It was an early Thursday morning, when I woke up with contractions. They weren’t horrible but they were strong and consistent. I took a bath, and drank some water to see if that would make the contractions go away, but it didn’t. After realizing this was probably the day (I was one day overdue), I woke Alex up and we left for the hospital. Unfortunately, I risked out of the birth center this time due to my last birth being a C-section. I was attempting a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) with this pregnancy.
My mom met us at triage and for some reason with this pregnancy, I would NOT let anyone check me for dilation. I don’t know what that was about, but it was way too painful for me to handle. I mean, being checked has never been a delightful experience, but I never put up a fight before like I did this time. The midwife had no clue how far I was dilated, but because the baby was having heart rate dips on the monitors, she wanted to admit me. I got all settled into the room, Alex got all settled with his laptop lol. I didn’t want to have an IV or be hooked up to ANYTHING, including the monitors for contractions or heartbeat. You know, those awesome blue and pink bands you get to wear constantly while in labor. I loathe those things! I could never walk around or do anything. I do not like to be confined to a bed when laboring! I want to walk around the room, bounce on the ball, or walk the halls if I felt the desire to. So, I was very thankful to my midwife who allowed me to be free willy (in more ways than one) to move about as I pleased, not being chained down to any cords!
I was feeling regular contractions all day, but not really anything super intense. And, without me allowing anyone to check me, it was impossible to know how much progress I had made, if any. I actually told Alex at one point, “maybe I am not in labor after all, maybe we should just leave and come back when the baby is crowning.” (Inside joke between us, we would never really wait THAT long, but pretty darn close haha.) But, when the midwife heard me say that, she said “oh, you cant leave once you are admitted.” Me and Alex met saucer shaped eyes and I responded with “say what!? So, are we prisoners here?” She explained that it’s hospital policy that once you are admitted into labor and delivery, you are there until you deliver, since obviously there was a reason I was admitted in the first place and it would be risky to leave now. That reason was the heart rate dropping in triage, so they were concerned the baby might be in distress. Might being the key word there.
I now start freaking out because if I am not really in labor, and I cannot leave then what’s the next step in this scenario? Them pushing a C-section on me. Cue the hospital OB, who was called into “consult” the midwife on options. The OB informed me that they needed to get something going soon because I had already been there 10 hours. And since I wouldn’t let anyone check me, I was making it impossible to know if anything is happening organically or not. I expressed to her that I was COMPLETELY against any interventions as it would increase the chance of C-section, especially because this was an attempted VBAC! She was nice, but firmly let me know that she would give me another hour and she was coming in to break my water. I was livid and crying, this was the last thing I wanted! Alex and I prayed, he was pacing while praying in tongues, and we were listening to worship music. It was getting real in that room, and The Holy Spirit was definitely in there with us!
Thirty minutes before my “deadline”, my water broke naturally while I was resting on the bed! I yelled “thank you Jesus!” We called for the midwife to tell her, and she said she wasn’t worried, that she knew things were gonna work out. She was so sweet, as well was the nurse we had! Still, I wouldn’t allow anyone to check me, boy did they try, but I was too tense and just screamed. So, I had to go on the monitors for a while, unfortunately. Contractions were coming regularly, but again, not super intense like I had remembered them with all my other babies. I started pushing, but for the first time ever, I was pushing while standing. That was interesting, and I’m sure Alex thought so also. I was holding onto his belt loops and with every push I would pull down his pants a bit, eventually ripping one of loops right off! Pushing felt like FOREVER with Anniston, which was different, because usually I only pushed a MAXIMUM of 5 times and baby would be out. I even said, “maybe I’m not pushing, I don’t know.” I was so unsure during this labor, because everything was so different than my other births. I was pushing for thirty minutes or so, when I got on the bed backwards in the squatting position, with Alex behind the head of the bed. He was wiping my forehead with a wet cloth like the wonderful husband he is.
I think the midwife was even shocked that it was taking so long, because she said let me just make sure that the baby is low. And she looked and Anniston’s head was RIGHT THERE! It took about 3 more pushes, and she was born! The whole pushing process took about 45 mins and she was born at 6:16pm weighing in at 7lbs13oz, and 21 1/2in long. God met us there in that labor and delivery room, ALL DAY LONG! He showed up several times when we didn’t know if a successful VBAC would happen. But, it did! I was amazed at how God REALLY DOES work all things out for our good! He completely restored this birth, and I felt redeemed from the sorrow of Alayna’s birth experience! None of it hurt at all, physically, nor emotionally! God is SO GOOD, and His mercies endure forever!
I hope you enjoyed this birth story! August’s birth story will be tomorrow, and will conclude the series! Until next time, Beloved…..
BE BLESSED!
