Kage’s Birth Story
I have had 3 c sections; my first was an inverted T incision all of them within 18 months of each other. I have 4.5 year old twins, 3 year old, and an 18 month old. I had no idea I could VBAC no one ever said I could or even mentioned what that was and my OR report said DO NOT LABOR across it. One day my good friend asked why I didn’t VBAC so I researched and researched and decided to go with a licensed midwife who was giving up her license to help women like me (licensed can’t attend after 2 sections).
I was 39 weeks and 6 days (the farthest I have ever been, my longest pregnancy was 36 weeks.) On Sat December 10th I woke up with very mild cramping, and thought nothing of it. I had prodromal labor for the past couple of days and figured it was starting again. Around 11:00, I went to the movies with my friend Julie, I had contractions every 5 min since the am and have had them for days so again, I tried to enjoy the movie. At this point they weren’t too painful just annoying.
When I got home around 2:30-3:00 pm all of a sudden I had the worst stomach pain and felt like I had a horrible gas bubble. From 3:00pm-7:00pm I sat on the toilet with constipation, vomiting, and diarrhea…in that horrible pattern over and over again. About 7pm I was on my hands and knees feeling like I still had a gas bubble that wouldn’t move. Thankfully we put the kids to bed at 7:30 and started to play my video game, hoping it would keep my mind off the pain. At this point I wasn’t sure if I was in labor I thought I had eaten something that didn’t agree with me. As I was playing my game I realized I kept pausing the game and couldn’t focus at all. I remember my midwife telling me to call when I felt like that so I did.
At 8 pm I called my midwife and she sat on the phone with me to hear how my contractions were and said she would be there in the next hour or so. About an hour later at 9pm, I lost my mucus plug and had bloody show. I was sitting on an exercise ball and felt like I had to use the restroom when I stood up the exercise ball stuck to my butt and I was joking around about it, one of my midwifes (I had 3) looked over at me and started laughing so I started laughing and told her she made me pee myself. I went to the bathroom and my water broke on the toilet (I guess she didn’t make me pee lol). There was meconium in the water and it was a greenish brown instead of clear, this of course freaked my husband out and he started asking me if my dad was home just in case. My midwives assured us it was fine as long as Kage’s heartbeat was fine and he wasn’t in distress, so I put it behind me and tried to breathe through the contractions that seemed right on top of each other.
After my water broke they started filing the aqua born birthing tub in my living room. I was told when I got in the water my labor might slow down (oh how I wish it did). At this point the time is all a blur to me. I was in the pool in so much pain, my back was killing me and I kept trying to get into a position that was comfy, which is impossible. I was on my knees with my body hunched over the pool grabbing my husband. There were times I almost lifted his 180lb body up over the pool. I remember screaming on top of my lungs, and trying to relax for what seemed like a minute in-between. I started to feel like I needed to push, in my mind I kept thinking it isn’t time I haven’t been in labor long enough (my first vaginal birth I thought it would be 16+ hours). I went with my body and pushed a few times screaming “ahhhh the ring of fire” on the top of my lungs. When his head started to come out for some reason I jumped up out of the water. Because he was born out of the water I had to stand and deliver the rest of his body. I was hunched over the pool with my midwife holding my leg up. I was screaming get him out just grab him(my midwives are hands off and knew he would come out on his own at this point I didn’t care how he came out ) After another push he was out at 12:00 am on his due date Dec 11, 2011.
I had a 4 hour labor….maybe longer if you count my “horrid gas bubble.” I had 2 artificial tares but it was all worth it. Looking back almost 7 weeks later the pain of it all is already fading, I look back and realize I didn’t even think about my special scar or my 3 previous C-sections during the labor, I trusted my body and my midwives and had the perfect birth J Thanks Lennon, Angie, and Karinda !!
