funkeemunkee
04-06-2007, 14:06
On Friday the 11th of May my (not so) little man made his way into the world.
Thanks to all the support I found on Bubhub, and from some friends who had been down the VBAC route, and from my OB, I was able to have a natural delivery.
It was not exactly ideal as bub's shoulders got stuck and I wound up with substantial bruising and a 2nd degree tear, but thankfully, despite my Ob's fears, no other damage to speak of, and he wound up with difficulty turning his head to one side, nothing permanent.
But it was worth it! The recovery mentally was a lot easier than with my first C/S, although, I did the VBAC totally drug free, so that may have helped the recovery some.
For all of those contemplating a VBAC, I would encourage you to go for it. For me, the risks of repeat C/S when I want more children, and the recovery time when I already have a nearly 15kg almost 2 year-old tipped me in favour of VBAC.
The upside was a more alert baby who fed better (at 3 weeks he's already 4.5kg) and is much more settled and I recovered much faster.
The downside was that bub did get hurt in the process of being born but nothing permanent.
I found was that I was unable to sit down, lie down, stand up etc for a few days (I was very uncomfortable) and it has taken me 3 weeks to recover to a level where I am mostly without pain. With a C/S I was pain free in a few days but I couldn't do ANYTHING for 5 weeks. However, not everyone attempting a VBAC is going to be a petite (55kg) person giving birth to a 9lb baby and, apparently, the birth was one of the most traumatic anyone has seen at the hospital for a while. (That could be because it is a private hospital, with quite high C/S rates...)
The things I found that helped get through it were that I had had so much premature labour, where they can't give you any pain drugs, that I was sort of used to the pain by the time it came for the actual "real" labour. I found the pain doesn't get any more painful-just closer together with less of a break in between. (I was in labour from 11am on the Wednesday and gave birth at 12pm on the Friday, for the whole time I was having contractions every 6 minutes registering between 100-150, so no sleep for me!)
I found I prayed a lot as the contractions got closer together and I also thought about how my body was made to give birth naturally. My Husband also whispered encouragement throughout.
I used lots of heat packs and walked a lot too. If you have to be monitored continuiously, make sure you go to a hospital where they have the equipment so you can walk around whilst being monitored. Gravity really helps when labour fully gets going.
So that's it, one baby delivered naturally and drug free, none of the possible complications of a C/S and one happy mum. Baby should recover just fine too and a healthy baby is the main thing here.
I think that if all had gone to plan I would be shouting the virtues of VBAC from the roof tops-but as I had complications I am still in favour of VBAC but would just warn to be prepared for possible injury-but nothing so bad as being sliced open for a C/S!
So overall I would go the VBAC route again.
Thanks to all the support I found on Bubhub, and from some friends who had been down the VBAC route, and from my OB, I was able to have a natural delivery.
It was not exactly ideal as bub's shoulders got stuck and I wound up with substantial bruising and a 2nd degree tear, but thankfully, despite my Ob's fears, no other damage to speak of, and he wound up with difficulty turning his head to one side, nothing permanent.
But it was worth it! The recovery mentally was a lot easier than with my first C/S, although, I did the VBAC totally drug free, so that may have helped the recovery some.
For all of those contemplating a VBAC, I would encourage you to go for it. For me, the risks of repeat C/S when I want more children, and the recovery time when I already have a nearly 15kg almost 2 year-old tipped me in favour of VBAC.
The upside was a more alert baby who fed better (at 3 weeks he's already 4.5kg) and is much more settled and I recovered much faster.
The downside was that bub did get hurt in the process of being born but nothing permanent.
I found was that I was unable to sit down, lie down, stand up etc for a few days (I was very uncomfortable) and it has taken me 3 weeks to recover to a level where I am mostly without pain. With a C/S I was pain free in a few days but I couldn't do ANYTHING for 5 weeks. However, not everyone attempting a VBAC is going to be a petite (55kg) person giving birth to a 9lb baby and, apparently, the birth was one of the most traumatic anyone has seen at the hospital for a while. (That could be because it is a private hospital, with quite high C/S rates...)
The things I found that helped get through it were that I had had so much premature labour, where they can't give you any pain drugs, that I was sort of used to the pain by the time it came for the actual "real" labour. I found the pain doesn't get any more painful-just closer together with less of a break in between. (I was in labour from 11am on the Wednesday and gave birth at 12pm on the Friday, for the whole time I was having contractions every 6 minutes registering between 100-150, so no sleep for me!)
I found I prayed a lot as the contractions got closer together and I also thought about how my body was made to give birth naturally. My Husband also whispered encouragement throughout.
I used lots of heat packs and walked a lot too. If you have to be monitored continuiously, make sure you go to a hospital where they have the equipment so you can walk around whilst being monitored. Gravity really helps when labour fully gets going.
So that's it, one baby delivered naturally and drug free, none of the possible complications of a C/S and one happy mum. Baby should recover just fine too and a healthy baby is the main thing here.
I think that if all had gone to plan I would be shouting the virtues of VBAC from the roof tops-but as I had complications I am still in favour of VBAC but would just warn to be prepared for possible injury-but nothing so bad as being sliced open for a C/S!
So overall I would go the VBAC route again.