Complete Childbirth

Sweet Success

14 Jan 2011 1 Comment

by ericasteele in Uncategorized

Stephanie and Frank were expecting their fourth baby.

Stephanie had 3 cesareans leading up to this birth, each birth with its own set of plans as to how things would go.

This time Stephanie decided she wanted something different and set about to educate herself on how to do it all differently.

I always encourage people to educate themselves and to do the research so that they feel they are fully informed themselves and not just being partially informed by someone else.

It is so empowering to me and to others to see someone take a situation by the horns and tell it how it will be.

That is exactly what Frank and Stephanie did.

Stephanie told me that she wasn’t one to “skim” through a book, and she didn’t.  Everything she got her hands on, she read and processed.

Along that road, as there always is, women process their feelings, their thoughts, their fears about this birth and how it may or may not go.

As a doula it is so important to me to be real and not sugar coat things, because the reality is, all things don’t work out perfectly and there is a chance that things can go wrong.  So, when you have a client who has done the research themselves, there are lots of questions and a need to just talk it out.

“what if the baby comes quickly”

“what if we have to go to the hospital?”

“what is the actual risk of uterine rupture?”

So many feelings that are legitimate and  tough.  There is no final exact answer, which is what so many of us fear.

There is a fear that controls us so much, it causes us to choose something we dislike just to possibly “protect” us from our worst fears.

When women educate themselves, they immediately have the upper hand.  They can then make a choice not just on what someone has told them, but what they know to be studied and true.

Then, they begin to have the answers to these “scary” questions and the fear begins to leave.

When truth is put into a situation it disarms fear and women can birth the way they were created to.

To say that you choose a vbac after three cesareans is a huge step in the first place, but to say you are going to have a vbac AND have your baby at home is a whole notha level.

It takes tremendous courage and faith in your body.  It takes speaking the truth about your body even when your brain says…”what on earth!”

So, this is what they chose.

I met Stephanie for, what was hoped to be, her final ultrasound, just to confirm that the baby was well and that he wasn’t “butt first” (breech).

We went together and chatted about the birth and the baby and anything else that came up.

The ultrasound confirmed a healthy little boy with his head planted down and ready.

Stephanie said she had been having some contractions, but nothing major.

She dropped me off at 4:30 that afternoon.

My mother had our kids that night and so Robin and I went out on a date and had a very nice time.

We got home and had some cookies and ice cream just before I got the first text from Stephanie at 9pm.

She said “so, I am contracting every 3-4 minutes for about a minute for the last hour. You think this could be getting serious?”

to which I replied “Yes ma’am.  Just let me know when you would like my company :0)”

So, I waited for about an hour when I received the next text.

10pm – “I’m getting in the shower.  Walking around doing stuff makes it worse!  If you want to come over soon that would be nice.  it’s getting a little painful over here.”

So, I grabbed my bags and was out the door about five minutes later.

I got to their house about 10:15 and Frank answered the door, very much trying to be calm, but you could just feel the excitement radiating off of him.  He offered me tea and I went and checked on Stephanie.

She was handling the contractions beautifully and chatting with me between contractions.

About an hour later things really picked up pace.  I realized we had turned a corner when I told Stephanie a funny story about a women in labor and she didn’t bat an eye.  That is when I thought to myself “oh good, here is solid active labor”.

Within about a half an hour the contractions were steadily coming every 2 minutes and lasting about a full minute.

I told them that this would be a good time to call the midwife.

Stephanie called Christy Tashjian her midwife at about 12 midnight.

Stephanie decided she was ready to get back into the tub and labor there.

She labored so well and when transition arrived, Frank was sitting right beside her being an amazing support.

Christy arrived at 1:20 and checked the baby and Stephanie.

We sat and labored with her and then we heard the wonderful sound of pushing.  It was simple and faint, but a slight catching of the breath was all that was needed to know that it had arrived.

She began pushing at approximately 1:50am, twenty six minutes later she birthed her beautiful baby boy in her bathtub.

It was so fast and amazing.

We welcomed little Samuel Lucas Rue into this world a week overdue, on December 23rd, 2010.  He weighed in at 8 lb. 8 oz..

I hope this is an encouragement to all women out there pursuing a VBAC.  It can be done!