Birth story - Natália and baby girl

I had a successful VBAC on December 16 I hope my story can encourage some other moms with suspected BIG BABIES.

1st pregnancy:

Spontaneous labour at 41+1, dialated to 10cm but after 3 hours of pushing the baby was not descending and was “stuck”. Meconium was in waters, emergency C-section was done. Our son was born 9lb and healthy, but had to be in the NICU for 9 days doing a cooling treatment as he didn’t breath for over a minute after he was born.

2nd pregnancy:

I got pregnant when my son was 17 months and was going to go for a a repeat cesarean section (RCS) until I officially changed my mind at around 17week of pregnancy. I knew I wanted to give a VBAC a try, despite having to drive an hour away to deliver in the city where they deliver VBACs.

During pregnancy, everything went smoothly and I felt supported by my OBs to try for a VBAC. However, more pressure was for interventions or a RCS was being placed on me after a growth scan at 36 weeks where they predicted my daughter to be 7lb 9oz and she was labelled as a “big baby”. The doctors also got worried about a possible shoulder dystocia, and my scar thickness only being in the grey zone (not too thin or too thick). The doctors kept offering a RCS, or inductions, as they thought going past 40 weeks with a large baby was decreasing my chances of a VBAC. They were giving me 50% chance for a successful VBAC if delivered by 40 weeks.

A week before my due date I got VERY sick with the flu and couldn’t even imagine going into labour that sick so I declined all the cervical checks and sweeps as I wanted to feel better before going into labour. At 40+1 another ultrasound was done to check baby’s vitals and they said the baby was already 9lb 9oz and told me: “You’re having one hell of a big baby”.

Labour:

40+2 I noticed a LOT OF PRESSURE around my rectum and some blood in the toilet at 11:15am so I called my husband who decided to come from work right away. Thank goodness he did! The pressure was getting stronger and we hit the road at 11:45am to head to the hospital. At 11:45am I started having regular contractions which were VERY intense and were getting closer together VERY fast. I told my husband I will need an epidural as the pressure was so much more intense than with my first born and I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that string of contractions all day. We got the the hospital at 12:45pm and I was checked in the triage and I was already 5cm dialated at 1:10pm.

The pain seemed unmanageable, all I wanted was an epidural and a room to labour in. However, there was no time for an epidural and I started pushing unintentionally in the triage. They wheeled me into a delivery room where they confirmed I was in fact 10cm dialated, the baby’s heart rate was dropping (probably from being born so fast) but they told me she needed to come out right away as they were worried about possible uterine rupture. They gave me an option to use a vacuum or a c-section- obviously we chose the vacuum. Luckily only had to push twice and our daughter was born at 1:45pm, healthy. She was 8lb 2oz and I had a 2nd degree tear possibly because of the vacuum and her coming out so fast.

I still can’t believe she’s here, and I am so proud that the doctors didn’t scare me off from trying for a VBAC. Thank you for reading our story, and I hope it may encourage some other moms with suspected “big babies.”