If you’ve been following me for a while now you remember that I’m currently about 29 weeks into my third pregnancy! And if you’re brand new here, spoiler alert: I’m pregnant!
This is far from my first rodeo! In fact, in the middle of my third pregnancy I feel like there’s not much you could throw at me that I haven’t already experienced.
Except that one tiny little thing at the end. A vaginal delivery.
Both of my children have been born via c-seciton. Both for different reasons, but both were necessary to keep me and the baby safe. And now as I’m approaching the arrival of my third child I’d very much like to try for a VBAC.
A VBAC is a vaginal birth after c-secion.
Once you’ve had a c-section it becomes even more difficult to have a successful vaginal delivery. It’s not impossible and many woman achieve this goal, but it is more difficult than your average delivery.
To be perfectly accurate, I would like to try for a VBA2C, which means a vaginal birth after TWO c-sections. Even more difficult.
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Why a VBAC?
Why? Well to be frank, because recovering from major abdominal surgery kind of sucks. And recovering from major abdominal surgery while caring for a newborn AND a toddler AND a preschooler just sounds like a new level of torture.
Plus, I would like to have the experience of a vaginal birth. I do not believe that I am less of a woman or less of a mother because I’ve had a c-section. But, I would like to experience the alternative. Just because I feel like there is something truly empowering about your body delivering a baby.
Having said that, I do understand that no matter what I do a VBAC is highly unlikely so my odds of success are low. But I still intend to try and I have a plan to give myself every advantage possible. And in the end if I have another c-section than I will be grateful that my child was born safely. Next week I’ll be detailing my personal plan and what my doctor’s have said about a VBA2C. But today, I thought I would share how I got here in the first place.
My first c-section
I’ll spare you all the gory details of my labor and birth, but my first c-secion was an emergency. At one point my doctor had even come in and asked me to sign consent forms for a c-section just in case. At the time, I thought he was just being a planner. But looking back I think he knew that’s where we were headed but was trying to give me as much time as possible to avoid it.
While I was in labor Bubba’s heart rate had started to drop. They were monitoring him and had started to whip out all kinds of crazy tools to help keep an eye on him. I was on oxygen, they had him on a fetal monitor and I was pretty much stuck in bed. But with every contraction his heart dipped just a bit. Not enough that anyone was panicking but enough that there was definitely a heightened level of concern.
After nearly 90 minutes of pushing I was exhausted and so ready to get that baby out. And then I had two HUGE contractions back to back and I just kept pushing. Bubbaloo’s heart rate took a HUGE dip and the nurse yelled “DO NOT PUSH AGAIN!!” She commanded me to lie on my side immediately, put my oxygen mask on, and before I knew it the room was flooded with doctor’s and nurses.
Now if that doesn’t freak you out I don’t know what will. They started telling us that his heart rate was dropping way too low and it was time to get him out. Via c-section. I wanted to be sad but at that point I was more concerned about my son than myself, so we agreed and off to the OR we went
From there my recovery was rough. I had no idea what to expect. I was in a lot of pain, and despite warnings about possible signs of infection I missed the onset of an infection and ended up having to be re-hospitalized.
Needless to say, my first experience with a c-section was far from easy or glamorous. But Bubba is safe and happy (and I made a full recovery, eventually) so I can’t be too upset about it.
My second c-section
When I was pregnant with my second I knew I wanted to try for a VBAC so I brought it up at my first appointment and my doctor was on board. But then at our 20 week ultrasound they discovered I had something called a placenta previa. Basically what that means is my placenta was blocking my cervix– aka the baby’s exit! This isn’t always a big deal, actually it can be pretty common and most of the time the placenta previa moves and women go on to have a vaginal delivery.
But my previa was blocking almost the entire cervix and that was a problem. So we had to schedule a c-esction for Nugget.
Let me just say that we had a long and difficult road to conceiving Nugget. So when we were assured that he was fine and there was a safe plan to deliver him I didn’t care one bit that I had to have another c-section.
Ok, maybe I cared a little bit. I was scared of another difficult recovery and I was a tad disappointed I was going to miss out on another vaginal delivery. But I was excited to be having a healthy baby boy. So I did a lot of research about gentle c-seciotns and healing from surgery. And it all paid off because my recovery with Nugget was soooooo much better. No infection, nowhere near as much pain, it was great.
And we were able to have a gentle c-section, which means I got to hold Nugget almost immediately after he was born. They gave me this special tube-top looking thing and the nurse tucked him into it right on my chest!! I’ll tell you what, snuggling your sweet newborn while the doctor’s sew you up really takes the sting out of surgery!
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And Now a VBAC
So now here we are with our third baby on the way. And I want to try for a VBAC. And i’m going to take you on my journey. I plan to post about my plan and goals, what I’m doing to prepare, and what I’m doing in case it doesn’t happen. Hopefully this series will end with a happy story about a VBAC. But what’s most important is that baby and I are safe. No matter what mode of delivery that may mean. BUT, that doesn’t mean I won’t try!
So grab your favorite beverage and join me on my journey to VBAC!!
Have you had a successful VBAC?? Tell me your story in the comments below! I need all the encouragement I can get!
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