3 posts tagged “vbac”
I have written so few birth stories in the last few months, passing through the 50 births attended mark and on to my 60th without writing about any of them! I've had some really wonderful births in the last months and I need to catch up with some story telling.
Two recent VBACs really stick in my mind because of the overwhelming joy of both of the laboring moms, but also because of the triumph expressed by the people who love them, and were so proud of them for having the birth they wanted. For example, at one of these births, the mom labored slowly throughout the day, calling me to join them in the middle of the night. After several hours in the hospital, she was able to push her baby out, crying "I did it!" as he entered the world. Minutes later her mother appeared outside the door and we waved her in to join us. She came through the door with an enormous smile on her face, tears on her cheeks and scooped her daughter up into a big hug, exclaiming, "You did it! You did exactly what you wanted!" Her mother had been nervous about her daughter trying for a VBAC but was overcome with joy and filled with pride when she accomplished it. I almost never cry at births, but these two women embracing and marveling at the accomplishment of having her baby the way she wanted brough tears to my eyes.
Two months later I attended another VBAC with a similar sense of triump, this time from the proud father. This mother began laboring and called me in the morning to let me know. A few hours later the contractions picked up in intensity and she asked me to join her. We labored in her home for several hours and then transferred to the hospital to meet with her midwife. She continued to labor in the hospital until her baby was down low and ready to be born. She was strong and focused, pushing her baby down with each contraction. When her husand first heard the mdwife report being able to see the baby, her husband traded places with me so that he could get his camera and have a better view of the the birth. A few pushes later, the baby made a turn during a contraction and made a dramatic amount of progress. The father, with tears in his eyes was cheering for his wife, telling her how amazing she was as she pushed their baby out. It was wonderful to see how proud he was and what a transformative and triumphant experience it was not only for the mom, but also for her partner.
Picking up from where I left off in the last entry ...
I came home and snuggled with my kids. My older son likes to hear about the births I attend, so I tell him the stories and he, sweetly, always offers congrats on a job well done. We put on PJs early and watched a movie together in bed, with me half asleep but managing to laugh at a few of the jokes. I went to bed early that night with the news that my client had lost her mucus plug and was starting to have regular contractions again. Although I thought I might be woken during the night, the call never came. At 7 am I recieved a text message letting me know that contractions continued but were short and managable. My client was in high spirits and told me she was "feeling groovey". We chcked in throughout the day and while labor continued to progress, it remained slow and managable into the evening.
At 10pm my phone rang and her husband asked if I could come to help them. Ten minutes later I was in a car on my way to their home with insturctions to stop at the nearby corner store for firewood if possible. I had the driver wait while I oicked up to bundles of wood to keep the fireplace filled for as long as she continued to want to labor there. I arrived shortly after, entering the warmth of a beautiful birthing setting.
These clients were not moving to a hospital, but rather had chooses a homebirth with Miriam and had prepared their home as such. Candles made for a soft glow and the fireplace made the house warm and welcoming. Upstairs, a birthing tub had been inflated at the foot of their bed and waited to be filled with warm water when the time came. My client was enjoying sitting in front of the fire, softly gazing into the flames and being held by her husband through the contractions. She was focused and solid, enjoying the sensations and feeling pleasure in the process of birthing. She remarked with curiosity about the feelings of the contractions and was excited to give birth.
Her birth was an intimate and moving experience. Her husband stayed connected to her, their love for each other so apparent as they cuddled and swayed through contractions first near the fireplace and later in bed. As the contractions built in intensity, we filled the tub with warm water. When she began to move increasingly inward and voiced a desire to be in the tub, I went downstairs and called her midwife to let her know it was time to join us. It was just after 1 am and the baby was on her way.
My client got into the tub and immediately remarked that it was amazingly relaxing and that she had no idea how good it would feel for her to be in there. She was relaxed and ready to continue facing her contractons as they grew stronger and longer. Her midwife rang the bell 15 minutes later and I helped her in the door with her equiptment and an update. She was calm and confident, never checking the laboring woman or instructing her but rather just observing the process and joining in the support team and we talked her through and eased any discomforts with cool cloths and drinks.
By 2am the contractions were turing to pushing and Miriam told my client to reach down and check for the baby. She initially said that she could not feel her but then she felt again with instructions and was able to touch her daughters head inside of herself. The contraions continued and quickly moved into forceful "throwing down", which her body pushing her baby out. She moved from a supported position on her back, resting in her husband's arms, to her side and then around onto her knees before pushing her baby out into her arms.
Her daughter emerged from the warm water just after 3am and she guided her up between her legs and into her arms. She and her husband smiled and cried with joy as they held her and examined her for the first time. It was so affirming and powerful to be in the presence of this woman while she birthed her baby and I came home 3 hours later feeling high. Two VBACs in two days, two beautiful little girls welcomed into the world with so much love, two amazingly strong mothers who got the experience of "birth working" after having c-sections with their first babies.
I love my job :) The third birth, another homebirth but this one to a pair of first time parents, will have to wait and I am tired and needing sleep. To be continued again ...
I had a fabulous week last week. It started with a 3am phone call early on Thursday morning. A client of mine, who was nearly 41 weeks had been laboring on and off for days, was the person I expected to be receiving a call from but I was pleasantly surprised to see another name appear on my phone display that morning. My client told me for to hours she had been laboring with increased intensity and she want to check in with me. I could here the mixture of excitement and intensity in her voice and knew that this would be her birth day. We talked about her eating something and waking her husband to labor together and she told me she would call back when they needed me. As dawn rolled around, I got another call and by 6am I was in a car on my way to South Slope for a birth.
When I arrived, my client's water had just broken onto their living room floor. She was half clothed and feeling stronger contractions that required her to stop and have pressure applied to her hips and lower back. She was breathing into them but the edge of fear was creeping into her sounds as they raised in pitch during the peak of her contractions. We spoke softly in the dim light of her kitchen and fell into a rhythm as she worked through the contractions. She called her doctor to let her know that the water had broken and was instructed to come to the hospital. We knew that this would be the case - my client was having her second baby, a VBAC after the first was born by c-section after an attempted induction at 36.5 weeks. She knew that her doctor would want to monitor her closely and agreed that we would come soon.
Her daughter woke up and came downstairs with sleepy eyes and wild hair. She looked at her laboring mother with curiosity but seemed satisfied with the explanation that the baby was coming and her mom was helping the baby out. She asked her father to read her a story, which he did while getting the bags ready and preparing for the babysitter they had arranged. When the sitter arrived, my client was feeling very ready to go to the hospital, so we walked out into the cold, snowy morning and climbed into the back of their Jeep for the trip into Manhattan.
As we traveled through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, my client on all fours turned with her face looking out the rear of the vehicle, my hands on her hips through each contraction, I reflected that I seem to only ever go through this tunnel with women in active labor. Because it is not the best way to get from my home to or from Manhattan, I rarely take it. As we entered the tunnel, I saw flashes of traveling through the tunnel with so many other women in the last few months who were laboring in the back of cabs or cars just as she was.
After we arrived at the hospital, we made it into triage and she continued to labor beautifully - asserting what she needed from the staff and continuing to remain focused on working through each contraction. We spent a few hours laboring in triage while they worked on freeing a room for her - moving between the bed and the bathroom, standing, squatting, and on the bed on all fours. She moved through her contractions and by 11 am she was nearly 9 cms and finally getting into a labor room for her birth.
Just after 2pm she pushed a beautiful little girl into the world, greeting her with gasps of joy and the teary eyes of a father who watched his first vaginal birth with amazement. It was an incredible moment of triumph - helping this family to get the birth that they wanted in a legal-climate that makes VBACs increasingly difficult in hospital settings. When I hailed a cab a few hours later I was feeling such joy at the victory this birth had been for my client.
While traveling back down the West Side Highway towards Brooklyn, I called the client who I had initially though would have been the one waking me early that morning. She said she continued to feel some contractions on and off and her spirits were good. She sounded bubbly and light, laughing and joking with me about errands she had been on that day. I told her about the VBAC I had just come from - news she welcomed as she was also planning for a VBAC and felt bolstered by that afternoons sucess story. She warned me to go home and get some sleep because she would be calling me soon!
(To Be Continued ..)
