My first was a 22.5 hour labor. I was told he was asynclitic and slightly posterior and that's why he got stuck. The ob broke my water somewhere between 3-6cm (can't quite remember). I convinced myself in the next 2 years that the baby was stuck because the ob broke my water, even though I'm sure he had been stuck from 37 weeks on, maybe that clinched it. I never got past 6cm. He was 6 pounds 6 ounces with a head circumference of 14.25 inches.
My second, born 1-10-07, was to be my hbac. I began seeing a chiropractor at 28 weeks because the baby was breech. Accupuncture started at 35 weeks. He was turned via external version by a hbmw on Friday. My labor started Sunday night. I labored 3 days. The third day I felt I was truely in active labor all day long. The mws and doula showed up around dinnertime (for the second time that day) and things were rolling. Around 9pm I had the shakes and each contraction was splitting me in 2. I asked to be checked because I was sure the baby had to come soon. The elder mw thought I must be nearing transition. I was 3cm, 0 station. I did everything they said to do for the next 2.5 hours, changing positions, walking, slow dancing, sitting on the toilet, visualisations. At 11:30 I was 4cm. I hadn't slept in days and needed a break. I asked to go to the hospital.
Upon arrival at hospital I was 5cm. I immediately asked for an epidural. I got it and rested (didn't actually sleep) for several hours. The ob wanted to break my water and insert internal monitors and I flatly refused. (And he was quite irritated. I was glad for the shift change and a different ob a few hours later.)
I progressed at approximately 1cm every 2-2.5 hours until I reached 8cm, where I got stuck. We turned the epidural down and I started changing positions actively again. Got to where I could be stretched to 9cm. New OB asked to break my water and couldn't believe it hadn't broken on it's own by then. I agreed because I thought at 8-9cm maybe that's all I needed to move to 10 and push the baby out. It didn't help. Not one millimeter. The OB basically massaged my cervix until it was "nearly complete." Getting rid of the rim took 2 hours. So I was finally at 10cm and ready to push at noon. And push I did, for 3 hours. At first the baby would move down just a little with each push. After 3 hours and several position changes the ob started telling me that my pubic bone was in the way. So I flipped over onto all 4s thinking that could help. No. Squatting and pushing made me feel like I was being torn in two by a lightening rod but did nothing to move the baby down. Jumping up and down didn't help either. Neither did crying, pleading with the universe and God, or (according to my husband) "cussing like a sailor with Tourette's Syndrome." An hour after the ob suggested my bones were in the way and I did everything I could think of to move differently, I finally accepted a repeat c-section.
Baby boy #2 was 7 pounds 14.5 ounces with a head circumference of 15 inches. A good bit bigger than his older brother, but still within what seems to be a reasonable size to birth vaginally, even in a woman as small as I am.
I now feel I did every possible thing to have a vbac. My body just doesn't want to or can't birth a baby vaginally. I wouldn't change a thing about the vbac attempt. Three days wore me out and I wasn't happy about the c/s, but I can't imagine there is anything I or my mw or ob didn't do to try to get it for me.
