Feel like I should introduce myself here

[First Time Mama]

 I planned a homebirth with my son, who is now three years old. After a long labor and and over 5 hours of pushing with no progress I ended up with a transfer and a c section. I was devestated and heartbroken over my son's traumatic arrival and it challenged all of my beiefs about my body and my beliefs about birth. I am now anticipating my vbac any week now. I am planning a hbac with very supportive midwives, but have had to deal with a lot of fears and anxieties throughout this pregnancy. I have lurked on this forum for a long time but, not posted much, but wanted to introduce myself.

[buckeyedoc]

Well, I just want to say that I am excited for you, and I am rooting for you! All births and babies are different. Since 70-80% of VBAC attempts lead to vaginal delivery, why not yours? Sounds like you are in good hands.

[LisaSedai]

Welcome! Did they hazard a guess as to what happened in your first labor? I'm sorry you pushed for 5 hours, then got a c/section on top of it.Not fair! Like PP said, every birth is different and I hope this time you get a happy healthy homebirth. Have you been trying anything new like spinning babies exersize/ yoga /accupuncture/ chiro? Your siggy cut off, you're hoping for a..... ?

[First Time Mama]

  When the MDC fourms got their new format, it cut off my siggy for some reason. It just says hoping for a hbac. After the c/s at the hospital I was told my son was posterior and when I looked at my medical records with my current midwife we saw that DS was still really high (I think -2 station) during the time I had been pushing. He never descended during the hours of pushing. We tried all sorts of positions and things at home to no avail. When I transferred my cervix was so swollen I was told a c/s was my only opiton. That and baby was not having great variability in FHT's so I guess that concerned them. I remember an oxygen mask over my face. But it wasn't an emergency and the way the decision was taken out of my hands and the way we were treated as a homebirth transfer was traumatic. Talking with my midwife a few months after DS was born, she thought that DS head was deflexed and that caused him to not be able to descend. I think that malposition was a factor, but my midwives also broke my water, and I think that contributed to him getting stuck in a malposition and he couldn't get into my pelvis. In retrospect, I feel I also started pushing much to early, before I felt an urge. So this time, I don't want anyone telling me when to push, I want to wait for the urge, and I don't want my water broken. Most of my previous labor went very well, and I coped all right for almost 30 hours, until the pushing didn't work. I have a lot of confidence in my current midwives (different ones than with my first), and I am trying to build up confidence in my body again. I have been aware of positioning this time, avoiding reclining and have been doing knee/chest and cat/cow exercises. My sister is a chiro and I get adjusted when I see her, not as often as I'd like though. I really believe that if I am able to labor unhindered and follow my body's instincts that I can birth this baby.

[coraljean]

I'm in your due date club too, and it sounds like we have a lot in common as far as our last experiences go. I was planning a midwife birth center birth, and after a five hour pushing phase also ended up with a transfer and c-section. I'll be rooting for both of us throughout the next few weeks!

Coral Jean

Mama to Dylan 12/20/08 and expecting another boy in December!

[MNHall]

It sounds like you're preparing great! 

My first was fairly similar to yours, although I was induced for no reason other than I was uneducated about it at the time and my OB took advantage of an excited first time mama!  Anyway, I also was only allowed to push for 2 hours, then my time was up.  But, like you said, my baby was malpositioned, I started pushing without the urge and he was still at -3 station, so we were pushing to get him down...not even pushing to get him out!

Anyway, I had my #2 via vbac, but I still had some malpositioning issues, I think I was fairly "lucky" in that she came 3 weeks earlier and she did descend more into my pelvis.  But she was still malpositioned, so my OB was able to reach up there and turn her!  EEEEKK!  But anyway,

THIS TIME...I've prepared my body physically, like it sounds like you are doing.  Between yoga, sitting properly, and chiropractic visits, I'm hoping/planning that my body is in better alignment to allow my baby to decent and rotate properly through the birth canal.  Through visiting the chiropractor, I did find out that I have an extremely tight periformis muscle on one side of my body.  And this is a muscle right in your pelvis, so to her, it made sense that my babies sort of wanted to stay in their position...it's where they fit best.

But, with lots of physical changes, this time, for both of us, I bet it will be a very different pushing experience!  Our bodies are more in alignment, the way that a baby will be able to position itself correctly to just come on out!  :)  :)