As I sit down at my computer to finally type Alexander’s birth story out, I can’t help but reflect at how completely different this experience was from Nicholas’ birth. A few words that immediately come to mind with regards to the birth and caregivers are: control, caring, gentle, empowered, satisfaction, safe, support, peace, love. I feel like I’ve waited a lifetime to
get to this point – a point where I finally feel at peace with myself, my body, and both my sons’ births into this world.

Making the decision to homebirth wasn’t an easy one for me or one that I went into lightly or without thought or research (lots of research!). Family support was limited and even I questioned my decision for several months of the pregnancy after the tragic loss of a very dear friend of mine’s child. She was a very important support person in my decision to homebirth so when it happened, my life was turned upside down. Between my sorrow for
her loss and my own emotional loss, I struggled to find answers to what was the right decision for me. But I know today that through that grieving and learning process emerged a stronger, more confident and more whole person than what I was when I began this journey.

I suppose it’s time to talk about the actual birth. Alexander made his way into the world on Monday February 6th, 2006 weighing in at 7pd 10oz and measuring just over 19inches in length. But the birth itself began on February 4th, even though I didn’t know that was what was happening just yet. I had been having Braxton hicks contractions on and off for the past
several weeks so when I felt them on Saturday, I didn’t think much of them, even though I seemed to be having them consistently throughout the day. I went through the night with them and found them more of an annoyance than anything else but proceeded to continue to ignore them. On Sunday they not only continued but I started to feel crampy with them as
well when they would come. By evening (Superbowl Sunday), they were more consistent and more noticeable. I called my midwife and doula to let them know that I was having consistent Braxton hicks (or at least I thought they were at the time) and was told by both to drink a half a glass of wine and take a warm bath to stop them. After all, I was just over 36
weeks at the time so no one, including myself, thought that this was the real thing. I proceeded to take their advice (who would turn down a warm bath and a glass of wine?). It didn’t stop the contractions though and they continued on through the night. I was able to sleep in between them until about 4:30 in the morning when Scott got up to get ready to fly out for work. He left for his flight about 5:15 and I got up after that and started to get more worried as they seemed to be getting closer together and stronger. About 7:30 I gave my doula/close friend Cori a call and told her what was happening. I still wasn’t sure I was in actual labor at this point, although looking back I think it was pretty obvious that I was. She told me she would be right over and we left it at that. I called my midwife next to let her know what was happening and she was shocked to hear that the wine and bath hadn’t stopped the contractions. She told me to have Cori do a full check (Cori is just a handful of births away from being a midwife herself) when she arrived and call her with the details. So for the next 2 hours I labored through the contractions while Nicholas played and ate breakfast. Cori arrived around 9:30 and I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was to have her there. She proceeded to check me at proclaimed me to be 3cm with effacement and a bag of water that was starting to bulge. So it became official: I was in labor and the baby would come that day. Cori called Molly (the midwife) to let her know she should head over
and I called Scott to let him know he needed to turn around and come back home on the next flight. Scott ended up getting back on the same plane he flew over on and had the same flight attendants who talked his ear off about his wife being in labor.

It’s kind of a blur as to what time Molly and the other midwife arrived, but I’m thinking it was sometime around 11am. I had started my laboring in the kitchen, but by the time the midwives came, they helped me to try out some new positions that really worked well. One was sitting on the birth ball next to the bed and completely relaxing into Cori’s arms while a contraction was happening. The best position though, was a slow dancing position of sorts
with Molly where I basically just relaxed my entire body into her and rocked back and forth while the contraction was happening. I did this position during transition and I have to say I felt no pain through any of these contractions, just pressure below. I could have labored like that for another 10 hours and been fine, but I was found to be complete by 1:30 so it wasn’t
to be. It should be noted that when I started out in labor Alex was actually malpositioned just like Nicholas was, which was definitely a concern to me, but through position changes during labor they were able to easily get him into a favorable position for birth – something I still find amazing as that was the reason for my first c/s with Nicholas.

This is where the real excitement began. I had made it to 10 with Nicholas’ birth and even pushed for 2 hours, but he never went anywhere. So I knew this was the point where I would need some extra reassurance. Scott walked in the room just as pushing began and was a wonderful coach throughout the whole process. The first push I thought I would try in the
slow dancing position since it worked so wonderfully for labor. No way. It was so intense and painful that I almost lost my legs out from underneath me! Somewhere around this point my water broke. I have to mention I thought this was amazing as well as with Nicholas my water broke before contractions even began! The next position that we tried was the
birthing stool. I worked with the stool for five or six contractions and made a little progress but it was still slow at best. So then we decided to try the good old supine position (on your back feet pressing against a person for leverage) and this did actually work to help bring the head down a bit more. I couldn’t believe when they told me I was plus two station. I had
never been anything more than zero with Nicholas so I was past my stuck point from last time! This was a huge relief to me. I was starting to have terrible leg cramps though with each contraction that were inhibiting my ability to push so finally the midwives had me get up and try pushing on the toilet. At first I pushed sitting backwards on the toilet. I did this for a
couple of pushes and nearly crumbled the porcelain on the top of the toilet I was grabbing it so hard so they had me face forward and push. This was what finally did it. Two pushes and the head was full on crowning. We then moved back to the bed because they didn’t want me to tear and needed the crowning to be more controlled. Now there’s an experience: walking
across the room with an almost 14� head between your legs. I laid back down on the bed and gave a couple more cough like semi pushes (and a few animal screams to go with it) and the head was out. A minute and half later, Alexander was born. I can’t tell you what an intense and amazing feeling it is to feel your child come out of your body like that. It was absolutely surreal.

In retrospect, I know that I had a lot of fear associated with the pushing and there were many times I wanted to give up (although that’s of course not an option). I think I probably could have gotten him out in half the time if I had a relaxed more with it, but despite this he came out and helped me prove to myself that birth actually does work and my body’s not broken or defective despite what I was told by the numerous OB’s I saw who told me I
wouldn’t be able to have a child vaginally. I am just so grateful and thankful to have had the support I did from my midwives and Cori. Having a homebirth was an amazing, empowering, and safe experience and one that I will definitely repeat when and if we have more children.

This will be a short condensed version as I have a very demanding little one .
I went in to be induced on Jan 20th. I was induced with pitocin and had my waters broken at 2 cm.
I was in labor for 10 hours and after 5 pushes my little man arrived. It wasn't exactly the birth I had hoped for, the pitocin was a bit#h but the end result was wonderful.
River Alan was born at 7:31 pm weighing 7 lb 13 oz. The u/s said he was going to be 9 1/2 lbs at 40 weeks, so don't take complete faith in those.
I went to 40 weeks with not much progress and my bp was on the high side, thats why we went with induction. I debated many times on rather to go through with induction or just go for another section. I think I made the best choice I could have eer made. Everything went wonderfully.
Good Luck to everyone who hopes to have a vbac and DONT give up hope!

I went into labor spontaneously the day I found out my section date. I was worried because the baby was in a bad position. When I arrived at the hospital I had already gone to 6 cm and the baby was in a new position - posterior. The doctor immediately broke my water. The contractions got really strong and I tried to hold off on the epi as I was afraid it would stall out my labor but I gave in because it was back labor. I got to 10 cm but had no urges to push and the baby was still up at -1. That's when I knew I had the best doctor in the world. He said, "If we get you to try and push now, you'll be tired out and we'll probably have to section you. Let's just hold off and let you coast." I had a try at pushing about an hour later but nothing much was happening. Again, he decided to let me rest and he added a tiny bit of syntocin (I think) to get the contractions more regular. It worked. The baby dropped to +2 station while I was resting for an hour. I tried pushing again but now the baby was stuck sideways. The doctor decided to try the vacuum and amazingly, it worked. He vacuumed through 2 sets of contractions and then I did the rest.

I now believe that babies will find a way to get out (a great doctor helps too!) and that labor can just happen out of nowhere.

Robert James was born on Jan 28th at 3:41 am after 14 hours of labor. He was 8 lb 12 and 21 inches. Despite trying out all sorts of positions and being vacuumed, he looked great.

Teagan was born at 1:03pm 12/10/05. She weighed in at 7lbs 5 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful.

I got my VBAC!! It was amazing! I gave up going natural after 6 hours of labor (total of 12 hours labor) due to the fact that I had been vomiting since 2 hours into the labor and she was posterior which was causing me the most intense pain plus I had some really weird contractions.

Okay the whole story:

As had been very obvious, there has been much confusion for me recently about losing my mucus plug and bloody show, well it got worse Friday night. We were out walking around the stores trying to induce labor and I felt a lot of wetness in my underwear. I went to the bathroom and looked and my underwear was wet and it was not pee but I wasn't leaking anymore, so I just assumed more discharge. I had no real contractions so didn't think anymore of it.

Fast forward to 1am where I'm lying in bed trying not think of having the baby, get up to go the bathroom and feel an even bigger pop! Run to the toilet and there is still no huge leak of fluid as I had with my son but then I had a huge contraction (yep no mistaking those!) and realized what was going on. I wake up DH to let him know, but he goes back to bed since I'm planning on laboring at home. I go and call my MW and Doula. My MW was fine with me laboring at home until I felt ready to go the hospital. She called ahead and reserved me a room. I then called my Mother who said she would head on over to keep an eye on Alex.

During this time, I had a few contractions but nothing terrible. About 45 minutes after my water broke, I started to have some very intense contractions. I decided to wake Chris up so he could time them for me. They were coming about 5 minutes apart.

My mother got there about 2:20am and all hell broke loose. All of a sudden my contractions started to come every 2 to 3 minutes apart, they would peak start to fade, peak again, start to fade and peak and then fade..then they started up again 2 to 3 minutes later. So to me it felt like I was having 3 contractions for every one. Then to make matters even more fun, I started vomitting. I couldn't stop. It was horrible.

My Doula got there about 15 minutes later and was in disbelief how fast my contractions were coming. She thought I was in transition since they were coming so close and with the vomitting. We stayed at home until 3:30am and then headed out to the hospital.

Obviously I was not a happy camper. I was not expecting to be vomiting like this. The only thought that kept me going was my Doula saying this meant that I was really close.

So we get to the hospital, while they were trying to check me in L&D, I have three more contractions. All the nurses started going nuts trying to get readings, they think I'm in transition also and am going to have the baby any time. Well imagine everyone surprise when they finally get in to do a check and I'm only 3cm??? I'm not ashamed to say, I broke down crying. I could not believe it.

I made it until 6am when they gave me a shot of nubain, which I thought was heaven. It took the edge off the back labor I was having but I still felt in somewhat of control. At 7am they checked me again, I was only at 4cm. This whole time I'm still vomiting, I'm still having horrible back labor, I could not stand anymore because my legs were shaking so badly. I said screw it, I want my epidural!

Epidural man came at 7:30am and he was great. He did a very nice job. He kept saying I was going to feel pain here and there but due to all the intense labor I was feeling, ha! It felt like nothing. It was a good epidural because I could still feel the pressure from the contractions, I could move my legs and body.

So it took me from 7am to 9am to get to 6cm. Then my nurse checked me at 10:45am and I was still at 6cm. She was afraid I was stalling, so she had me roll over onto my side for a bit. My MW came at 11am checked me and I was 10cm. My body is so weird.

I started to push at 11:30am and it took forever since she was posterior. I just could not seem to get her under my pubic bone. I finally started to push while on my side, and I really made great strides. At 12:45pm my MW told me that she was going to have to call the OB when I was pushing past 2 hours. Since we could see Teagans head, we knew she was coming down, it was just going slowly. My MW did not think it was going to be a problem but she wanted me to know. Apparantly that was all the incentive my body needed and Teagan was born 18 minutes later at 1:03pm Threaten me with an OB and see what I can do? LOL. It was so amazing pushing her out. I could feel it all. It was the most empowering and primal thing I have ever done in my life. Amazing. I was crying, my doula was crying, my husband was crying. Teagan came out crying. It was so cool.

The whole time I was pushing my MW was massaging and stretching that area. She also used a lot of hot cloths and oil to help things out. It must've really worked because I only had one tiny tear which was so small it didn't even need to be stitched.

I gave birth to 11 children. I had two c-sections and I also gave birth to 9 children vaginally without any drugs. I VBAC'ed a total of 6 children (including two sets of large twins). Our second set of twins was VBAC'ed after 2 c-sections. Here is my last birth story (the best so far):

Our second set of twins, Heidi&Rosi, were born naturally (vaginally, no drugs) at 40 weeks:
Our dream births came true!
October 18:
3 PM: After having had “gas pains� and off and on cramping all day (with increasing intensity), I call one of my three OBs to get her opinion on my pain. She gives me the option to head for the hospital straight away or to come to her office to get checked for dilation. I call dh and we both head for the Dr.'s office. The good news is that I am over 5 cm dilated.
As we are leaving the doc’s office, dh and I decide to go grocery shopping, to get all the kids fed and ready for the night and to prepare our room for the baby sitter.
9 PM: All the kids are fed, bathed and happily watching new movies we bought for the occasion in their individual rooms. Dh makes the phone call to our Dr. who is going to meet us at the L&D in 45 minutes.
9:45 PM: After packing up our final few things such as dh’s guitar, songbook, talisman, etc., we arrive at the L&D floor. When evaluated by our Dr., I turn out to be at 7+ cm. I change into my lucky, green gown and lay down in the labor bed for a short fetal heart monitoring session. Dh and I then walk around for quite a while, contractions are still relatively mild.
11:30 PM: Dh and I sing a few favorite songs to pass the time and relax a little. We go for another walk. When checked again, I have not dilated any more and contractions start ebbing off. Fetal monitoring is done again and no signs of distress in the babies. Walking, playing music, walking again, etc…
2:30 AM: I’m getting a little frustrated at the slow progress. Only mild contractions, 10 min apart and still lingering at 7 cm dilation. I tell dh to take a nap in the recliner while I lay down in the labor bed to rest on my side. One minute into the relaxing position, hard contractions start to hit me like a brick, every 2 minutes for over 60 seconds. I tell dh that I’m starting to become very uncomfortable, he rubs my back and feet, holds my hand and breathes with me. Intermittent monitoring which doesn’t show all the strong contractions. Dr. checks cervix and it’s 9 cm. Dr. and nurse leave us again to labor privately but pain becomes so excruciating that I yell for her again to check me just 10 minutes after the last exam. I’m complete and everybody starts rushing. My labor bed is pushed into the OR, dh has to change into the scrubs, I’m yelling for him because I can’t help the urge to push. The doc, dh and the nurse help me switch to the OR table and elevate the back for me. Doc and nurses are still getting changed and utensils ready when the head emerges. I recall them turning around saying “oh, oh, here’s the head, quick�, the body comes out and I see a “small bundle� laying in front of me. It is 3:43 AM on the 19th of October, 2004 when healthy Adelheid Maria Healy (HEIDI) enters the world. Our Dr.immediately puts her to my bare chest and lets the umbilical cord pulsate a while. Dh gets to cut the cord and I get to breastfeed Heidi who is looking around alert. She looks so tiny and pink and has a nice ring to her strong cry. The nurse picks her up to weigh her and she turns out to be a good 7 lbs. 14 ½ ounces. She’s returned to me. Dh and I play with her until the contractions for the second baby’s arrival become too strong to keep Heidi on my chest. In fact, the contractions become as strong as they did with the first baby. The Dr.says the baby is still high up and tells me to push hard with the next contraction. As the pain becomes more intense again, I push as hard as I can to get the baby to descend. I’m wondering why it is so intense…The contractions become so painful that I can hear myself scream “oh my God, oh God�. I’m grabbing on to the back of the OR table, moving it up at the same time I’m kicking in the footrests. Dh and a male nurse bend my knees back to keep me positioned. Finally the head of baby B is about to crown. In my eyes it takes an endless time to get the head OUT. I hear the doc say “keep pushing, you’re doing a great job, the head is halfway out�, I’m saying to myself “WHAT, only halfway out, how long can the head be?�, finally the head is out and I’m still going “oh my God!�, the body follows quickly but not as easily as baby A’s. Then, the entire baby is born at 4:38 AM. I’m still screaming my lungs out. Boy, that was hard. Doc tells us that Rosi was face up, ouch! Baby B is Rosamund Gertrude Healy (ROSI) and she is placed onto my bare chest with her umbilical cord still pulsating before dh gets to cut it. Unlike Heidi, she’s covered in vernix. She’s all greasy but beautiful like her sister. After breastfeeding her, she’s weighed and produces a whopping 9 lbs. ¼ oz.! No wonder the birth was so excruciating. She weighed over one pound more than baby A! The placenta comes out and lookes as one placenta. We chose to take the placenta home with us. So no pathological report.
This was the dream birth(s) of our lives. Everything went according to our birth plan. It started out as a long, latent and active phase which wasn’t too painful and it developed into the shortest but most painful transition phase for each of the babies (since the cervix partly closed after the first baby I had to go through a second transition to fully open it again, plus the way for B wasn‘t really “paved“ since she was so much bigger than A).
Our Hospital is the most modern, yet most natural place to give birth in. Doctors as well as nurses believe in the strength of the female body and encourage women in every possible way to give birth the way they want to. Thank you God, thank you dh and thank you ... Hospital with your professional staff!

NOTE: Dh got to take the placenta home. As he went back to L&D to pick up our refrigerated placenta, he passes the all the nurses with the plastic bucket containing the placenta, saying: �That’ll be great with a couple of fried onions!� They all backed off, laughing nervously, hahaha! He's always joking!

Another note: The maternity ward staff was just as nice and efficient as the labor staff. In fact, a lot of nurses (even from other departments) came to see the big twins and to double-check if I really gave birth to them naturally. I guess the word got around.

BTW: Our first set of (identical) twins was born naturally, without drugs at 40 weeks as well and they weighed 7-11 lbs and 7-13 lbs.

Me, Heidi&Rosi shortly after the birth:

Our induction was scheduled for Friday, November 3, 2006, at 7am. I had seen the DR on Tuesday and was 2-3cm dilated and 75% effaced. I started having contractions (again) about 11pm Thursday night, but they were gone by about 3am. The hospital called Friday morning about 5:45 to tell me they were full and I was being put on hold. They’d call again by 9 to let me know what was going on. So DH and I got to sleep a little while longer and decided to go to IHOP for my ‘light’ breakfast. There is nothing light about what I like to eat at IHOP! lol Their pumpkin pancakes are fabulous by the way. We were leaving there about 8:45 when the hospital called and said come on in.

So we got there about 9 and got settled in and did paperwork etc. The nurse checked me before starting the pitocin about 10:30 and I was 3-4cm then and 80% effaced. She told me the DR wanted me to have my water broken, we just needed a DR to do it. We spent 2 hours waiting for a DR to come in and she was upping the pitocin the whole time. I still wasn’t real bothered by the ctxs, but they were getting close together. I had my water broken at 12:35pm and pretty much immediately wanted my epidural. By the time the anastheologist got there (I think about 45mins later) I was screaming and crying. I was NOT a good patient at all, I felt bad later. It took him several times to get the epi in and I still have the nasty bruise to prove it. He got it in and just like always it’s not working on my left side. The problem? I’m now at 9cm and there’s just not anything they can do about it! I lay there screaming and crying and begging them to do something and the nurse was nice and keeps telling me they can’t b/c then baby wouldn’t be able to breathe when she came out. I eventually stopped asking and just went back to screaming. I hope those walls are super soundproof! I then wasn’t being very cooperative and they lost her hb on the monitor so they had to do a scalp monitor on her and she was handling everything like a champ unlike her mother. My DH was so sweet and was there the whole time w/ me trying to help me. This was the first birth he really got to participate in since AJ was a c/s and Evan needed out so fast and the whole NICU team was there he wasn’t even close to the bed! I’m so proud of him for not being squeamish, he’s very sensitive w/ things like that. I wasn’t looking at the clock at all so this is just estimates, but I’m guessing by about 1:40pm my DR was there and we were all ready to have this baby. My biggest problem was it seems she settled on a nerve in my left pelvic area and I wasn’t screaming b/c of the ctxs, but b/c I had this pain in my hip area like I had never felt before and it was awful. Everyone was telling me to hold my breath and push and all I could do was scream it seemed like. I think eventually my DR gave me a small episiotomy b/c w/ all the pushing I was getting done she wasn’t coming out fast enough for ME, lol. Right after that I got her out and she was born at 2:04pm. Yay! So from pit to birth was about 3.5 hrs and about 1.5hrs from real pain to birth. She was 7#1.9oz and 20" long w/ pretty brown hair and blue eyes. It took us 2 days to agree on her middle name. I wanted Ilana Grace Ellen (Ellen after my grandma), but he didn’t want 2 middle names again (Evan has 2 middle names). His cousin came up w/ a compromise and we named her Ilana Gracellen instead. So we both got what we wanted. If there is a next time, I’m getting the epi ASAP, I’m not sure natural childbirth is for me after all. Lol

Things are going great now except super sore nipples. I feel like a ftm all over again. I’m only taking Motrin for the soreness (who knew you used so many muscles in childbirth!) And I ended up w/ a 2nd tear/cut so nothing big. It’s not bothering me at all. The boys are doing well and seem more and more excited about it since we’ve been home. AJ got to cuddle w/ her this morning while I went to the bathroom (DH was there, don’t worry). I so wish I had had the camera then!

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me-28 DH-34
Adam Jospeh Jr. (AJ) born 5/27/03 via surprise c/s

Ilana Gracellen born 11/3/06 via
Baby 'O' around Valentine's Day 2009

Host of CS's Food Allergies board (click here)

Former host of EP's VBAC board (click here)

My background...My first son was born via cesarean due to breech presentation. My second was an elective repeat because I didn't really know any better to fight for what I wanted. I ended up with really bad post partum depression because of it. I knew with my next pregnancy that I didn't want to go through any of that again, and I would do whatever it took to get a VBA2C. I did a lot of research and educated myself so that I was armed with information and facts if my doctors would let me VBAC. In the end, I found a very supportive doctor that was 2 hours away, and he even let me have his midwife be there for the delivery instead of him.

On my due date, Jan 28th, my Mom and I went to walk around the mall after Porter got on the bus for school. I was having a few pressure waves, but they were very mild. As we were walking they became pretty consistent at 10-15 minutes apart. We kept walking until it was time to pick up the boys from school, so about 2 ½ hours. I wanted to keep moving, so we went to the Family Living Center with the boys, and they got to make rope, and learn how to make candles while I walked around the building. We went home, and I went to bed around 11pm. My pressure waves continued until 3 in the morning and then they went away completely. After that, I only had about 1 pressure wave an hour for the rest of the week. But, at my appointment with Sherry that week, I found that I only had about ½ – 1 inch of cervix left. So, while I wasn't in labor, and wasn't dilated at all, at least all those pressure waves had been doing something.

On Wednesday, the 6th of February, I decided to try castor oil. So, at around 3pm, I took 2oz of castor oil in a glass of Coke. It didn't bother me taste-wise, but it also didn't do anything to my bowels. However, at 1am the next morning, I woke up to a really strong pressure waves. They didn't stop, so 2 hours later, I went into the baby's room (where my Mom was staying). She sat up with me and kept and eye on the clock. They were pretty regular at 10 minutes apart for another hour, so we decided it might be a good idea to head up to Sandra's house. I called Sherry to tell her what was going on. I had practiced my HypnoBabies for about 18 weeks, I was using it and and listening to my Easy First Stage script on the car ride. We had to stop about 30 minutes before getting to my doula's house. We needed gas for the car, and I had to use the restroom. We walked into the store and a pressure wave hit. I had to stop and lean against a wall and breath through it. DH thought it was pretty funny, like I stopped to pray that the bathroom would be clean. Well, we got back in the car, and my mom started to drive away. Just before she pulled out, I said, “Ahh, Mom? DH is still inside the gas station.” She almost left him there!

After arriving in Galesburg, we settled in and just kept an eye on me and the clock. We ate breakfast, took naps, I took a bath. They were still about 10 minutes apart, but they would come closer to 5, then stretch out to 20 every now and then. Sandra put my iPod on a speaker so I could listen to it without needing to wear my headphones. At one point I had Sandra read my Come Out, Baby script, and then DH came into the room and did nipple stimulation while we napped. That made the pressure waves come more regularly. Around 3pm, Mom did an exam on me (that took a while to get straight in my head!), and found me to be 5-6 centimeters with a bulging bag of waters. So, we packed up and drove out to the hospital. I called Sherry to update her again, and she said she would meet us there.

After getting checked in, doing the question and answer session, and getting hooked up to the monitor, Sherry examined me. Mom was wrong. I was only 1 centimeter dilated and 90% effaced. That was a bit disappointing. I'm sure Mom felt real bad about that. Sandra had my iPod on the speakers again. I would use the relaxation that it taught me in between each pressure wave, but I was never able to get into Off during a pressure wave and I was feeling more than just pressure. Well, my pressure waves started slowing down, so Sherry brought in the breast pump and had me start doing nipple stimulation. It did work, but the pressure waves weren't strong or steady enough to really do anything. I also started to find my doula to be a distraction. While we were at her house, she did a great job of just letting me do what I had to, and keeping everyone quiet. But, as soon as we got to the hospital, she started talking me through every pressure wave, for the length of the pressure wave. Around 10pm, we called Sherry in to see if I could just take a shower and try to sleep, since I was getting so tired. She thought that just going home would be a good option. Also, she wouldn't be able to use the Foley catheter on me, since I hardly had any cervix left, it wouldn't stay in place. So, with Dr. K's approval, I was discharged. We didn't go home, though. We got a hotel in town. DH and I in one room, Mom in one, Peggy in one, and Sandra in another. Sherry also sent me home with some Tylenol and some muscle relaxers to help me get some sleep.

At that point, I was so tired, and the pressure waves were hurting me, and I was having a hard time staying on top of them. I was almost to the point where I just wanted to say forget it, just give me another cesarean. Through the night, I kept having pressure waves, and I couldn't sleep through them. I was able to get a little sleep in between them, so that helped a little. I don't know how often they were coming, as I was to tired to care. I did notice that I started to loose bits of my mucus plug.

The next morning, we all got up and had breakfast. While at the restaurant, I lost the remainder of my mucus plug. I'd never lost one before, so it was a real surprise to me what it looked like. Sandra went home after we ate and I was going to call her when I needed her again. I had an appointment with Sherry at 1pm that afternoon, so we went to that. The good news was that I was now at a 2, and she was able to stretch me to a 3. I was still having pressure waves, so she said I was definitely in labor. She advised me to go back to the hotel, and just try to rest as much as I could until I felt I needed to come into the hospital, and to give myself and enema. After getting back to the hotel, Mom took Peggy back home. Mom was going to play with the boys for a while, and then come back out that night.

When DH and I got back to the room, I gave myself the enema. It really worked well. I've never done one before, so I was surprised at how gentle it was. Then, I got on my bathing suit and went down to the pool. I just walked around in the pool doing laps for about 30 minutes. But, after a while I decided to go back to my room. Even though being in the water felt good, I hated it during a pressure wave. I couldn't get into any position I liked. Back up in the room, we laid down to try to get some more rest, but my pressure waves were coming about every 10 minutes again. They were getting much harder to stay relaxed and focused through. DH was doing a great job helping me. He would rub or press on my back or squeeze my hips during pressure waves when I needed him to. At one point, DH asked me if I was going to call Sandra back. I felt bad, but I realized then that I didn't want her. She wasn't doing anything for me, and what she had to offer was the same things my Mom, DH, and my midwife were giving me. Plus, it made for one less person around watching me.

With Mom gone, we were without transportation. The hotel we were staying in had a shuttle that was supposed to be able to take us to and from the hospital. So, DH went down to find out the details, as I was pretty sure we needed to go pretty soon. He came back and informed me that they didn't have a shuttle. All they had was a phone number to a service that would take us there for $10 cash. We had no cash. We started to freak out a little bit about how we were going to get there. But, I finally looked up a taxi service in the phone book and found that they would take credit cards. My pressure waves at this point were 4-5 minutes apart, and had been for almost 2 hours. In order to get through each pressure wave I would breath really slow and loudly until it ended. In between I was able to completely relax, so that helped me. But, I was worried about the ride to the hospital, so I told DH to call the taxi and have them come get us. I called Mom to find out how far away she was. She was about 40 minutes away still, so we told her to go to the hospital and meet us there. Then we called Sherry to let her know we were on our way again.

We got to the hospital, and this time I was grateful for the wheelchair. During the 5-10 minute taxi ride, I had 3 pressure waves, and then I had several on the ride up to labor and delivery. Thankfully, this time, I didn't have to do the question and answer session, since it was all d.one the day before. Good thing, too, since I wouldn't have been able to pay attention to any of it. We were admitted at 7:07pm. Sherry arrived within minutes of us. She gave me an exam and I was at a 4, and my pressure waves were coming every 3 minutes. Things were going well, I was sitting on the birthing ball and leaning over the bed, while DH sat behind me to give me back/hip pressure. I wasn't having any back labor, but the counter pressure felt really good. Mom showed up around 7:30. You could just see that she had been rushing as fast as she could to get there.

At this point I pretty much zoned out. Sherry was there talking to me to help me release and relax, and Mom and DH were there to help hold me up and rub my back. I had forgotten my iPod at the hotel room, so Sherry put on her HypnoBirthing Rainbow Relaxation CD. But, I couldn't really hear it through my breathing. I don't think she played it again after the first time through. During my next exam, I was at a 5 and had completely effaced. I was moving around trying different positions. Not one of them was great, but I found several I didn't like! My favorite was sitting on the birthing ball while leaning over the bed. However, baby didn't seem to like it very much. His heart rate starting going really high. It was up in the 180's pretty consistently. Sherry worried a bit about dehydration, so she wanted me to get IV fluids. I really didn't want to, but if it would help the baby, I was okay with it. Unfortunately, right about the same time the telemetry fetal monitor battery died, so I had to be hooked up again. But, since I was attached to the IV pole now, I couldn't really move around anyway. Baby's high heart rate lasted for about an hour, so Sherry made me find a different position. Turns out the only way to keep his heart rate in the normal zone was for me to be laying down in the bed on my right side. Oh my goodness, I HATED that! After the first pressure wave I started to loose focus, and I got up and turned around and crawled up the bed. Sherry had to drag me back down. So, DH and Mom ended up sitting behind/beside me and held me up during every pressure wave. Around 9:30pm Sherry sent Dr. K the strip so that he could take a look at it. He ended up coming over to the hospital because he was very concerned. He examined me and I was at a 6-7. He said that the heart rate being up was what usually happened before it dropped and the uterus ruptured. He wanted to do a cesarean. Especially since his heart rate was positional.

DH asked that we have a few minutes to talk about it. So he and Sherry went out of the room. I had great confidence that I wouldn't need the surgery, but how do you convey something like that to a medical doctor? DH and I decided that we would tell the doctor that he needed to check me one more time, and that if I was close, that he needed to let me continue to try. Later he told me that he also told Sherry that this wasn't just a desire to have a VBAC, but that my last cesarean was a huge cause for my postpartum depression. So it wasn't just my physical state that was being threatened, but my emotional one as well. Sherry seemed to understand. Dr. K wasn't happy about it, but he grumbled that it would be okay to see. DH was praying that my body would do what it needed to, since he didn't know what else he could do. The doctor came back in the room and examined me during a pressure wave. That was one time I definitely lost my focus and started to freak out a bit. However, it was worth it. In just 2 pressure waves I went from a 7 to a 9! He agreed to let me continue to labor, but he definitely stuck around and kept an eye on his heart rate.

Almost 5 hours after being admitted to the hospital, I started feeling the urge to push. I had entered the second stage! Whoo-hoo! I became quite vocal during this part. My breathing had always been loud, but now I started grunting with my breathing/moaning. (Unfortunately DH does a great impersonation of it, but it is funny) I learned very quickly what it felt like to push “right”, but it was so intense that I didn't want to do it. So, I held back. When a pressure wave ended, I very quickly stopped pushing, even if I could have pushed for longer. My bag of waters was still intact this whole time, and it was bulging like crazy. I heard the nurses rushing to get towels and stuff laid out for the big splash that was eminent. But, Sherry asked if she could just prick it so it wouldn't explode. I agreed. Then the nurse got the mirror set up so that I could see what was going on. I was able to see a little sliver of his head! During my next pressure wave I gave in to the urge and really pushed. His head was out in that one pressure wave! Without a pressure wave to guide me, I pushed the rest of his body out. It happened so fast! I pushed just shy of 1 hour, and Donovan Larry was born on Saturday, February 9th at 12:50am. He weighed 6lbs 15.2oz and was 19” long. His head was 34cm, and his chest was 32cm. Six minutes later I delivered the placenta. I can't believe it! I had a wonderful VBA2C Hypno birth! It's true, the female body is amazing.

They put him on my chest immediately. He was so wonderful. Of course, following his big brother's footsteps, he peed on me! He started nursing right away and did an excellent job of it. He's only 2 days old now and my milk has already come in. When he was on my chest, I was able to see the umbilical cord, it was very long and skinny. But, that is good, because the reason he has such heart rate problems was because the cord was wrapped around him 4 times! Once around the neck, an arm, the chest, and a leg. After the cord stopped pulsing and was cut, I asked Sherry if I tore. She said yes, and it was very unusual. I had a tear on my inner labia and vaginal wall. I guess it was pretty bad. In fact, the tore inside occurred just as his head started crowning, not as he was coming out, and I lost a lot of blood from it. After all was done, they asked if I need to use the restroom. I said I'd like to try to get up to go. So the nurses helped me into the restroom. But then I got light headed, and I passed out. DH told me that they needed to give me smelling salts to come to. I was escorted back to bed and wasn't allowed to get back up for a while. I later ended up needing to get a blood transfusion, as it turned out I lost almost half of my blood. Scary, but I'm glad that everything worked out.

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