I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Theodore Daniel arrived last Wednesday, September 15th, via VBAC. After flipping to breech and back twice after 34 weeks, he stayed head down, and I went into spontaneous labor at 41w1d. That in and of itself was a victory since I've never begun labor on my own! Labor started with very widely spaced contractions early Tuesday morning which kicked into gear after an acupuncture session at 5PM. I labored at home with contractions every 3 minutes until 2 AM Wednesday when we headed into the hospital for an epidural. My labor was marked with extremely intense hip pain, and I needed some relief. At admission around 3 AM, I was 5-6cm and stretchy and 90% effaced. Sadly, the epidural did not alleviate the hip pain but it did relieve most of the contration sensations so I could focus on coping with the hip pain. Late Wednesday morning, I finally was 9.5cm, just a lip remaining, with a bulging bag of waters. Baby's head was ansynclitic, and the bag of waters actually was what was providing the pressure to dilate. The OB ruptured my membranes, and in the flood (I had suspected polyhydramnios), baby floated back up, and I went back to a 5-6. I didn't know this at the time and thought that I was continuing to work through getting the lip out of the way so I could push!
While I was working on the squat bar, the nurse and my doula convinced me to allow anesthesia to replace my epi since it was so ineffective. I reluctantly moved to the side of the bed and "assumed the position" which caused a huge contraction. After that contraction, the NA removed the tape holding the epi in place. I had another huge contraction, and she removed the epi catheter. Then, I felt a hard but quick contraction and felt a THUD. Oh, the pressure! "It's burning!" My doula told me to lie down on three and practically pushed me onto my left side on the bed--the nurse looked down, and there was his head! He was CROWNING! I felt someone touching my perenium, and I felt an uncomfortable stretching and yelled, "Stop that!" Someone laughed and said, "That's not me--that's your baby." I had a lull between contractions when I heard my OB say, "We need him out on the next one." I guess his heartrate had been down for a while. So I pushed for the 4th time, and his head was out followed in that same contraction by his body. I had a tiny tear, probably along my episiotomy scar from my first birth. So I actually *birthed* him without an epidural though it provided enough pain relief during labor to help me cope with the intense hip pain. 
Theo was 9lbs, 5oz and 22.5" long, born at 12:45 PM on 9/15/2010. 
ETA: The reason for the title is that is how my NCB-friendly nurse and my doula referred to my birth. I had to use all my coping techniques and comfort measures to deal with the hip pain, so it was a blessing that the epi dulled the pain of the contractions. I wish it had worked the other way--alleviating the hip pain while allowing me to deal with the contractions only! That would have been easier, I think.
Edited by Monkey Keeper - 8/27/11 at 11:42am
So happy for you!
