Looking for great 3rd birth stories!

[girlfromthenc]

I am looking for positive birth stories after 2 or more difficult, traumatic births. I am due in July with my third baby. My first two birth experiences were rather terrible, which has been a huge disappointment to me because I’ve been a doula since before they were born. I was not a victim of hospital procedures, or interventionist obstetricians. I was highly informed and working with the best of midwives and planning home births both times. I ate very well, I did yoga and got tons of exercise, I saw a chiro, and followed all the instructions on spinningbabies about optimal fetal positioning. Unfortunately, both my boys were asynclitic. Each time started with +/- a week of prodromal labor, followed by all of a sudden active intense labor (non-stop contrax with triple peaks, no more than a 30 second break, vomiting, shaking) lasting 8-10 hours before my transfer to the hospital for drugs. Each time, I was 5-6cm during the whole duration of my hell. Of course my midwives tried everything from positioning to water to homeopathy. They were just so stuck. During the first birth I stayed at 6 for 20 hours before agreeing to Pitocin. During the second birth, my uterus nearly ruptured during transition, because there were literally no breaks in contrax. They said my uterus was behaving like I was having a terrible reaction to a too high dose of Pitocin, but I wasn’t on it. Luckily both of them ended up being manually turned at the last minute and I was able to push them out, so I avoided a c/s. But overall it was not a good experience. It was so disheartening to have to use an epidural after being a doula at so many beautiful, amazing home and water births.

 Anyway, it’s been nearly 4 years since my last child was born, and I’ve made peace with how those births went. I’m also resigned to the fact that, because I’ve already tried everything under the sun to have normally positioned babies, I have very little control over this. I’m trying to be optimistic, but also realistic this time.

I would love to hear some stories from those of you who had a great third birth after two malpositioned babies. Thanks in advance!

[kungfumoose]

My first birth with my daughter, she was posterior. We were trying a UC, and I'll never really know what was going on, because I had a funny feeling, and we went to the hospital. A ton of interventions later, I ended up with a c-section. There is a good chance she may have been asynclitic, because labor was so much like my second, who was posterior, and asynclitic. After 77 hours of labor with him, I transferred to the hospital, and had my second c-section. (they didn't allow VBACS)
I just had my third 7 weeks ago, and it was like a night and day difference. She was LOA, and labor was painful, but completely different. I had a wonderful successful VBAC. It was fabulous!! If you would like to hear my stories in more detail, let me know, I'll gladly share!
I had chiropractic care throughout this last pregnancy, and I really think it may have made a difference.
Good luck!!

[bluewatergirl]

Wishing you all the best!

My abbreviated stories:

First labor, 42 weeks (1997): Induction, but no pitocin. I pushed for a looong time,

the pain was scary even with pain meds (my sister still talks about being down the

hall in the waiting area and hearing me screaming); my big-headed daughter was delivered

"sunny-side up" and I had a 4th-degree tear which took a long time to heal.

Second labor, 42 weeks (1999):Began naturally. I was in hard labor for about 17 hours

and then finally pushing but my son wasn't descending and then began having serious

decelerations of his heartbeat. There had been meconium in the amniotic fluid when

they broke my membranes, and with the decels (down to the 50's, although coming

back up) I had a bad feeling - so at this point I asked for a c-section.

My son had been positioned sideways with his hand next to his head.

He was fine, but the birth was a scary experience.

Third labor, 40 weeks (2005): My daughter was born on her due date, which is

also my birthday. I woke up at about 2 a.m. with pretty strong contractions, but

didn't hurry, figuring she'd take her sweet time too. When they triaged me at the

hospital at about 3:15 a.m. I was 10 cm and "ready to push" although I didn't

feel the urge yet. Luckily my doc lived close by.There was mild panic because

it was a VBAC, and I needed IV access and antibiotics, and I guess the nurses

thought I might drop the baby out right then.

I remember thinking the whole thing was funny, and having the feeling that everything

would be fine. Her heartrate was good, my uterus did it's job. There was no time for

any pain medication. I got on the bed, I totally felt her slide out of my uterus and descend,

pushed hard a few times and she was born at 3:50 a.m. She was also sideways with

a hand next to her head - just like her big brother, but at 7 lbs., 6 oz., she weighed

more than a pound less, and had no problem making her way out.

[girlfromthenc]

Thank you both for responding! Bluewatergirl-thanks for mentioning how painful pushing can be, even with pain meds. Both times the pain was horrific. The first time I had nightmares for months. My midwife said that the epidural had worn off, and she didn’t want to up it and risk a c/s. A friend that I told about this said, ‘oh ya, I had a friend that thought her epidural was worn off for pushing too, and then she had a baby without the epidural, and said that she was mistaken. She said it hurt twice as much without!’ Honestly, that makes me just want to sign up now for the epidural. I have no interest in experiencing that. I was seriously traumatized by the first pushing experience. If it’s twice as bad without, I can’t imagine how messed up I’d be from it. Ugh. The second time pushing hurt outrageously too, but it was very quick. And I think I would have handled it better too if anyone had told me how close he was. I assumed I’d spend another 2 hours pushing. I just kept screaming that I was going to die. But he was right there the whole time (only 8 minutes of pushing). I got over it much more quickly than the first time at least.

Thanks again for sharing!