My vbac4c, a dream impossible?

After five children, four of which were born via Caesarean section
was it really possible for me to still go for vbac? (vaginal birth
after caesarean section), I researched the web and read the as much
info regarding vbac as possible, i must admit i was slightly confused
as the statistics i had been quoted by the consultant were alot
different to the info i was now reading on the Internet and the fact
i had previously delivered vaginally with my first was an added bonus
in my favour surely, but a vbac 4c? i knew i was up against it from
the start and would need to plan carefully to ensure i would atleast
have a fighting chance.

I looked at all my previous pregnancies, my first pregnancy was
induced, i was 41 weeks and classed as post dates this was in 1994
and coupled with the fact i was also due around Christmas and new
years i'm sure encouraged them to bring me in, i was bought in to be
started off, it took 3 lots of gel to get my cervix soft enough but i
didn't start dilating till 16 hrs later after the first initial dose
was given and once my water broke spontaneously by themselves i
progressed fast however i was aware i was being clock watched and if
i hadn't of had such a strong determined midwife who continually
stopped the doctor from coming in and trying to speed things up i'm
positive i would of had a instrumental delivery of some sorts
probably a c section but after only half an hour of pushing my son
was born and although sore i went home the next day (Christmas day)
with my new baby all 7lb 110z of him.

My husband and i decided to try for another in 1996 and were
delighted to find our baby would be due in February however at 12
weeks pregnant i had a bleed and after a scan i was told i had
separation of membranes, and would lose the baby, this diagnosis then
changed to 'vanishing twin syndrome' and that there were two amniotic
sacs but only one baby and that there was still a chance i could lose
this baby too.

All however went well until i reached 38 weeks where i had small
bleed again, it was decided by the consultant who did no other tests
to presume it was coming from the placenta and i was therefore
advised to have this pregnancy induced at 38 weeks, needless to say
induction failed, cervix hard and not at all ripe, water were force
ably broke, baby went straight into distress, emergency c section
(wrote as due to failure to progress) baby born with apgars 9 and 10
and weighing 7lb 10, who said c sections were a easier option, i felt
like i had been in a car crash it took me three months to
feel 'normal' again.

The bleed turned out to be nothing more than a cervical erosion.

Baby number three was a complete surprise in the year 2000 but news
of vbac being a viable option made me smile,there was no way i wanted
a repeat performance like last time, however i was told i had to vbac
in hospital and i would have to follow certain rules and be given a
set amount of time to deliver due to the extremely high risk of
uterine rupture as i had a previous c section.

As usual i got to 41 weeks and once again post dates were mentioned,
i was yet again told i needed to be induced but as a vbac i would
only be allowed one lot of prostaglandin gel (i now know no vbac
should be induced due to the higher risk of rupture from the gel).

I had one lot of gel and was told to lay flat on the bed within a few
hours i started having contractions, the monitor was strapped on and
then i was left alone, i saw a series of midwives come in sit down
look at the monitor and disappear again, once they could break my
waters they did and to speed things up i was hooked up to oxitocin to
hurry things along.

I was not allowed up off the bed but surprisingly got to 8cms dilated
by 7.00pm, however i was told the head was still high (not
surprisingly as they wouldn't even let me sit up) and by 8.00pm i was
told i had been given long enough, i was allowed no more time,
everyone was waiting for me in theatre and could not wait any longer
and therefore i had no choice ,i had to have a c section.

8cms dilated so close and yet so far,son number 3 born via c section
reason given 'failure to progress' 7lb 40z..

2002 pregnant again,maybe another boy we both laughed,the pregnancy
progressed well however we were told vbac was not a option and a
scheduled c section was a safe option,we were informed of the risks
of vbac but we were not told of the risks via caesarean, apparently
you read this when you sign the consent form.

The caesarean was planned for 40 weeks, reason given was to avoid me
going into labour naturally as it was too dangerous.

I was nervous the morning i went in but decided to have a epidural
still so i could be awake but was assured all would go well however
once my forth son was removed i started to haemorrhage, my uterus
began to contract back down and as it did it began sticking to my
bowel and bladder, the next thing i know they were sending me off to
sleep.

I woke up to my husband holding our newborn son and telling me how he
had been ushered out of the theatre and left alone in the corridor
while they tried to control the situation.

I knew i lost allot of blood (borderline for a transfusion) as i kept
falling asleep for days later.

The consultant that preformed the op however did return to tell me
under no uncertain circumstances to have any more children and i that
i should be sterilised.

Baby number 4 was a boy at 6lb 90z and classed as small for term.

2006 and a complete shock i was pregnant,i didn't know what to do,
mark my husband was worried, i read up again, every pregnancy was
different and although i had problems during the c section, it was
four years ago and i had been fine since no problems with my periods
or pain after.

I mentioned vbac but hubby said it wouldn't be possible, so i spent
weeks researching everything i could find on vbac, and vbac after
more than one c section, i begged him to read it and finally when he
did he came to the same conclusion, vbac was a safe option and i had
more chance of being attended by a bogus doctor or having a cord
prolapsed than i did of a uterine rupture however a hospital clock
watching vbac was not for me, been there and tried that.

So i decided the only option would be for me to book a home birth, i
went to book for a home birth with my midwife at the doctors but she
was having none of it and seemed more intent on telling me off for
getting pregnant in the first place.

To qualify for a home birth she said i had to fit in the list of
criteria however the list she asked me to fill in i'm surprised if
anyone ever did fit into it.

first baby:no, had more than 3 children:no, over the age of 35:no,
overweight:no, diabetic:no,vbac:no etc etc etc the list went on and
on.

I attended the hospital to see the consultant again i was told no
however i was now being told that i could have 6 c sections if i
wanted to and that the consultant himself had done a 6th section on a
lady earlier that week, ummm i thought to myself how things change,
years ago i had heard you were only allowed three sections and then
had to be sterilised, now they were saying there was no limit on the
amount of c sections i could have.

I asked why i couldn't go for a vbac3c and was told the risk was too
high, when i asked for the statistics he admitted he had none after
one caesarean as he didn't allow women to vbac after more than one c
section.

I continued with my plans for a home birth and asked for midwifery
care only, i met with the Som and she explained to me the the risks
of vbac and also the risks of caesarean and i made my on informed
choice to continue with my plans for home birth within the nhs.

At 41 weeks and still no baby yet again, the pressure started, my
midwife who was supporting me was getting pressure for me to see a
consultant as i was regarded yet again as post dates.

The consultant i was told to see was apparently vbac friendly and so
there was no need for me to worry however after 15 mins in his
office, both hubby and i walked out, tears streaming down my face
after being shouted at by the consultant for being a selfish and
putting my own silly ideas before the life of my child.

I wanted to be left to go into labour naturally however the scan had
dated me due a four days earlier than i actually was, i agreed to
additional monitoring and on my first monitoring on the ctg machine
it was concluded i had a pathological trace and that if i went home
they could not guarantee a 'live' baby,faced with this info and not
knowing or understanding what exactly was being said the only thing i
could do was make a decision on the info i was given at the time, i
accepted the c section much to the doctors surprise and without a
fight, i think he had formed the opinion that i was a women that
would risk all for the sake of a natural birth even my baby life, he
soon realised that i wasn't this 'earth' mother determined to vbac at
all costs.

The c section went ahead.

Baby boy number five 7lb and 5oz dated by them to be at 42 weeks but
by my dates just over 41, apgar scores 9 and 10.

He was really nice to me throughout and came and seen me on the ward
later that night and the next day, i told him i wanted more children
and he smiled at me and said he had all fingers crossed that i would
vbac.

I gave him all the info i had got through the Internet and through
books and studies done worldwide and i hoped that even though it
hadn't made a vbac for me possible this time i hoped that he would
read it and make it possible for someone else, at least if one women
benefited it would of been worthwhile.



My vbac4c home birth.

In 2007 we decided to try again, this time it was more difficult for
me to me still breast feeding.

I used online fertility charting to chart my cycle and for the first
time ever i began to see a pattern which was every 32 days and not
every 28 days, i always knew my menstrual cycle was longer than most
but to see this pattern via a chart and also to realise i ovulated
between day 18 and day 20 made me soon realise that perhaps i cooked
my babies longer than most and therefore a genuine reason why i did
not go into labour before 41 weeks.

Now armed with this additional info and the knowledge that to go into
labour naturally was the best option for a successful vbac i
intentially lied about my dates to avoid the pressure from the
hospital once i approached 41 weeks.

I again booked a home birth via the som at my local hospital and in
the short time from my last pregnancy to this pregnancy, i had
already noticed a real improvement in the opinion of vbac.

The government were now encouraging more home births and the som was
very pro vbac and her midwives were desperately trying to cut down
the increasing rates of caesarean, their aim was to reduce the amount
of instrumental births and to try and stop the first c section being
down in the first place.

Normal pregnancy was now being defined as 37-42 weeks because of this
the amount of inductions were going down and the c section rate was
naturally lowered.

My pregnancy progressed well and as my due date approached i felt
confident and had many positive dreams of birthing my baby,some of
these dreams were so surreal and in one of them i had just given
birth vaginally and everyone was congratulating me and saying well
down however in this dream i kept seeing me going to the mirror and
checking my scar to see if i had really just given birth.

41 weeks approached fast and this was now my nemesis, i had never
been allowed to go past 41 weeks, what if i didn't go into labour
naturally, what if my body didn't know how to, i really struggled
during this time with this but luckily at the beginning of this
pregnancy i had become friends with mandy a fellow vbac herself and
asked her if she would support me as my doula which she agreed to and
therefore i phoned and emailed her during this difficult time and she
helped me relax and advised me to listen to my vbac hypno birthing
cd's and to enjoy this extra time as time for myself.

During weeks 38 to 41 i had niggled on and off sometimes waking wih
pain wondering if this was it only for them to stop and fizzle out,
at 41 weeks plus 6 my blood pressure went up and my ankles swelled, i
took a trip to the hospital for bloods and monitoring of the baby.

All was well bloods were fine and baby was active,my midwife agree to
me having a sweep to see if it would encourage anything but in all
honesty i wasn't expecting it to i had sweeps before and nothing
happened but there again i was only 41 weeks when i had them before
maybe being a few days over this would provide to be more successful
this time.

42 weeks plus 1, stood talking to a friend on my doorstep,said
goodbye and as i shut the door i got a sudden strong tighting, it
stopped me in my tracks, i got up the stairs and sat on the toilet,
another came really strong so strong i couldn't get off it for at
least 5 mins with the shock, i ran a bath convinced it was nothing
and that if it was anything a bath would not stop it.

The bath stopped it....so i went to bed disheartened again.

4.00am dog barking..or did the pain wake me up?, i got up and made it
to the toilet before another came along...wow this hurt..still not
convinced i struggle down stairs and informed hubby it was nothing to
worry about and i was going down to play mahjong on the computer.

I lied i intended to use contraction master a online contraction
timing device to time them to see if they were the real thing or not.

Now i really was confused i thought labour started with contractions
far apart but mine appeared to be every two minutes lasting 45
seconds to sometimes a minute, they took my breath away and it took
me till 7.30am to finally be convinced enough to wake hubby up by
this time i was really having to focus, still convinced this wasn't
normal i scanned the Internet for info on contractions and when to
call the midwife, i phoned Mandy my friend and doula and i think she
must of realised it was the real thing as i listened to her telling
hubby she was on her way.

Mandy came and helped me get through them while mark phoned for the
midwife, Ted my midwife arrived just after 9.00am, completely relaxed
and i asked her to check me to which she did 2-3 cms dilated 70%
effaced???? is that all i replied, deflated i began to think maybe i
had called too soon and if the clock watching would begin, Ted
assured me she didn't clock watch and as long as baby was happy then
she had all the time in the world, i couldn't believe with
contractions coming so fast and fierce that i was only this far
forward but baby was fine and happy and coping with the contractions.

Mark my hubby helped me focus and for a few hours i relied on him and
my tens machine to cope with them but as i increased the tens machine
i found it was having a less and less effect.

Ted advised me to get in the bath something i didn't really want to
do, i was worried that if i got in the bath the contractions would
stop, she assured me they wouldn't and added a few drops of lavender
to the water to relax and me and clary sage to keep me ticking over.

I was in the bath for two and half hours and those hours flew by,
every time i got a contraction Mandy or Ted would pour the hot water
over my belly, this helped loads and dispates the pain away, i had
seen this down before on a home birth programme on the television and
thought i would find this annoying, in fact it was completely the
opposite.

At 3.00pm i got out the bath and asked Ted to check how i was
progressing, she never put any pressure for me to be checked but i
wanted to know myself how things were going.

On examination i was found to be 5-6cms waters bulging,during this
check my waters went as Ted withdrew and immediately after i had
twanged to 8cms.

I then needed additional pain relief and welcomed the gas and air,not
long after however i noticed a overwhelming feeling on wanting to
bare down,once the contraction ended, i continued to make these pushy
noises and Ted checked to see if all was ok.

I had a small anterior lip which was preventing the baby coming down
and so once i had another contraction, Ted pushed it back and the
baby's head came down and now my pushing was becoming more effective.

After only fifteen minutes of pushing i felt my baby's head crown and
within seconds he was born.

Wow i couldn't believe it, I had finally done it,I looked down at him
in amazement, I was crying,hubby was crying, two of my children slept
through it,the other three were totally amazed and happy at seeing
their new brother born.

Mandy and Ted were congratulating us both, I picked him up and
cuddled him,he seemed so big and everyone was surprised when he
weighed in at 9lb.

I even got to have an uneventful physiological third stage and in the
words of my midwife a 'perfect text book birth'.

We all went to bed early that night and it was the perfect end to a
perfect day, as i walked past my bedroom mirror ,i stopped and raised
my t shirt and looked at my scar, there it was just a faint silvery
line that appeared to smile at me, and for the first time ever i
smiled back, instead of negative feelings when i looked at it, i now
had positive ones for it now it reminded me that i had given birth
vaginally,naturally and finally!.

love to all

Melanie.