment.
With my first pregnancy, I went into labor on my own at exactly 41 weeks the night before I was scheduled to be induced. My labor started around 4pm that Sunday. I had back labor and welcomed the epidural once I finally got it the following morning at the hospital about 5am. I was about 6cm when checked that morning. Although I was naturally listening to my body and wanting to stay upright and sway while home to cope with the pain, once I got to the hospital, however, much to my surprise, I was quickly told I had to get in bed and stay there. I remember the nurse telling me I needed to breathe but I didn't know how.
I was hooked to a fetal monitor and IV fluids. I did little preparation for the birth as far as researching or classes were concerned. I sort of just tried not to think about it and figured “they” knew best. She ended up being sunny side up and did not descend as “they” desired and so off to a c section we rushed and soon we were greeted with our daughter at about 4pm that Monday!
Unfortunately I ended up back in the hospital about 2 weeks later with an abscess in my c section. While I was ecstatic over the birth of my daughter, I couldn’t help feeling that the birth didn’t have to be the way I had experienced. So when I found out I was pregnant for the second time, I knew I wanted to avoid a c section and stack as much in my favor for a VBAC as possible.
But both had risks and I was scared. I knew a vaginal birth would be an easier recovery and I would be better able to care for my toddler after the birth. I felt the epidural and inability to move freely was what lead to my c section. My second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at about 9 weeks. We were devastated but my faith grew stronger during that dark time and I knew that although it did not make sense to me, that God had a plan.
My third pregnancy was a total surprise! We weren't actively trying to get pregnant, since I was still not ready due to the miscarriage. Funnily, the estimated date of conception was April Fool's Day and the due date was exactly 1 year after the day my miscarriage was confirmed. Just shows you how God can really show off! He turned one of my darkest dates into one of the happiest!
I started praying over the birth and asking for God’s wisdom for my birth plan. I decided before my first doctor's appointment that I wanted to try for a natural VBAC. I wrote out scriptures for inspiration as well. I began researching and stumbled upon Better Birth Stories and hypnobirthing! I took the online course and felt further empowered and enthusiastic for the birth! I read Ina May Gaskins’ Guide to Childbirth as well. I even practiced relaxation and breathing while taking a poo!
I really liked how Melanie broke down breathing to focus on the body instead of numbers! I educated my husband as well to the point where he could probably recite it in his sleep. I started seeing a chiropractor who specialized in prenatal care for adjustments to help as well. I surrounded myself with positive birth stories and information. And, most importantly, ignored negative information and reactions that I would get when I would tell people about wanting to go natural. And I got plenty of that from family members to physicians who did not agree with my birth plan. I followed most of the advice from the natural birth resources from eating dates and drinking raspberry leaf tea to walking and exercise. I looked at different birth positions and made a birth playlist. I shared my birth plan with every physician at my OB office to make sure hospital policy wouldn’t interfere with what I wanted and adjusted if it did.
As Melanie suggested in the class, I added as much as possible to my ‘buffet table’ to draw upon later once labor started. But most importantly continued to pray! I was excited for the spiritual journey and knew that God would carry me through this birth! I waited for labor to come naturally but it didn’t so I scheduled an induction with a Foley balloon catheter at 40 weeks and 6 days after speaking with my physician. I had to go into the hospital at night for the balloon. Normally they place the balloon in the evening and in the morning they start pitocin. I did not want pitocin since I’d heard from many and researched that it could increase my need for an epidural due to pain and also increase risk for uterine rupture which I already had a risk for due to a VBAC. Education is key!
I was about 2cm dilated at my doctors appointment the day before and the balloon got me to 4cm overnight. I still wasn’t having much labor pain at all. Just mild menstrual cramps in no real rhythm or frequency. In the morning instead of starting pitocin, we decided to wait and see if labor would progress naturally. We set the mood in the room keeping the lights off (we had plenty of natural light), had a white noise machine on the sound of the ocean waves and an essential oil diffuser with lavendar and sage. Needless to say, the nurses loved coming in the room for the relaxing atmosphere! Around 11 am we opted to have my water broken. I believe I was around 5-6cm at this point but still not in much pain. I kept walking around the hospital room. My husband and I threw a tennis ball back and forth to pass the time. The next time the nurse checked on me, I agreed to try a trial of pitocin to see if it would expedite things. That nurse had been pushing pitocin all morning so I finally gave in. I said I would do it only at a slow rate and progression. We agreed on 1 unit increasing by 1 unit every 30 minutes. (FYI, I still don’t know what to compare that rate to, I believe my nurse said most women ended up on 8-10 units max but please research this rate). In hindsight, right before pitocin was started, I did notice a change in my contractions. They were starting to demand more of my attention.
I listened to one of the relaxation tracks from the Hypnobirth class which helped me to relax my mind. The contractions still felt similar to menstrual cramps but a little stronger. Completely different than the back labor I'd had with my daughter. Pitocin made my contractions almost immediately stronger and closer together. I know there is a proper place for pitocin in Labor and Delivery but good grief! I tried laying in the bed with the peanut ball to open my hips for a little break from walking and turned on my birth playlist full of inspiring Christian music (Hillsong got me through a lot of my laboring at home with my daughter). But the contractions felt more like a shock! And music was not helping this time so I turned it off! I had to get up but having the IV now connected made movement a bit more difficult. Throughout the morning I’d spent time on the toilet since I’d read and learned that was a great position for labor. I tried alternating sitting in the toilet and walking. I’d also found it helpful to elevate the bed to almost chest level and lay over it and sway my hips with my husband using the tennis ball to massage my back and hips. I also used biofreeze on my back to help with the pain. I stayed on the pitocin until we got to 3 units. At that point, I didn’t think I could take anymore because I was having too much trouble coping. I could barely catch my breath between the contractions. I told my husband (also a nurse but in cardiology) to turn that s—- off! Which he did immediately.
I’m not usually one to cuss unless I mean serious business! I could feel my contractions getting more manageable as the pitocin cleared out of my body. They checked me and I was at 7cm. The nurse and doctor agreed that as long as I progressed I could stay off the pitocin. Around that point, I really felt my body start to take over. The pain of the contractions didn’t get worse, just the frequency. They were coming about every 45 seconds with a break of about 15-30 seconds. I wasn’t keeping up with any of that though, but my husband was. He could tell a definite change in me. All I could do was focus. It was probably about an hour and half of transition labor, though the time seemed to move fast and slow at the same time. I remember noticing how the sun set during that time and for a while I thought I would be stuck with contractions forever. At that point I told my husband that I didn’t think I could keep going and I couldn’t do it anymore. He responded that I definitely could and I was almost done. I kept telling myself that each contraction was bringing me closer to my baby! He kept wanting to get the nurse to check me but I kept telling him no. The contractions seemed to alternate from the front to the back and I did not want to lay in the bed for a cervix check. I would breathe in and out slowly and moan during the contractions, a deep low sound and sometimes push against the wall for counter pressure during the contraction. My husband called it the caribou call and swore hundreds of caribou were going to show up outside the hospital at any moment. Humor is helpful!
Also during transition, I did not want to be touched or really even talked to which hurt my husband's feelings, since he had been lectured for almost 10 months about how attentive he needed to be! And I just wanted to be alone in the dark at that point in labor. I remember whispering "Help me Jesus" as a mantra during that point in labor, in an empowering prayer. Finally, I was persuaded by my husband and new nurse Marquita due to shift change (this was an another answer to a prayer as we were old coworkers and I had questioned her all throughout my pregnancy about natural labor so she knew my wishes!) to have my cervix checked and I was 9-9.5cm! Which surprised me because when I was told I was at 7cm, it didn’t really click that I was in transition and soon to be over the worse! I think I kept expecting for labor to get worse like what I had experienced while on pitocin.
I got back up to walk and sway and soon had the urge to push! At some point around this time I also threw up, which I remember telling my husband not to worry, that I'd read that was normal. The urge to push felt like I needed to poop so I went to the bathroom (I spent lots of time in the bathroom). Nothing exited so I stood back up and had the urge to push again so I did (I found it very hard to resist that urge even when instructed). Marquita told me I had to get in the bed and I could not push while standing, which looking back makes me laugh because I really fought her on getting back in the bed! I was afraid my back would hurt but surprisingly it didn’t. She had me try to give 3 good pushes with each contraction as I felt the urge. We tried several positions as she assessed that the baby was at a station 0, even this interesting tug of war with a bed sheet where she basically pulled me up to a squatting position (she’s amazing). I kept thinking UFO, upright, forward and open (thanks Melanie!). What was most effective was when she added a bar to the bed and lowered the lower half of the bed which allowed me to get in a supported squatting position. I pushed for about an hour total before it was at the point to call in the rest of the team because he was about to be born! A few more pushes and he was on my chest! A 10lb 11oz and 22.5 inch long baby boy!!
And what’s amazing to me is pushing and delivery didn’t hurt! My husband said I had a smile during it. It felt more like a relief. What I felt I wouldn’t describe as painful or a ring of fire or anything like that. The sensation was more like a stretching. I had visualized during my walks when pregnant about how the same God that makes the flowers open made the vagina to open as well for birth! The delivery of the placenta was barely noticeable, like a huge glob of jello! I ended up with a stage 2 tear that needed stitching for which the doctor gave a local anesthetic. I had such a feeling of exhilaration immediately following his birth. That rush of euphoria, I've never experienced anything like it! I felt like I could have gotten off that bed and run a marathon. I kept saying girl power and that’s was vaginas were made for!
The entire team said I will be a legend on the labor and delivery floor for years to come! A natural birth without medication is totally possible! Pray, research, practice, pray!
Want to learn hypnobirthing with us?
Don’t forget that we have a full Online Antenatal Hypnobirthing Class that you can follow in your own time anywhere around the world. It is only £39/$49.
The Online Hypnobirthing Course
We also teach antenatal hypnobirthing classes in London in person with our One Day Group Hypnobirthing Class.
In-person Antental Hypnobirthing Group Class
If you’d rather prepare for your labour and birth solo with Melanie you can do so in the privacy of your own home in person if you live in London or via the Zoom platform wherever you are around the globe.
Private Antenatal Hypnobirthing Classes