Episode 335 Meg's 41+3 VBAC & Babies Born 17 Months Apart

The VBAC Link

In today’s episode, Meg from Nebraska shares her Cesarean and VBAC story. Meg’s first birth was an unexpected Cesarean after an almost 40-hour induced labor at 41 weeks and 3 days due to failure to descend. Her pain was not managed well during her surgery and her experience was much more difficult than expected.

Meg surprisingly found out she was pregnant just 9 months after her Cesarean. Though she was anxious, Meg decided to go for a VBAC. She found The VBAC Link, prepared her body and mind more than before, found a supportive provider, and hired a doula.

At 41+3, Meg went in for a gentle induction. She trusted the outcome would be different and it was. With the help of her doula, Meg was able to move much more, and with the encouragement of her midwife, pushing was a much more successful experience this time around. Meg says that bringing her 9-pound, 14-ounce baby up to her chest was the sweetest and best moment.

Asynclitic Babies

How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for Parents

Full Transcript under Episode Details

Meagan: Hello everybody. Welcome to The VBAC Link. Today we are going to be sharing our friend, Meg’s, story. She is a stay-at-home mom in Omaha, Nebraska and she has a two-year-old daughter who was born after a post-date induction and almost 40-hour labor that ended in a Cesarean. Just 9 months later, she was blindsided by a positive pregnancy test and spent the duration of her pregnancy preparing mentally, spiritually, and physically for the birth of her son.

She had a VBAC and she is here today to share her story with you. Some of the things along the way through her story that I thought stood out were one, post-dates. Obviously, this is something that we– if you have been here at The VBAC Link, you’ll know that we talk about this. Post-dates– we have seen such a shift over the last few years, well really since the ARRIVE trials in dates and we really see that now the 39-week mark is more true to a 40-week mark. The 40-week mark is more treated like a 41-week mark and it’s really starting to become rare to even have people go to that 41-week mark and especially past it.

She’s going to be sharing her story with you today actually with both births that went past 41 weeks. They were actually both induced so we have an induction that turned Cesarean and an induction that ended in a VBAC.

She also has that close duration– that 9 months later, 17 months apart. So if you are listening and you are one of those mamas who may have been pregnant by surprise or chosen to get pregnant sooner than the 24-month mark or even 18-month mark that many providers suggest, definitely listen up for this episode.

She also has a larger baby. Her VBAC baby was larger than her Cesarean baby. She also has a failed epidural. There was something that she said in her story that I wanted to point out. That is after many, many, many attempts that were not going well with this epidural, she asked for the highest anesthesiologist there. That is something that you can do right from the get-go. If you are wanting an epidural, you can say, “Hey, I want to make sure I have the top anesthesiologist,” because sometimes it is harder for people to place an epidural or if after one attempt it’s not going really, really well, you can just say, “Okay. Stop. I want the head anesthesiologist.”

Another thing that we are going to talk about in there is the question. She mentioned The VBAC Link blog that talks about the questions for your provider. If you have not checked this out yet and you are still looking for a provider, I highly suggest checking it out. We will make sure that the link is in the show notes so that you can see more about who you are looking for when it comes to support versus lack of support because if we have not learned anything over all of the years of supporting VBAC clients, our own VBAC journeys, and listening to story after story, that is that support is huge so make sure you find the best supportive provider that you can.

Something I wanted to add to this is if you have a female provider, you may want to ask them about their births if they have kids. We have seen here in Utah that there are some providers who will just schedule a C-section. They won’t even go into labor and for some reason in my head, that feels like a red flag if a provider doesn’t even believe in birth and their own ability to birth. I don’t know that they are going to believe in other people’s ability to birth so that might be something to consider.

Last of all, I want to talk about asynclitic. We have seen many asynclitic births over the year and a lot of the time, once a baby is recognized to be asynclitic, they are pretty low and it can be a little bit harder to get a baby rotated and into a more ideal position for a vaginal birth. I wanted to share some tips that are right here actually on Spinning Babies.

Check out spinningbabies.com. You know we love them and we will have a link here in the show notes as well. Do pelvic floor releases and the side-lying releases. Something that is really, really cool about this story is she had her pelvic floor specialist who was also becoming a doula but she had her with her which is so cool. If you are seeing a pelvic floor specialist, I highly suggest asking them if they would be able to visit you during your labor or come and do an exam or treatment during your labor. Just like chiropractic care is a really, really great one to do during labor, so are pelvic floor releases.

You want to follow that with the lunge. The lunge will help you work better with the pelvic floor and help that side-lying release become better engage. Doing the dangle should follow the pelvic floor release and the lunge. Again, Spinning Babies is phenomenal and they have all of these like the dangle, what that is, and the lunge and all of these things they have in the link. Make sure you check out this link.

Sometimes resting and not pushing is going to really, really help because if we have an asynclitic baby and we are pushing and pushing and pushing, that can get the baby further down and more stuck in the asynclitic position.

Something that I have seen work with my own clients is an abdominal lift. We will do an abdominal lift into that side-lying release. You reach your hand underneath your belly and you slowly reach. You pull up and in and it can help pull baby up and in.

Vertical positions such as standing, slightly bending your knees during a surge and also that abdominal lift is more ideal during a contraction. Standing with one foot on a stool, we know that asymmetrical movements are really, really great. Even if you can’t stand, say you are in a bed or something like that, you can try on your hands and knees or even trying to lay down and try to make your hips asymmetrical that way.

Sitting on a toilet with one foot on the stool and the other foot on the floor, pulling on a towel or a rebozo during a pushing contraction, shaking the apples, and keep moving. You’re going to notice in this story that is what they did. They just kept on moving.

If you have had an asynclitic baby before or you are in labor and you find that your baby is asynclitic, jot these notes down. These are wonderful tips on how to get that baby out of that asynclitic position.

All right, right before we jump into this story, I do have a Review of the Week. This one is from srmnewyork and it says, “Thank you, VBAC Link.” It says, “My first birth in 2018 was a traumatic home birth turned emergency C-section. I had done everything I was supposed to to avoid interventions and a C-section but ended up with all of it anyway. The whole experience was crushing and it took years to recover from. Listening to The VBAC Link was a huge part of my emotional processing. Hearing other women’s stories helped me feel less alone and gave me the courage to try again. When I became pregnant in 2022, I knew I had to do things differently. I took all of the advice I had gotten from The VBAC Link and put it all into action. I got a doula. I found a VBAC-supportive provider. I took the VBAC online course and was emotionally prepared and surrendered to the birth process. Well, just 12 days ago, I had my VBAC. It was amazing and left me euphoric for days. So much of my success I owe to this podcast. Thank you for helping me experience my dream birth. I am forever grateful.”

That was left just about a year about a year ago so srmnewyork, if you are still with us, I just wanted to give you a huge virtual hug and huge congratulations. Thank you so much for sharing that amazing review. As always, if you have a moment, please press pause right now and leave us a review. We love them and love sharing them on the podcast.

Meagan: Well, welcome, Meg, to the show. Thank you for being here with us.

Meg: Yeah, it’s great to be here. Thanks, Meagan.

Meagan: Oh my gosh. I’m so excited to talk about your story. I feel like two key things about your story are things that we see honestly on a daily basis in our inbox. That is, “I’m 40 weeks and my provider is telling me that I have to have a baby today,” so the post-date thing. Can we go over post-date? And then honestly, the stress surrounding the close duration of babies is insane for moms out there because these providers are just putting so much stress on these moms saying they can’t VBAC with a close duration and we know that studies vary, but I am excited to talk about your stories because you have a 17-month gap, right?

Meg: Yes. Pretty tight, yep.

Meagan: Okay, so we’ve got the post-date and 17-month gap. All right, let’s talk about baby number one.

Meg: Absolutely, yeah.

So with my daughter, we found out that we were pregnant just a couple of months after I had a miscarriage actually. So going into that pregnancy, I was already feeling just tender and raw and didn’t really know what to expect with how well the pregnancy would go. I did as much as I could to prepare. I took a birth class that a friend had recommended with a doula here in town and really just sailed through that pregnancy.

Everything was healthy and good. There was never any real concern from my providers but there was always in the back of my mind, What could go wrong here? Yeah, I was just anxious going into that whole labor.

Meagan: Do you think it was from your previous loss? I know it’s very common after a loss where you do have that feeling of, I just want this baby so badly so I don’t want anything to go wrong.

Meg: Yes, absolutely. At every appointment, I was holding my breath waiting to hear the heartbeat, and every time it happened, it got me through to the next appointment. I had actually with that previous pregnancy seen a practice of OBs and then shifted my care to the midwife practice at the medical center here in Omaha. For me, that shift helped reset a little bit for these different stories.

With the midwives at the med center, you see a rotating group so you never know who is going to end up being at the birth. They want you to see all of the midwives for your prenatal care. There were definitely some who I connected with more than others. I was definitely hoping and praying that I would get the one who I bonded with the most and also was hoping and praying that labor would happen naturally.

Unfortunately, I ended up at post-dates with my daughter. I was 41 weeks and 1 day when the midwives wanted to go ahead and induce me. I went in for that induction and it’s kind of funny because I think I expected that induction to go a lot more smoothly than it ended up going.

I had heard of one of my husband’s coworkers who had been induced at the same hospital a few weeks before and her induction went just right as rain. She had her baby within 6 hours.

Meagan: Oh wow.

Meg: Was she a first-time mom?

Meg: Yeah, she was a first-time mom so I was like, I can do a 6-hour induction. That sounds great.

It did not go that way. We went in for my induction at 7:00 in the morning. They started me on Pitocin pretty much right away. They basically said that my cervix was ready enough that they didn’t need to do any cervical ripening or anything like that. I was like, Okay, here we go. Pitocin– I know you’re not really supposed to go on Pitocin, but I’m here for this induction so I have to do what they tell me to do.

It was just me and my husband so we just went with the flow and we just hung out. We watched TV while we waited for the Pitocin to kick in and they came and did their checks every once in a while. I felt like I was in a good headspace at the beginning and was ready for whatever to happen.

When they came in and did the first cervical check, I think it was maybe 6 or 8 hours in. I had made little to no progress so I was pretty discouraged by that but I was like, Okay. We’ll just keep rolling with the Pitocin.

They had to amp up the Pitocin almost as high as it would go and things gradually started to pick up but I think at one point, they took me off of the Pitocin and did a little Pit break or reset my body. I think that did help. When I went back on the Pitocin, it definitely ramped up my contractions more.

About 15 hours into all of this, they did another cervical check. I was like, Surely I’m going to be 8 centimeters. I’ll be into transition soon. I was still 4 centimeters. I was extremely discouraged at that point and I was exhausted. I hadn’t had any pain management up until that point. I was like, Okay, I think I’m ready for the epidural. I don’t think I can do 15 more hours of this. If I’m only at 4 centimeters, I’m not even halfway there. Who knows how long the rest of this labor is going to go?

I ended up getting an epidural. They let me take a bath before my epidural which I was really grateful for because that’s what I originally wanted my pain management to be was hydrotherapy and at the time, I couldn’t be on Pitocin and be in the tub. That was the last little shred of comfort that I got before being grounded to the hospital bed.

I was able to get some rest then with my epidural and just laid there in my bed. One of the nurses came and she tried to do all of these rotating moves to help things along and I was just exhausted. I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

They tried the peanut ball. They tried rotating me and all of this. My daughter was handling the labor really well. I was just so burned out after so many hours of everything.

At one point though, they decided, “All right. We’re going to go ahead and break your water and see if that gets things moving.” They did that and then they placed a fetal monitor in her scalp which just didn’t go super well. I think the midwife tried– I don’t know. She tried for a while and my husband was really upset with how long it was taking and how much pain that I was in.

Meagan: Oh yeah.

Meg: The nurse at one point was like, “Should we call OB and see if they can help you out with this?” The midwife was stubborn and she didn’t really want any help with that. She did finally get it in and things moved along great but I was definitely put off by that lack of humility for lack of a better word. I just wanted to have the best care that I could.

Yeah. Basically from there, my daughter was doing well again, but toward the end of everything, I finally hit 10 centimeters. I was ready to push. I was so excited. They took a picture. They were like, “All right. This is going to be your last picture as a family of two.” I look like a beached whale in the picture. It’s the most horrific picture I’ve ever seen.

Meagan: Aww, I bet you don’t.

Meg: But we were excited. We were like, All right. The time has finally come. At this point, I think I had been laboring for 25 hours so I was ready to push. With the epidural, for some reason, I just didn’t have a ton of mobility. Obviously, with some epidurals, you have mobility and some you don’t. With this one, my legs were dead weight so pushing was extremely challenging.

Yeah. I pushed for a while. I felt like I wasn’t getting any feedback from my midwife or the nurse. My sweet husband was just like, “You’re doing great. You’re pushing so well.” My provider– I felt like I was staring into a blank face. Nobody is making any sort of encouragement and for me, that was just like, I don’t know how I’m doing with pushing. They say everything is fine but I’m not getting a lot of encouragement or feedback.

At one point, they brought the mirror because I thought, Maybe that will give me some good feedback. I hated the mirror.

Meagan: You did?

Meg: For some reason, I was thinking, Oh, if they’re bringing the mirror out, you must be able to see the head. That’s why they would bring the mirror out. No. You could not see the head. You could not see anything so I was just like, What am I just staring at? I don’t want to look at this.

Meagan: Maybe they did it a little prematurely because a lot of the time they bring it out and it can help you. They say it can lower pushing time because you are seeing it and there’s that connection.

Meg: Sure.

Meagan: I could see how that would just be frustrating.

Meg: Oh man. It was terrible.

Meagan: You’re like, What am I looking at? Why am I just looking at myself but nothing is happening down there?

Meg: Yep. Not great. I had them take that away and continued pushing. I think I ended up pushing for almost 3 hours and at that point, my husband and I were like, “What do we do next? This is clearly not working.” My midwife was like, “Well, let’s call in OB for a vacuum delivery consult.” We’re like, “Oh, great. That’s not a C-section. This will be great.”

We waited probably for an hour. They told me not to push while we waited for the OB and she was attending to some other matter in the hospital. We just kept asking, “When are they coming? When are they coming?” They sent I think a resident to come and check things out. By this point, I had so many hands up my vagina. I was like, “If she’s going to check, if this resident is going to check my cervix and then the doctor has to check the cervix, can we just skip one of them and just have the OB check so I don’t have to have that many hands?”

Thankfully, they respected that and we were able to wait for the OB. Finally, they came in and we’re thinking, Okay, great. She’s going to do this consult and we’ll get the vacuum going. She came in and was basically like, “It’s not possible for us to do a vacuum delivery at this point.” My baby wasn’t low enough for that to even be feasible.

So then she was like, “Let’s check for forceps delivery.” That wasn’t going to be feasible either. She basically said they wouldn’t be able to fit the forceps around her head the way that it was.

Meagan: She was too high.

Meg: She was too high and I think she was also asynclitic so she just wasn’t going to come down. After hemming and ha-ing, she was like, “You could push for another hour and then we could attempt a vacuum but we might still end up needing to do a C-section.” We were like, “I don’t really want to keep pushing for an hour if a vacuum is a maybe and probably not.”

At that point, we basically decided, “Okay, we’ve been laboring for so long. It doesn’t seem like these are going to be feasible solutions,” so we just decided to go back in and have the C-section. I just remember that being a whirlwind process of them getting me ready and I was in so much pain from having pushed for so long that I was just shaking. My shoulder blade just had raging pain while we headed back to the operating room. I just remember feeling everything. I know they had me on an epidural. They had me on pain meds but I felt like I could feel the tugging and the pulling. I was apparently very verbal during the process asking for more pain meds.

My husband actually works at the hospital so he knew the anesthesiologist. He is a critical care pharmacist so he is very familiar with medications. He was advocating for my pain meds at that point. Things just didn’t go well during that whole process. They did finally pull my daughter out and they held her up to the clear plastic. I just remember she grabbed my little finger through the plastic.

Meagan: She did?

Meg: Yeah, it was so sweet. They pressed her up and I just stuck my hand up. She grabbed my little finger and after all the trauma from the whole day, that was definitely the bright spot in getting to meet her. Yeah. It was kind of crazy. Then afterward, they rolled us into recovery and I ended up being in the hospital for 3 or 4 more days just from recovering. We had nurses and doctors all say, “You can attempt a VBAC. You should try a VBAC with your next baby.”

I was like, “Hold on. What’s a VBAC? I just had a C-section. Why are we talking about my next baby?” Yeah. I didn’t really know what I wanted at that point.

Meagan: Yeah.

Meg: Yeah. I was just trying to wrap my head around the disappointment of everything going wrong and just feeling overwhelmed with feeling like all of the things that I had hoped and planned for the birth didn’t go as I had hoped. Yeah. So yeah.

Meagan: So eventually you did decide, Okay, baby number two. Did you decide?

Meg: We didn’t.

Meagan: That’s a legit question actually, right?

Meg: My next pregnancy was definitely a surprise. I had spent a lot of time trying to actively work through my recovery with my C-section. I had seen a core and pelvic floor therapist. She and I actually became really close. She worked with me for months. I mean, probably really from my birth until my next birth she worked with me.

I felt like I was just starting to recover and I remember the day that I found out I was pregnant. My friend and I had gone shopping all day. I was just exhausted coming home from this shopping trip. I was like, I feel like I’m next level exhausted. Maybe I’m pregnant.

I took a pregnancy test just on a whim. My daughter was napping. My husband was on the couch. I was like, This is probably going to be negative. I’m just tired from walking around all day.

It was positive and I was shocked. I called my husband into the bathroom and I was like, “I’m pregnant.” He was definitely shocked too. I think I was more devastated because I was like, I’m just recovering from this C-section.

Meagan: 9 months out, yeah.

Meg: Yeah. My immediate response was just fear and anxiety about giving birth again. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to attempt a VBAC because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through another 36-hour labor to just end up in a C-section again.

For me, preparing throughout that pregnancy was critical just preparing emotionally, physically, and mentally. The doula who had taught the birth class for my daughter, I ended up hiring her right away. I was like, “Are you available? I know I need a doula.” I started listening to The VBAC Link. She recommended your podcast and your website so I knew that I wanted to have a doula in the picture.

I had pastors and family and friends praying for us for this decision about whether or not I should attempt a VBAC and I also just spent a lot of time. I felt like for me, I really needed to wrestle through some of the spiritual aspects of what I had gone through during my daughter’s birth. I found a couple of books that were a really huge encouragement to me as a person of faith just thinking about the concept of birth through scripture.

One of the books was called Holy Labor by Aubrey G. Smith. She walks through doing some spiritual exercises to prepare your heart and mind for the process of birth. I think that was just something that I hadn’t really done with my daughter so I wanted to spend some time really preparing for this birth and making sure that I was seeking the Lord’s guidance and submitting to what I felt like He was asking me to walk through with this birth as it wasn’t something that was in my plan to have this birth so close together.

For me, that definitely helped prepare my heart and my mind. I also spent some time with guidance from The VBAC Link. I looked through the questions that you guys have for asking a provider about if they are truly a VBAC supporter or not and with it being a team of midwives, with it being a research hospital and a teaching hospital, they are definitely very pro-VBAC. Several of them had VBACs themselves so I definitely felt like I had a great team of midwives who were going to be advocating for me through my labor and delivery.

I found out partway through my labor that my pelvic floor therapist was also training to be a doula so I invited her to the birth as well. We had quite the posse with my doula, my pelvic floor therapist, and then this team of midwives. I think in the process too, I’m not sure who recommends it. I’m sure I heard this on your podcast as well. I started doing all of the Spinning Babies exercises pretty early on. I was trying to eat better and walk more and just be healthier in every aspect of that pregnancy.

Something that happened during my labor at the med center was that they approved water birth at the hospital and then also included VBAC moms in that so I was super excited to try a water birth. I had wanted to use hydrotherapy with my daughter so getting the opportunity to do that for my next birth, I was really excited about.

Throughout the process too, my midwives were very supportive about waiting as long as I could to start labor. I really wanted to labor naturally. I did not want to go through another induction but as we were getting past 40 weeks, I think I went in for at least two membrane strippings before 41 weeks. I think at basically 40 weeks and then midway through the week, I went through and did another one of those. I definitely started to have more contractions after those, but nothing that was picking up and getting ready for actual labor.

They basically started encouraging me, “Let’s go ahead and schedule your induction.” I remember just being so upset about that and also really not wanting to have the midwife who I had previously. For me, I felt like I needed to have a clean slate going into this to try and attempt a VBAC. Two of the more senior midwives, I ended up meeting with them. I had my regular prenatal appointment and then the one came in and joined us. They basically helped me talk through my fears around induction and my previous experience. They really listened to what had happened and they really wanted to make sure that I had the support I needed going in to attempting this VBAC.

Basically, we plotted out, “Okay. We are going to do the induction on this day.” It ended up being 41 weeks and 3 days. The midwife who was going to be on duty throughout that weekend, it was a Saturday. She was going to be there Saturday and Sunday. I would have her basically regardless of how long my labor took. She was going to be there. To me, that was a huge encouragement. She was actually the midwife who I hoped to get with my daughter. I felt really good about scheduling that induction even though I really didn’t want to.

Yeah. I basically just tried to do everything I could before that. In that week, I was walking curbs. I was doing my Spinning Babies. I went and I talked to my doula. I was like, “Is there anything else you recommend to try to get this labor going?” I had been drinking my raspberry leaf tea. I had been eating my dates. I had been doing all of the things and she recommended acupuncture.

Meagan: I was going to say acupuncture maybe?

Meg: I went and I tried it, yes. I saw the chiropractor throughout. I had basically been doing all of the things you guys recommend and my doula had recommended throughout my whole pregnancy. The acupuncture was not helpful. It felt like torture for me. I was just sitting there. I think it did start some contractions because that night I felt a lot more contractions but then they waned off, unfortunately.

Yeah, so then Saturday morning, the day of my induction, I was finally mentally prepared for, Okay. I’m going to go in and do this induction. I have my doula. I have my pelvic floor therapist. My husband is going to be there. I know the midwife. I like her.

I knew that I was going to have this great team there for me. I’m in the tub just getting ready psyching myself up and I get a call from the hospital. They basically were like, “We’re going to need to push your induction.” I was so mad. I’m finally ready for this induction. Please don’t push this induction.

We waited. They were like, “You’re on the top of our list to call in. You’re 41 weeks plus 3 days. We definitely want to make sure that you get induced today. Call back if you don’t hear from us.” I think we did. I think we called back two or three times like, “Hey, are you ready for us yet?” They were like, “We’ll call you. Please just wait.” We finally did. I think we went for a walk that morning. We spent some time with my daughter and my mom who was there to stay with my daughter. We enjoyed the morning and we finally sat down to lunch I think and we got the call that they were ready for us and they asked, “How soon can you get here?”

We made our way. We put my daughter down for a nap. For me, that was a really sweet moment. I didn’t know if I would be coming home from a vaginal birth or a C-section so I wanted to pick her up and put her in her crib one last time, then leaving her knowing that she was asleep and going to be fine during my labor.

Yeah. We went for the induction. I think when we got there, they did their initial checks and all of that and started with a membrane sweep. At that point, I was 4 centimeters, 50% effaced.

Meagan: Oh, that’s good.

Meg: Yeah, I was pumped that I was starting from 4 centimeters. I was like, Okay. I’m not going to labor for 15 hours and still be at 4 centimeters probably. Yeah. We all started in really high spirits. They started Pitocin. This time, they had it where I could walk around with it which was really nice. My doula had me walking the halls. We were squatting. We were leaning over the bed. We were sitting on the ball. We were doing everything. She was like, “I’m going to work you to get this baby going.” We did that for a couple of hours. I basically didn’t want to get checked for as long as possible.

We labored as much as we could. I think we started that at 2:30 in the afternoon. At about 6:30, I started needing a little bit more help from everybody with counterpressure and all of that, then I was requesting a cervical check. I started to feel like something was going on.

My midwife came in and did the cervical check. She told my doula because I was like, “I don’t want to know if it’s bad news.” My doula was like, “Do you want me to tell you?” I was like, “I suppose.” I was still at 4 centimeters but I was 90% effaced.

Meagan: Huge progress.

Meg: Yeah. For some reason though, I was so stuck on the fact that I was only at 4 centimeters that I was like, “90% is nothing.”

Meagan: Oh my goodness. From 50 to 90, that is huge progress.

Meg: Yes, so I was like, “Okay. We’ll just keep going how we’re going.” She was like, “Do you want to try the tub?” I was like, “Oh yeah.” For some reason, I was thinking I was going to love the tub because I was thinking I could just lay in the tub and relax. My doula was like, “No. You need to be squatting in this tub.” I just could not get into a position in the tub that I was enjoying.

We got out of the tub and just labored on the toilet. That, I think, is where I spent most of the time actually.

Meagan: Dilation station.

Meg: Yeah, there you go. My husband and I would just sit in there in the bathroom and just talk and giggle. He really kept me in high spirits throughout the whole labor. I was definitely getting to a point though. I think it was a couple of hours after that first check and I started asking for the epidural. My doula was like, “I think we should wait. You’re doing really well.” I’m like, “I’m not doing well.” My husband, the pharmacists that he is, was like, “What else can we try? Can we try some nitrous?” I was like, “I don’t think I’m going to like nitrous. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do that.” We were mulling over that. They did a second check at 10:00 PM and I was finally 5 centimeters. I was like, “Okay. We’ve bumped up the centimeters.”

I was 100% effaced so I was like, “Okay, things are moving. I don’t want to do an epidural yet.” So we started on nitrous. I labored on nitrous for a couple of hours. That was going well at first. I was in bed because I was just so exhausted at this point. I remember on the nitrous, I could definitely feel pain but I did not care.

Meagan: Yeah, it takes the edge off.

Meg: Yes, yeah. It was kind of wild. I would have these thoughts while I was on the nitrous like, Oh, this is horrible and everything is going to be terrible, but then the contraction would pass and I would be like, Oh, everything is fine. It was such a wild experience. At that point, they were setting up the table for baby so I was thinking, Okay, they’re setting up the table. I must be really close if they are setting up the table for this baby. I was in so much pain and I was like, Surely I am 9 centimeters and we are getting this room ready for this baby.

I think toward the end of that couple hours, it was almost 1:00 AM, I was definitely starting to not cope as well. Even with the nitrous, I was screaming and rigid and couldn’t handle it. My midwife mentioned pain management. She was like, “I think we should do a cervical check and maybe it’s time to think about an epidural.” I was like, “Finally. I’ve been asking for this for hours,” even though I didn’t want to do it in the first place.

Oh, I forgot to mention in all of this, my birth plan was to have this water birth. While I was on nitrous, they roll in this birth tub which is one of those soft-sided which I think was a home birth tub. They started filling it with this tiny hose. It was going to take hours for this thing to fill to the point in which it was going to be therapeutic.

So I basically took one look at that tub and was like, “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” It was kind of disappointing. I had really wanted to try a water birth. I thought that was going to be so sweet. This is going to be my story. VBAC, first water birth VBAC at the med center since water births were approved. I just let that dream die a little bit. I’m like, If we just have a VBAC, I’ll be fine.

Yeah. They placed the epidural. They checked me. I was 8 centimeters finally. I was like, Okay. This is moving more quickly. They placed the epidural so I could get some rest and it worked for a little while then it did not work. So they came. Anesthesiology came and tried to problem solve. They were moving me all around trying to get me in a good position to see if that was the problem. My doula was just horrified during this whole situation. She was like, “This should not be happening.”

I think they ended up calling in basically the head anesthesiologist finally who was like, “Do you want me to place it again?” I was like, “Yeah, why haven’t we done that yet?” So then they placed it again and then it was the perfect epidural. It made the pain manageable but then I could still move around. I got a nap at that point and then we did another check after I took a nap so this was at 4:30 in the morning.

They came in and did the check. I was at 9 centimeters so I felt really good about that. I think they put me on Benadryl at that point because there was some swelling from when I was on nitrous. I think I was subconsciously pushing while I was on the nitrous so they were like, “I think we’re just going to try to calm this down a little bit.”

At that point, my midwife mentioned that if I didn’t make progress in 6 hours, we might need to discuss a C-section. I was just devastated. I’m like, “No.” As soon as my midwife left the room, I talked to my doula and I was like, “Okay, what do we need to do to prevent the C-section because I absolutely don’t want to do that again?”

For the next 2 hours, my doula, our nurse, my pelvic floor therapist, and my husband every 30 minutes were rotating me into a different position. I was on the squat bar. I was over the top of the bed. I was side to side with the peanut ball. I mean, seriously, we did not stop moving basically that entire time. We set the goal of 2 hours to have another check. I think during that time, I had my arms over the back of the bed. I looked down at my belly and was like, “All right little boy, let’s do this. I want to meet you today and I don’t want to have a C-section.”

I was kind of whispering to him. My doula was like, “You’re going to meet him today. It’s going to be okay.” Yeah. Finally, it hit 6:30. The midwife came back in and I was basically there. I was a 9 or a 10 with an anterior lip. It went away with contractions so she was like, “I think let’s wait to push and let your uterus do a little bit more work.” We set the goal to start pushing at 7:30.

In that hour, I was psyching myself up to push because, with my daughter, I had obviously pushed for 3 hours and still ended up in a C-section. I was excited to push with him but I was also like, This isn’t over yet. We might still have a C-section here.”

It hit 7:30 and I think I started crying. My doula was like, “This is a different birth. This is going to go differently than it did with your daughter.” I think I had my husband come over and pray with me. We started pushing. My midwife did not leave my side from that moment on. My team during that whole time was my husband on one side and then my doula and pelvic floor therapist trading off on the other side. My midwife was doing some internal counterpressure to help me feel where I needed to push which after my last pushing experience where I had zero feedback, her telling me exactly where to push every time was such a huge encouragement to know, Okay, I have this purpose and this goal.

Meagan: Direction.

Meg: Direction, yeah. I know exactly what I should be doing. She gave me encouragement after every time like, “Oh, that’s the push.” My doula and everybody was cheering me on. I think I was in such a better headspace during that whole pushing experience. We tried a bunch of different positions but I think I ended up mostly pushing from my back.

About an hour in, they started to see his head during the contractions. I think I started crying again. I was like, “I’m going to have this baby from my vagina.” I think that’s when it finally hit me, “This is the VBAC. I’m going to have this VBAC.” I think they did bring in the mirror one more time and again, for me, it was nice to see his head this time because I could see his head but it was just too distracting. I couldn’t push effectively and look at myself in the mirror. I had them take that away again but they had me feel his head and that to me was really sweet being able to feel his hairy little head. That was the first thing my midwife said was, “Man, this kid’s got a head of hair.”

Yeah. I just kept pushing. It was kind of funny because again, they were getting the room ready and I’m thinking, All right, this baby is going to come out at any minute. We’ve been pushing for a while now. He was really stubborn and he would crown a little bit then he would get sucked back in. I think my midwife was getting frustrated at one point looking at some of the video. She basically stuck her hand in there on his head like, “You’re going to come out.”

Yeah. Finally again, 3 hours later– I started pushing at 7:30 and at 10:21, he was finally born. He came out and everyone in the room, everyone– nurses, doula, everyone– “Whoa.” There was this audible, “Whoa.” We had done a prediction of his weight earlier in the day. My daughter was 7 pounds, 14 ounces and I didn’t gain as much weight with this pregnancy so I was like, “I think he’s probably smaller. I bet he’s only maybe 7 pounds, 7 ounces.”

Everybody had their predictions. I pull him out to my chest. I don’t care how big he is at this point. I’m just like, “He came out. He’s so sweet.” I’m crying. My husband is crying. We did it. We’re having our moment.

Well then, they get him all cleaned off. They get him weighed and the nurse who weighs him gets the attention of everybody in the room like, “All right, any last guess of how much he weighs?”

9 pounds, 14 ounces so a full 2 pounds heavier than my daughter and I was shocked. I’m sure that’s why it took him so long to come out. I’m like, This boy was a big boy in there. Yeah. It was just wild getting to meet him. Yeah. It was really sweet because once they got him back on my chest, I looked up at my husband and I said, “You have a son.” It was such a different experience than my C-section baby. Being able to have this baby and bring him right to my chest was just so sweet.

Meagan: Absolutely. There is something about that. It sounds like your husband and everybody was so invested in this birth.

Meg: Yes, yep. Definitely.

Meagan: I’m sure the room, the positivity in the room and the emotions were high.

Meg: Yep. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.

Meagan: I’m curious. Did you ever get your op reports with your first baby?

Meg: Yes, I did.

Meagan: Did they give any reasons why you had it? Obviously, you said asynclitic so positioning, but I’m wondering if they ever said anything else in your op reports.

Meg: From what I could tell, and the OB who I had at the time said, “This is not because of your lack of ability to push. You have very effective pushes.” I think in the op report, they said it was that her head was tilted and asynclitic and that she was failure to descend basically. I think she was only ever at– I never remember– at one above zero. She wasn’t going to come out that way.

Meagan: -1 station. We know with asynclitic it can be harder. There are positions and things like that which could help but often are not offered or even known about.

Meg: Yeah. Yep. I did look at my chart after listening to your podcast because I was like, I want to know what they said about me in these notes. I definitely scoured those notes and after hearing some horror stories on the podcast, I felt like the care that I had was very respectful and I had a lot of support from everyone at the hospital.

Meagan: Yeah. Support is so important.

Meg: Yeah.

Meagan: So important.

Meg: Yeah.

Meagan: I’m so glad that you got your powerhouse team and you had this induction that you weren’t really wanting but it ended up really great.

Meg: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

Meagan: Well are there any tips you would give to moms who are listening and going in for an elective induction or medically necessary induction? Any tips for them?

Meg: Mhmm, yeah. I definitely think a doula is key, especially after that 2 hours where it was like, “Hey, you might need to have a C-section,” then my doula and my team worked me like a rotisserie chicken to get that baby in a good position. I do think that part of– who knows with my C-section what could have gone differently but I think if I had a doula there to support me, things would have gone so much differently. I think for inductions in particular, you’re going to be there for a while probably so having somebody there who can make that time productive is definitely a game changer.

Meagan: Absolutely because if you didn’t have someone there, you might have just been hanging out, chilling, and not doing too much. In that 6 hours, maybe something would have happened and maybe not.

Meg: Yeah, yeah. Who knows? Yeah.

Meagan: Well congrats again and thank you so much for sharing your story.

Meg: Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Closing

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