Birth story - Sophie and baby boy

⚠️Triggers - use of the word contractions, 2nd degree tear

I'm beyond elated to be able to share that I got my much desired healing VBAC, and at home as planned 😭❤️

I really wanted to share as there aren't as many vbac stories to read, and the ones I did read I found so encouraging and inspiring, hopefully mine will do the same for someone else.

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My pregnancy was low risk apart from the fact I had a previous unplanned cesarean section with my son in 2016. I was sure from the start that I wanted to try for a vbac as I was keen to avoid a lengthy recovery with a toddler at home! Unfortunately in my local trust this would mean that my only birth place option was hospital - the consultant informed me that they would not allow me to labour at either the stand alone or attached MLU which was extremely disheartening to learn, as I have negative associations with the labour ward from my first delivery. I tried to get on board with the idea of labour ward and continuous monitoring and time limits and the various other restrictions I was told would be in place for me by watching the PBC videos.

Well to say they changed my outlook would be an understatement! Initially I got myself feeling better by writing lists of things I could do to make the labour ward a more appealing option, but the more I watched and began to understand the more confident I became that I could achieve my VBAC and so I decided to look into my only other birth place option, home. Something I would have NEVER considered if it hadn't have been for the PBC videos.

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I was woken up by a contraction around 3am, thought it was probably nothing so of course tried to go back to sleep, but then another one came and it was fairly powerful, and by 3.30 they were coming 3 in 10 lasting just under a minute. I woke my husband around 4 out of excitement to tell him that I think things are happening. I was feeling cautious because I had a very long early labour with my first, but this felt very different! After another hour of consistent contractions I realised this was starting to look like established labour and I found it impossible to sleep through so decided to go downstairs and bounce on my ball, using the Freya app to help count my breathing.

The power at the height of the contractions was strong enough that by around 5.15 I asked my husband to call labour line, thinking they would tell us to call back in an hour or so. To my surprise they said they would send out a midwife who promptly arrived just before 6am and I talked to her between contractions and the second midwife arrived shortly after 6. I went up for a wee and had some of my plug come out whilst contracting on the toilet, the power of these was increasing more at this point. My husband went to check on my son so he wasn't confused to find no one in our bedroom, and took him downstairs to watch some TV.

I came down the stairs and stopped at the bottom for a particularly strong contraction and decided it was time for my husband to take our son to my mums as things were feeling intense. I then consented to palpation and Vaginal examination - I had been on the fence as to whether or not I would accept any VEs due to the infection risk and also in case knowing my dilation affected my morale. The midwife told me she could feel my waters bulging with pressure and that I was around 3cm dilated, cervix paper thin. Although I found this disheartening I didn't have a chance to let it get me down because shortly after this my contractions became so intense that I knew they were doing something good!

As my husband arrived home from dropping our son at my Mum's, the contractions really ramped up and the pressure from my waters was giving me an involuntary urge to push. I found this hard to cope with as I knew I wasn't at that stage yet, and so my spirits dipped at this point and I started to doubt my ability to birth my baby.

Luckily the pool was finally ready (following a panic when the tried and tested tap adaptor wouldn't stay on 🙈) and getting in there was just the relief I needed! I was still pushing with every contraction - I just couldn't stop myself! - and with a push I felt a huge pop and my waters went forcefully in a big gush in the pool, such a massive relief!

I carried on breathing through until I got to the point where I was really struggling to come back down to green and so I asked for gas and air. I know for some this can interfere with up breathing, but I found it helped my breathing a lot and kept me focused - this didn't last long as I started to feel like I couldn't cope and asking to go into hospital - hello transition 😂

The midwives suggested another VE to assess progress as this would ideally need to be done before deciding whether or not it was wise to move me, so I hobbled out of the pool and onto my sofa - fully dilated 💪 it felt amazing to know I'd made it to the second stage at home!

I was back into the pool around 9.15am and began focusing on breathing (and pushing as it was still involuntary) my baby down.
After about 20 mins the midwife suggested I got out of the pool to see if it might speed things up. My body obviously heard this because with the next contraction I felt his head move right down and the pushing sensation changed. I asked my husband to grab a stool for me to sit on the edge of so I could try more of a squatting position. Pushing in this position was more effective for me, and my baby rocked back and forth coming further down with each contraction until his head was born under the water at 9.57. The relief was unbelievable, I think until this point I was still convinced I'd end up with another c section!

The midwife quickly spotted that my son had his hand on his face and this was making it difficult for him to be born and so she requested that I stood up, and placed one leg on the side of the pool. Getting up and moving around with his head out felt extremely strange, especially as he turned his head while I was doing so!

At 10am the rest of his body was born, caught by my midwife and then I pulled him up to my chest 🥰
My husband helped guide me to sitting back in the pool where we had immediate skin to skin and allowed the cord to drain.

Due to previous postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) I had been advised to have the injection to assist in delivering my placenta and I was happy with this so I received it whilst doing skin to skin. Then I stood to deliver my "enormous"(according to the midwife!) placenta whilst still in the pool, it felt amazing!

I did have a 2nd degree tear, and the midwife wasn't confident she could suture me at home so informed me that her recommendation was that I transfer in to have this done at hospital. I wouldn't have minded this as I was so elated to have achieved my vbac, but luckily a midwife I had spoken to during my pregnancy (she had recently also had a hbac) answered the transfer call and instead arranged for a senior midwife to come out to me so that I could stay at home ❤️ so I was stitched up on my kitchen floor, high on gas and air watching the clouds float by - bliss!

So grateful to the PBC for the videos and this community, giving me the confidence to trust in my body and birth at home.