Emma gave birth at home after two previous caesars.
What was your previous birth experience?
I have had two 'Failure to Progress' labours leading to two emergency c-sections. My 3rd time around I was aiming for (and achieved!) a HBA2C (home birth after two caesars!).
How did you feel about the process and outcome of having a VBAC, was it difficult to find medical support?
Initially we considered not having any more children. The thought of putting my body through another Caesar (CS) was really quite off putting, however I always wanted three children and so I persevered with looking into my options.
I discovered much opposition at the hospital when I expressed my desire to try once again to have a natural labour. There were concerns for Uterine Rupture, CPD and also the need for a OR to be available.
So if I can't go to hospital what happens next? I'll have to not have another child or consider birthing at home. Or maybe I could just get myself to pushing stage at home and then race in to the hospital? Or maybe I could find a local midwife and convince her to come and look after me at home?
These thoughts kept at me and eventually I found a midwife who would prove to be the reason I had my third child. She gave me much hope that I could not only achieve a VBAC but that I could achieve it in my own home safely. It was at this time I fell pregnant for the third time.
After many phone calls and emails I convinced a midwife who lived over two hours away from me to look after me for my HBA2C. Amazing!
So in one way it all started off quite disconcerting but I had to look at it as a challenge and that if I believed in myself I could find someone else who would too.
How was the birth?
To cut the whole story very short, I achieved my HBA2C with an amazing labour that was very much hard work and yet so very rewarding and my daughter was born in perfect health and very content. She was welcomed so peacefully that anytime I think about it makes me feel so emotional and worth all the work to provide this very special quiet peaceful welcome for her.
I feel now that I have conquered labour, birth. It's amazing what the whole process of achieving my HBA2C has taught me about other aspects in my life.
What would be your advice or suggestions to women considering a VBAC?
Oooh I have lots of advice. But mostly it is just a birth like any other first time mum. We might get some opposition but the actual process of labour, birth and recovery is just like any other birth. We can go into VBAC expecting to get through it just fine, like many other millions of women have before us. It's not impossible.
The other key point choosing the right care provider. Your care provider is the person who you should be able to rely on to give you accurate information and get you through the tough times in your labour and birth. Someone who won't sit and listen to you during your appointments, and fobs off your questions, obviously isn't working towards your goal with you. Someone who has 80% intervention rates is going to intervene during your labour! Someone who believes your uterus is a ticking time bomb will make decisions using fear rather than actual evidenced based medicine.
- So choose wisely! If you are going public then pay for a doula or a midwife so that you have someone on your page and it's not left completely up to luck who you get on the day.
- Get healthy! There's no reason why you can't eat healthy and get active while pregnant. Keeping active will help baby get into a good position and keep you in good spirits.
- Practice Optimal Foetal Positioning (OFP).
- Use water, tons of it! Both to drink and labour in. Warm water is a huge help as far as pain relief goes. Not enough women get into the water for pain relief.
What were your partner's reactions/feelings to you having a VBAC?
Well at first my husband didn't want me to have another baby - that way we didn't have to make the decision. Then when it was clear we we'd found some support for a VBAC he was actually quite relieved. Relieved that he didn't have to be my sole support and relieved that we were going to be getting a real chance of doing things our way this time.
Then when I had the VBAC he was the proudest I have ever seen him. He has said a few times that the first two births were the worst days of his life. Of course he loved meeting his girls but the ordeal of getting them here wasn't something he wanted to go through again.
When he talks about our VBAC experience he is excited and overcome. He went from someone who didn't even want to be at the birth to someone who couldn't get kicked out of the room when it was actually happening!
He now has a better understanding of his wife and what has to happen in order for a woman to become a mother whether by CS or VBAC. He has seen how the labour and birth process can greatly influence the following weeks and months maybe even years for some women.
You can't tell a woman who suffers with birth side effects for a year or more that birth doesn't matter or say that so long as the baby is healthy then who cares how it got there. I do hope that my story helps prevent some others from going through unnecessary ordeals.
How did you feel about achieving your HBA2C?
I really can't put it into words how I feel about it now. It's been 18 months (and of course I love her the same as my other two) and sometimes I introduce her to people as my VBAC baby. I'm so proud of our achievement. I'm blown away at how much more simpler the whole thing was compared to how I'd conjured up birth in my head. I have absolutely no regrets except maybe to say that I wish I had known what I know now with my first two babies. I still can't believe I did it!
Discuss VBAC stories with other EB members in our forum.
