Mel’s Empowering & Healing VBAC

Birth Story by Mel, Hypnobirthing Mum

“At 6.40am, Makybe was born, 9.6pounds/4.35 kilograms! I got my delayed cord clamping & golden hour as requested too. It was the most empowering & healing birth, the complete opposite to my first birth & I  am so happy I was well informed & trusted my gut instinct & body.”

THE LEAD UP 

At 38 weeks I had a growth scan as recommended by my obstetrician to check size, placenta & position. At the scan, we found out that baby had the cord wrapped around her neck twice, her head circumference was 37cm which was in the 99th percentile & her weight was 3.75kgs (which was more then Jaggers birth weight and she still was 2 weeks away from her due date). 

From there, the obstetrician mentioned that the weight, head size & cord could affect my chances of having a VBAC. And that if i get to 41 weeks, they will have to book me in for a c-section as they don’t like to induce women having VBAC’s because it increases the risks of uterine rupture. This really made me anxious & upset as I thought my chances of having a VBAC were over. 

The next 3 weeks I spent on my birth ball, drinking 3 cups of raspberry leaf tea a day, clary sage massages, acupuncture, clary sage baths, taking my herbal as prescribed by my naturopath & meditations with my moldavite crystal. 

I got to 41 weeks on Monday and was beyond anxious for my midwife appointment, thinking I was going to be booked in for a c-section. The midwife I saw, Kaitlin, was amazing & was like ‘who told you that, that is so not true. This is your birth & if you want to wait it out (and you and the baby are healthy) that is totally fine. We won’t push any inductions if you don’t want them’. She asked if I wanted a stretch & sweep & I declined as I really didn’t want one as I had heard how painful they are. She said this is my last booking with the hospital & she would recommend booking an induction in a couple of days just to get me & the baby checked (and I can decline the induction after the baby & I are checked if I wanted to). I was happy with the recommendation so she sent me upstairs to the induction nurse to get this booked in. I was feeling super positive. 

Went upstairs & this positive feeling soon got crushed. The induction midwife lacked some compassion and was super pushy. She negatively questioned why I didn’t want to be induced then and there & was trying to talk me into doing a stretch & sweep. I declined more than 3 times. She then said that she needed to do an internal examination to be able to book in the induction for Thursday (41+4) to know what method they can use. She said it would be ‘soft, quick & gentle’. It was not. It was excruciating. My cervix was posterior, long, hard with no dilation & so she tried to PULL my cervix down… OUCH! 

I went home that night shaking. Feeling super rattled & upset. And it made me really scared for Thursday’s induction. But I kept telling myself that a lot can change in a short amount of time.  

That afternoon and night I had contractions for 12 hours straight. 3 contractions every 10 minutes & a 4/10 pain scale. But they weren’t intensifying. 

I then cranked up my acupuncture & moxibustion treatments, trying to bring on this labour. The acupuncturist said that if I don’t go into labour from the intensified treatments that it will definitely help me in my labour. 

INDUCTION DAY 

3pm, Thursday the 29th of September 

Once again, so anxious going to this appointment, I was sweating and shaking. But then I met the midwife who was doing my ‘induction’ and everything changed. I explained my horror story from Monday’s examination & that I wasn’t interested in an induction today and just wanted to check on me and the baby. She said that is absolutely fine & it’s my birth, not hers. She was so funny & compassionate. I was in the right hands. I explained that I had been having period like pain contractions all week and that I trust my body & know that it knows what to do. And I just wanted to wait it out. 

She asked if she could do an internal examination. I said no way. And she said that she would give me the gas, so I agreed. Way more enjoyable with the gas & she was shocked I wasn’t offered this on Monday. 

She said she had good news and bad news. Bad news was that the balloon method wouldn’t be suitable & good news was that I was 4cms dilated! I was shocked, because in my first birth, I was 2cms dilated and in a world of pain. 

She then asked if she could do a stretch & sweep while I was still on the gas, I agreed. She got half way around and said she couldn’t complete it as she thinks she would break my waters & I had said before that I didn’t want that to happen. She also said that she thinks I’m actually more than 4cms as she couldn’t feel the other side. 

She said that if I am more then 4cms that the hospital will make me stay and be monitored the entire time before I give birth. She said that she understood my birth plan and that she will write 4cms so I can go home and relax prior to giving birth. She booked me in for a 6am phone call with the team leader on Friday, September 30th to arrange for me to come in that day to break my waters. 

I was feeling super happy & excited on the way home as I started getting contractions. 

LABOUR & BIRTH 

These were a lot stronger then my contractions during the week and I was unsure if this was the real deal or not. By the time we got home at 6pm, I knew it was real & I ate dinner, packed the last things in my bag and headed back up to the hospital at 7pm. As soon as we got there I was in the maternity assessment centre & Kaitlin, my midwife from Monday’s appointment was my midwife. It was so nice having a familiar face that supported my birth plan. 

After all the checks and monitoring, I was still only 4cms dilated. Kaitlin asked if I would be ok with being in a birth room as I wasn’t in active labour. She said that I wouldn’t have to be hooked up to a wireless monitoring system (which they said because I wanted a VBAC, I would have to have one on me at all times as soon as I get to hospital). I was stoked with this. It also meant I didn’t have a midwife lingering in the room but it meant no birth pool & only a shower. I was absolutely more than happy with this.

My strong & consistent contractions fully dropped off by 8.30pm once I had been put into the birth room which I was pretty disheartened about but knew that with all my knowledge from Hypnobirthing I knew how to bring back my contractions. 

We dimmed the lights, put my birthing playlist on and then Jake, Sam (my best friend) & I started trying to bring my contractions back by doing: 

• Acupressure 

• Massage 

• Scalp scratches 

• Shower 

• Bouncing on the ball 

• Pelvic stretching on the bounce ball (forward, back, side to side) 

• Walking and not sitting down at all

• Squatting 

• Essential oil blend that I made up being rubbed on my tummy and acupressure points 

• Guided labour & birth meditations on YouTube. 

I did not stop doing these things for 5 hours. And at 1.30am on Friday the 30th of September, I felt my first contraction come back. I was having one strong contraction every 10 minutes. At 2am I told Sam to text my student midwife to come to the hospital as I knew it was about to go down really quick. At 2.10am I was having stronger contractions 3-4 every 10 mins and lasting 1 minute & 20 seconds. I was just breathing through them with help from the gas. At this point I told Sam to get the midwife to let them know I am ready for the birth suite. 

I walk myself down to the birth suite, laughing & chatting. I got into the birth suite & requested my epidural straight away even though the pain was fine & completely bearable. I was examined & at 2.30am I was 6cms. After that I was hooked up to wireless monitoring & had to get my cannula put in for the epidural. My midwife was shocked that I asked for an epidural as I walked in the room laughing & talking as if I wasn’t even in labour. I apologised to her for moving & shaking so much whilst she was putting the cannula in & she said, that’s fine honey you are actually transitioning now so we will have to be quick if you want that epidural. Contractions really ramped up within 10 minutes & the pain was about 9/10. 

At 3.30am I had the epidural & I was really struggling to get through contractions. The midwife assured me that the epidural will take about 15 mins to kick in, so I held on.

After what I thought was 15 minutes had passed, I asked when the epidural was going to kick in. At this point everyone in the room knew it hadn’t worked properly but refused to tell me. I had then figured it out myself & that messed with my head a little bit as I then knew I had to birth this big baby with a huge head without it haha! 

At 4am I was 10cms & my midwife said she would give me an hours grace before pushing. Not long after, I was in so much pain, mainly in my back and tailbone from all the pressure so we decided to get things moving & to start pushing. 

I kept complaining at how bad the pain was, particularly in my back & my midwife said she could relieve some of that pressure by breaking my waters. I consented to that so at 6am she broke my waters. 

It was really tough at this point & I remember the song by SIA ‘unstoppable’ playing on repeat. And that was motivating me to keep pushing. At 6.40am, Makybe was born, 9.6pounds/4.35 kilograms! I got my delayed cord clamping & golden hour as requested too. 

It was the most empowering & healing birth, the complete opposite to my first birth & I am so happy I was well informed & trusted my gut instinct & body.

I highly recommend a hypnobirthing course for any expecting couples. Kate, was absolutely amazing. So thorough, precise & relatable.
My fiancé & I did a private one-on-one course & it was amazing. We learnt so much & our whole perception on childbirth has changed. We were both petrified! Now, we are happy & super confident for an amazing birth.
I feel like with the amount of useful information that is provided within the course, you really need a person to deliver that information in a way that will allow you to recall & retain the information as well as fully understanding it. Kate did exactly that.
To anyone that I know who has fallen pregnant, I will be begging them to see Kate! As my experience with Kate & the course is beyond words.