birthED VBAC Story - Proving Myself to Myself
THANK YOU to this sweet family for sharing their story We are so thrilled to have this amazing documentation of your VBAC! If you are VBAC hopeful or even VBAC curious please join us for our upcoming VBAC Prep Workshop on July 31st and September 18th.
We originally planned to deliver with a midwife from The Minnesota Birth Center at United Hospital in St Paul but as life has now taught me twice, labor and birth can’t be “planned” and there are always some twists and turns to surprise you.
After my first few early contractions at home around 11am, during which I played with my toddler outside and tried not to get too “in my head” about whether this was going to happen today or not (I had some mild contractions about 5 days before that lasted for 2 hours, got me excited, and then ended)… I called my husband around 11:15, to tell him I think I’m beginning labor and will keep you posted. Called him back at 11:30 am and said YEP- come home!
By the time he got home around 12:45 (he was at work an hour away) I was IN labor in our bathroom and on the phone with our midwife. I called her and said I think I had gone through transition (on hands and knees in the bathroom), was feeling lots of rectal pressure, and she heard me have a contraction over the phone. He walked in and heard her say on speaker, “okay, you’re not going to make it your hour drive to United. You need to call 911 or get to your nearest hospital now.”
We raced into the car to Cambridge Allina, about 15 minutes from us. After we arrived we found out they no longer have a labor/delivery services- at that point, I personally didn’t care and was very internal mentally prepared in my mind to have my baby in the ER. The ER doc freaked out, told me I was complete (I knew), and shipped me off via ambulance to M Health Fairview Northland Hospital in Princeton. The EMTs on the way said, “The ER told us you’re at 2 cm”, and were subsequently comedically scared shitless when I told them I was at a 10 and had been pushing.
I was proud of myself for coping and breathing so well mentally during a very uncomfortable 30 min ambulance ride strapped on gurney while using very loud, deep vocalizations and my “I can do this. I AM doing this” mantras. Once I arrived I was greeted with more excitement being wheeled into hospital. I was working hard on blocking out external chaos until I heard “OR” and snapped open my eyes to tell them that no, I did not need to be in the OR, I wanted a labor room. They said I could “try pushing in the OR, just with everything in place “in case”. My answer was NO.
Thank goodness I lucked out with a fantastic nurse named Dawn who listened to me and wheeled me into a regular delivery room. Just a couple minutes later the OB checked me and said something along the lines of, “Oh, we’re going to have this baby today!” I was thinking yeah man, I KNOW, welcome on board finally. The whole team relaxed and shortly afterward, I pushed my baby out, he was placed immediately on my chest, and it was everything I had wanted and hoped and tried for. A wild story but a fantastic, empowering, happy birthing experience and I am so proud and happy and wouldn’t change it because I did it and got what I wanted and proved myself to myself- and every other damn person there! And now I have a beautiful, healthy 8lb 5oz, 20.75 inch long baby boy. Born one day before his guess date. He is perfect and knew just when he wanted to be born. Four hours from first contraction to birth. Woah!
My midwife spoke with me at length via phone a couple days later to process- which was wonderful, I highly recommend to all birthing people afterward. I know it sounds like a crazy birth story- and it certainly is- (giant change of plan: two different unplanned hospitals, an ER and ambulance ride!) but it wasn’t scary or awful or negative at any time. Overall I was calm and felt in control and safe, I just “knew” it was happening as it was meant to be and how it needed to be that day. My baby and my body worked together beautifully and everything happened as it should. During this pregnancy I have thought about and imagined the feeling of birthing my baby between my legs and it was truly as powerful and profound as I imagined. I’m very, very proud and found what I was looking for and what I grieved after my first birth. I realize this sounds hokey but I truly feel more whole and found the healing I was missing for my first birth through this birth.
Also, my husband was a freaking rockstar source of support the whole time, excellent advocate when he needed to be (looking at you, ER doc), and our AMAZING doula, Vanessa Graetz, rode like the wind from St. Paul to Cambridge, met us in the ER there, was indispensable subduing the hyper team there with kindness and getting them to partially dim the lights, get cool cloths, backed Jake up with giving me sips of water when they told me I couldn’t have any, helped me change positions when I refused to lie on my back, etc. I felt powerful and listened to because of my own emotional and mental prep, your class, and the support and presence of Jake and Vanessa. The rest faded into the background.
Sending love to all the other VBAC families from our class and I hope that whatever form their birth stories take, that they can feel the exaltation, redemption, and JOY that I found through this birth.
Are you curious about VBAC? If you’re a doula you can take our VBAC Prep for Doulas workshop to teach you everything you need to support your VBAC clients. If you’re a birthing person and want to learn how to prepare for your upcoming VBAC our VBAC Prep is the perfect addition to your prenatal preparation.
