I had my daughter by C-section after I fully dilated but she wouldn't descend even after three hours of pushing. She was big 9lbs7oz I started out at home but was transfered to the hospital when it was taking so long. I find myself pregnant again (a bit of a surprise) I am due in January 05 and I am planning to try another home birth. I would love to hear from anyone who has had a succesful VBAC at home or from anyone who is planning one.
VBAC at home
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I am planning a homebirth for Sept! This isnt my first VBAC though, I also had my DD vaginally in 2002.
Do you know about the HBAC list on yahoo groups? You should def. join if possible, everyone there is having or has had VBAC at home or birth center! Its a great place to go to gain support and encouragement!
Theres also an ICAN-online group in yahoo groups, but it kindof seems to be more for dealing with you cesarean than anything else. A great place to get info though!
Good luck!
Do you know about the HBAC list on yahoo groups? You should def. join if possible, everyone there is having or has had VBAC at home or birth center! Its a great place to go to gain support and encouragement!
Theres also an ICAN-online group in yahoo groups, but it kindof seems to be more for dealing with you cesarean than anything else. A great place to get info though!
Good luck!
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Both of those yahoo groups are great places to learn more about birth after cesarean (I'm on both
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) and are super supportive.
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jbking,
Congratulations! I am also due in Jan. Quite a surprise to us too! I had my twins via c-sec (never went into labor-nervous, litigation-fearing doc's). My son was born almost 3 years later at home in the water. Everything went beautifully. He was 8lbs.14oz. and presented with his arm against his head. My midwife pulled his arm out and out he came. He required about 20 min of oxygen as his cord broke, but he pinked right up.
It was such a great experience that we are planning another vbac homebirth.
Best wishes!
Congratulations! I am also due in Jan. Quite a surprise to us too! I had my twins via c-sec (never went into labor-nervous, litigation-fearing doc's). My son was born almost 3 years later at home in the water. Everything went beautifully. He was 8lbs.14oz. and presented with his arm against his head. My midwife pulled his arm out and out he came. He required about 20 min of oxygen as his cord broke, but he pinked right up.
It was such a great experience that we are planning another vbac homebirth.
Best wishes!
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1,333 Posts
I had a great HBAC last year - on Thanksgiving day to be exact!
(I did post a birth story a little while ago)
(I did post a birth story a little while ago)
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7,179 Posts
Oh, I had the BEST HBAC 5 months ago. It was wonderful! I highly recommend ICAN.
I haven't actually written my birth story but if you insisted
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it would make me sit down and do it finally.
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I haven't actually written my birth story but if you insisted
citygirl, what are your main concerns. I have some as well but I think my anxiety is that I will not be able to birth my baby vaginally. I always trusted that I could until my daughter was a hospital transfer/c-section. what I realized is that i would be more afraid to be in the hospital and forced into another c-section if things were not moving fast enough than I would be to have to be transferred from home if nescessary.
Heres my HBAC waterbirth story, as posted to a HB board elsewhere
************************
Jhonen Carter Joseph M.
born 5-18-04 @ 1:12pm
9lb 9oz 21 1/4" long 14 1/2" head
I had worked a full (and very frustrating) day on Monday 5-17, and got home around 9pm. I was tired but really felt like I NEEDED to clean the house. But I went with the tiredness and decided to go to bed. I had noticed that I had been passing a little more mucous than usual throughout the day but didn't think anything of it. I had also been having irregular Braxton-Hicks contractions that every so often would be mixed in with a gentle but very definite REAL contraction (I feel real ones in a different spot than BH ones). That had happened a couple times in the past several weeks so again I didn't think anything of it.
I woke up around 4am needing to go pee and noticed that I seemed to be finishing up a pretty decent (although still mild) real contraction. I got up, did my bathroom routine (noticed a small pink streak in the mucous), got a snack to see what happened and went back to bed. I got back up pretty soon after to go pee again and again with another contraction so I thought that filling up the birthing pool might not be a bad idea. It was nearly 5am now, and I had about 3 or 4 contractions in the past hour so I went back to bed. I recall waking up a few times in the peak of a contraction strong enough to wake me, but still not too bad that I couldn't breathe deeply and go back to sleep.
DH woke up around 6:40 to get ready for work and I asked him if he could take Nate to his dental appointment this morning because I was contracting and not really sure if I was going to kick into labour or not. He agreed and asked if I needed him to stay home from work. I said no. So he took Nate to his appointment and I went about my day. He brought Nate back around 9:15 or so, and there was really no change...contractions were irregular and easy. I also had checked myself and noticed that the bag of water was starting to bulge, even though I was still dilated to only 4-5cm (very very very stretchy), high, and posterior, so I told him to go to work and I'd call if I needed anything.
Around 10am I decided to call my MW. I gave her the details and she asked if I needed her to come over and check things out. I said no, that I thought it was just really early latent labour and that I was still dealing easily with contractions and not really feeling much pain. I had maybe 3 contractions while on the phone with her, but they were mild and I didn't even need to pause for them. She called back about a half hour later and asked if it was OK if she came over around noon. I thought perhaps we could have lunch here or something...so I said sure...come on over then! She reminded me to eat something with high protein and keep hydrated.
Right at about noon, I ate a little sandwich and fixed lunch for Nate. I decided to call my "helpers" (my sister who was going to watch my kids and my friend who was going to be present kind of as an extra support person). I noticed after eating that the contractions picked up in their frequency...now coming every couple minutes but still pretty easy. I knew my MW was coming soon so I didn't bother with calling her again. I started to lean over and sway back and forth with contractions just because it felt GOOD that way and I wanted to practice for active labour. I called DH around 12:15 or so and suggested he come home from work and pick up AJ from school so he could be here.
MW arrived at 12:30, just as I had sat down to go pee yet again. Nate happily announced her arrival and let her in. Now, peeing when you have a huge baby deeply engaged in your pelvis is a TOUGH task! So I was sort of rocking back and forth to get my bladder empty. I also managed to have a contraction just as she came into the room.
SHe asked if it was OK to check me and since I hadn't checked for a loooong time I agreed. I was curious to see if I was progressing any.
"Oh, you are at about...EIGHT!!!" MW said. All I could think about was "OH NO, TRANSITION!!!" I made a comment about "Oh, now its going to get hard!" and then I smiled and jumped up and announced "Now Im getting into the pool!!!". I think if there had been a diving board there I would have dove in!! LOL! It felt sooo good and contractions were still feeling easy and fairly light. MW started to fly around the house getting things ready. Nate was there with me, chatting and offering sips of water. DH and AJ came home around 12:45, and I had just started to "sing" with my contractions at that point. AJ asked if they hurt and I replied that they didn't really hurt, but they took an awful lot of concentration. Suddenly, I was gripped with a overwhelming sensation at the peak of a contraction...*I* wasn't pushing, but my body felt as if it had been taken over and was pushing FOR me. I kind of jerked backwards and MW walked by the room and said "Youre pushing! Good job!". Can you believe it? Me, the L&D nurse was now involuntarily pushing and I didn't even realize it at first!! LOL!! I figured my body knew what it wanted to do so I just kind of ran with it. DH slipped into the tub behind me and within a couple contractions I settled back into a position where I was leaning against him with one foot up on top of the tub wall and one down against the tub wall in the water. My hands instinctively went down to feel Jhonen's head starting to emerge.
NOW I was really feeling a rush of excitement...I wanted to meet him so bad! I pushed with my body and finally felt his head slip out. No "ring of fire" sensation, only a little sting where I tore open an old laceration scar, and where I managed to get a little skid mark laceration. His shoulders and body came out easily and MW told me to pick him up. I grabbed him, pulled him up out of the water and in a stunned voice said "Thats it??" I could not BELIEVE how easy it had all been! He was born at 1:12pm. Less than half an hour since DH had arrived home and maybe all of 15 minutes after he joined me in the pool!! AJ snapped pictures of the birth, and Nate stood next to him smiling. They both rushed over to greet their new baby brother. We waited for the placenta to come, which took around 35 minutes. It took a couple good pushes to get the placenta out, and it came out in a big "plop" into the pool. I had wanted to do a lotus birth, but after the placenta came, I just waited a few minutes after that and then we clamped and let AJ cut the cord. My sister showed up 10 minutes after the birth, and my friend made it in at about 45 minutes after. LOL. Nobody expected me to birth as fast as I did!!
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The worst part of the whole process? The afterpains!!! At least with contractions they were mild and I was comfy to rock with them. Afterpains were relentless and STRONG. I used afterease tincture, heat packs and motrin to get through them. Ow!!
I can't believe that I didn't go the home waterbirth route before!!! It was WONDERFUL, peaceful, easy, comfy and so beautiful.
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************************
Jhonen Carter Joseph M.
born 5-18-04 @ 1:12pm
9lb 9oz 21 1/4" long 14 1/2" head
I had worked a full (and very frustrating) day on Monday 5-17, and got home around 9pm. I was tired but really felt like I NEEDED to clean the house. But I went with the tiredness and decided to go to bed. I had noticed that I had been passing a little more mucous than usual throughout the day but didn't think anything of it. I had also been having irregular Braxton-Hicks contractions that every so often would be mixed in with a gentle but very definite REAL contraction (I feel real ones in a different spot than BH ones). That had happened a couple times in the past several weeks so again I didn't think anything of it.
I woke up around 4am needing to go pee and noticed that I seemed to be finishing up a pretty decent (although still mild) real contraction. I got up, did my bathroom routine (noticed a small pink streak in the mucous), got a snack to see what happened and went back to bed. I got back up pretty soon after to go pee again and again with another contraction so I thought that filling up the birthing pool might not be a bad idea. It was nearly 5am now, and I had about 3 or 4 contractions in the past hour so I went back to bed. I recall waking up a few times in the peak of a contraction strong enough to wake me, but still not too bad that I couldn't breathe deeply and go back to sleep.
DH woke up around 6:40 to get ready for work and I asked him if he could take Nate to his dental appointment this morning because I was contracting and not really sure if I was going to kick into labour or not. He agreed and asked if I needed him to stay home from work. I said no. So he took Nate to his appointment and I went about my day. He brought Nate back around 9:15 or so, and there was really no change...contractions were irregular and easy. I also had checked myself and noticed that the bag of water was starting to bulge, even though I was still dilated to only 4-5cm (very very very stretchy), high, and posterior, so I told him to go to work and I'd call if I needed anything.
Around 10am I decided to call my MW. I gave her the details and she asked if I needed her to come over and check things out. I said no, that I thought it was just really early latent labour and that I was still dealing easily with contractions and not really feeling much pain. I had maybe 3 contractions while on the phone with her, but they were mild and I didn't even need to pause for them. She called back about a half hour later and asked if it was OK if she came over around noon. I thought perhaps we could have lunch here or something...so I said sure...come on over then! She reminded me to eat something with high protein and keep hydrated.
Right at about noon, I ate a little sandwich and fixed lunch for Nate. I decided to call my "helpers" (my sister who was going to watch my kids and my friend who was going to be present kind of as an extra support person). I noticed after eating that the contractions picked up in their frequency...now coming every couple minutes but still pretty easy. I knew my MW was coming soon so I didn't bother with calling her again. I started to lean over and sway back and forth with contractions just because it felt GOOD that way and I wanted to practice for active labour. I called DH around 12:15 or so and suggested he come home from work and pick up AJ from school so he could be here.
MW arrived at 12:30, just as I had sat down to go pee yet again. Nate happily announced her arrival and let her in. Now, peeing when you have a huge baby deeply engaged in your pelvis is a TOUGH task! So I was sort of rocking back and forth to get my bladder empty. I also managed to have a contraction just as she came into the room.
SHe asked if it was OK to check me and since I hadn't checked for a loooong time I agreed. I was curious to see if I was progressing any.
"Oh, you are at about...EIGHT!!!" MW said. All I could think about was "OH NO, TRANSITION!!!" I made a comment about "Oh, now its going to get hard!" and then I smiled and jumped up and announced "Now Im getting into the pool!!!". I think if there had been a diving board there I would have dove in!! LOL! It felt sooo good and contractions were still feeling easy and fairly light. MW started to fly around the house getting things ready. Nate was there with me, chatting and offering sips of water. DH and AJ came home around 12:45, and I had just started to "sing" with my contractions at that point. AJ asked if they hurt and I replied that they didn't really hurt, but they took an awful lot of concentration. Suddenly, I was gripped with a overwhelming sensation at the peak of a contraction...*I* wasn't pushing, but my body felt as if it had been taken over and was pushing FOR me. I kind of jerked backwards and MW walked by the room and said "Youre pushing! Good job!". Can you believe it? Me, the L&D nurse was now involuntarily pushing and I didn't even realize it at first!! LOL!! I figured my body knew what it wanted to do so I just kind of ran with it. DH slipped into the tub behind me and within a couple contractions I settled back into a position where I was leaning against him with one foot up on top of the tub wall and one down against the tub wall in the water. My hands instinctively went down to feel Jhonen's head starting to emerge.
NOW I was really feeling a rush of excitement...I wanted to meet him so bad! I pushed with my body and finally felt his head slip out. No "ring of fire" sensation, only a little sting where I tore open an old laceration scar, and where I managed to get a little skid mark laceration. His shoulders and body came out easily and MW told me to pick him up. I grabbed him, pulled him up out of the water and in a stunned voice said "Thats it??" I could not BELIEVE how easy it had all been! He was born at 1:12pm. Less than half an hour since DH had arrived home and maybe all of 15 minutes after he joined me in the pool!! AJ snapped pictures of the birth, and Nate stood next to him smiling. They both rushed over to greet their new baby brother. We waited for the placenta to come, which took around 35 minutes. It took a couple good pushes to get the placenta out, and it came out in a big "plop" into the pool. I had wanted to do a lotus birth, but after the placenta came, I just waited a few minutes after that and then we clamped and let AJ cut the cord. My sister showed up 10 minutes after the birth, and my friend made it in at about 45 minutes after. LOL. Nobody expected me to birth as fast as I did!!
The worst part of the whole process? The afterpains!!! At least with contractions they were mild and I was comfy to rock with them. Afterpains were relentless and STRONG. I used afterease tincture, heat packs and motrin to get through them. Ow!!
I can't believe that I didn't go the home waterbirth route before!!! It was WONDERFUL, peaceful, easy, comfy and so beautiful.
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2,882 Posts
gothmommy,
Your birth story was so inspiring and beautiful! I want a HVBAC so badly and when I listen to my instincts they tell me there is nothing to worry about but when my head starts thinking about it, I get alittle scared
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Thanks for posting your story it gives me hope that I can do it too
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Your birth story was so inspiring and beautiful! I want a HVBAC so badly and when I listen to my instincts they tell me there is nothing to worry about but when my head starts thinking about it, I get alittle scared
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760 Posts
Just found out I was pregnant yesterday!!! I'm 38 and planning my first vbac at home with midwife and doula. I'm so excited I don't know how I will be able to wait!!!!!
My first c-section experience was a nightmare - I never made any progress once I got to the hospital. I know I could of birthed my son naturally, but there was the ob (my cnmw had gone off her shift!) in front of my dh and sil saying there was no way that baby was coming out naturally (he was 9.10) and me hooked up to every conceivable contraption just wanting to get it over with. I've always hated hospitals and allopathic medicine. I was fooled into thinking I could have a natural birth at the hospital. Also, I was 35 and viewed as high risk which now I feel is ridiculous.
But THAT's the past.
My first c-section experience was a nightmare - I never made any progress once I got to the hospital. I know I could of birthed my son naturally, but there was the ob (my cnmw had gone off her shift!) in front of my dh and sil saying there was no way that baby was coming out naturally (he was 9.10) and me hooked up to every conceivable contraption just wanting to get it over with. I've always hated hospitals and allopathic medicine. I was fooled into thinking I could have a natural birth at the hospital. Also, I was 35 and viewed as high risk which now I feel is ridiculous.
But THAT's the past.
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Wildcrafter said:
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I had an awesome HBAC using hypnobirthing in 3/03. Trust your body.
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I had a HBA2C in December last yr, hope you have an awesome birthing experience momma
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Congrats Wildcrafter!!!!
To the OP....Go for it...I too had a section after fully dilating and pushing for 5 1/2 hours.
If we are blessed to be with child again I will definately have that child at home.
Good luck and I look forward to hearing about your success.
To the OP....Go for it...I too had a section after fully dilating and pushing for 5 1/2 hours.
If we are blessed to be with child again I will definately have that child at home.
Good luck and I look forward to hearing about your success.
Thank you all for all of your amazing support. It is interesting but the further along in this pregnancy that I am the more sure I am that I have absolutely made the right decision to try to have this baby at home. I try to remember that every labor is different just as every pregnancy is (this one is very different than my first) I can't wait to have a wonderful success story to post in January.
mama to Niamaya Rose 5 29 03
mama to Niamaya Rose 5 29 03
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We are planning a HBA2C in about 4 weeks!! Its awesome to read your story gothmommy and to know you succeeded in your HBA2C Granolamoon!!! I'm so pumped for this birth!
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