Successful VBA3C after 3 previous sections (long post!) 🥰
Previous births: I had my first child at 19 and didn’t do any research around birth, I just assumed he’d be born vaginally. I got to 41 weeks and they induced me for no medical reason other than being overdue. It led to the classic cascade of interventions and a section.
My second birth was going to be a HBAC, but I panicked at 34 weeks and scheduled an elective section. After attending triage for reduced movement at 38 weeks, they brought his section date forward to the next day because his heart rate was spiking during movements.
My third birth was the hardest. It was during Covid, and I was lied to and coerced at my most vulnerable time in order to get me to agree to a section at 41+5. The aftercare was horrendous, and I was very wary of birthing at this hospital again.
Birth story 🥰
NHS dates put my due date as 1st July, but I always thought I was actually due between the 25th and 28th June.
My entire pregnancy was a fight with medical professionals. It was suffocating and claustrophobic at times, attending appointments just so they could tick a box. As my mum said, they were very litigation-heavy and it was to the detriment of my mental health. I was told on several occasions that my baby would come to harm or die, my scar would rupture, I would haemorrhage and bleed out and my previous history of big babies (9lb13, 8lb11 and 9lb4) would mean a shoulder dystocia which would be catastrophic. I left 99% of my appointments in tears or feeling angry. Even though the consultant midwife and the head of midwifery were involved, I still felt like I was having to justify my well-researched choices at every turn.
I wanted a HBA3C and I had it signed off. A week before I went into labour, I had a day where I felt horrendous; extremely tired, temperature and the shakes. I think this was my body’s way of preparing for birth.
On the 25th June, I began to lose my plug. It wasn’t bloody, but it was definitely my plug, this happened right up until birth.
Our car needed new brake discs and pads before the MOT so I took it to the garage on the 27th. It was the last thing that needed to be done before I was happy to go into labour. While I was waiting for the work to be complete, I was very uncomfortable and had a lot of pressure in my bum. The next day, I didn’t want to go far from home. It was actually my husband’s day in the office, and I remember messaging him saying I feel like he shouldn’t have gone in 😂 When he got home that night, I baked a pineapple upside down cake with my son and just felt different.
I woke up on the 29th with nerve pain down my leg. I didn’t think anything of it because I have hypermobility so hip and leg pain is normal! However, my first contraction came at 7:30am. They weren’t regular at first, lasting around 45 seconds every 25 minutes. But as the day went on, they became closer together. My husband was working from home and at lunchtime, I told him I was going for a bath to see if that would help. I had two contractions in the bath and after I got out, they came every 5 minutes or so.
We called the hospital who told me there was no homebirth service (I don’t believe this was the case) and we needed to come in. I cried at this point because I thought this would be the end of my perfect birth. We called my mum, who lives an hour away, to say it was happening and ask her to come and look after our other children.
I couldn’t move from all fours and this is where I stayed until my husband and my mum managed to get me up and out into the car. The contractions were coming thick and fast and I think they were worried I’d deliver in the car! At hospital, they took me to triage to assess me and asked if I’d be okay with a VE. I agreed, despite saying I didn’t want any, but I wanted to see where I was and if this was real labour (I was still in denial 😂). I was 4cm, and they wheeled me round to labour ward. I was taken to the birth pool room and finally given gas, which was amazing. Our hospital was still fitting vents to the rooms to allow the use of gas and while the adjoining room has gas, the birth pool room didn’t.
While the pool was filling up, I was sat on a birth ball with the gas. I remember throwing up, but that’s all I do remember! I did get into the pool, my husband said it was for about an hour and a half, but it didn’t feel that long for me. I’d agreed to Doppler monitoring after every contraction but baby was that low, they couldn’t find her. They asked me to get out of the pool, which I didn’t mind because it meant I could have the gas again. They still couldn’t find the heartbeat so they brought in a doctor and a scanning machine to check baby’s position so they’d know where to listen. They wanted me on my back, but this caused so much pain, it took about an hour for me to finally roll over.
The next thing I remember is a consultant I didn’t want to see (she was the one who lied to me in my last pregnancy) standing at the bottom of my bed with a smug look on her face. I looked at her and turned away to my husband. He later said she didn’t acknowledge him at all and apparently asked me how long I wanted to push for. I replied with “as long as me and baby are okay, for as long as I need to.” She didn’t like this and left 😂
At some point, the contraction pains turned into pushing. The FER was real and I couldn’t control it. I instinctively went onto all fours and began pushing and mooing. I zoned out for a while before sitting back on my bum and pushing… I felt my waters pop and said “something’s come out!” They checked, and it was my waters, a lot of it! After my waters went, I had a bloody show with every push I made. I asked twice for more pain relief but it was never brought to me. I’m glad it wasn’t because I know now this was transition.
I laid on my back and zoned out. But I came to when I realised something had changed; the pushing was now stinging (the ring of fire) and the midwife lifted the sheet to check what was going on. She said “oh my goodness, there’s the head!” and sprang into action. The only coached pushing I had was when I was getting the head out. With some pressure to my perineum, the head was born. With the next contraction, I felt the body slide out at 22:14. It was the most bizarre feeling! Baby was brought to me, and we didn’t know the gender.
My husband said “it’s a girl!” and I was in complete shock. All I remember saying was “I did it, I did it!”
I did haemorrhage at this point and I lost around 1.2L. I agreed to the injection to help deliver the placenta, as well as the clotting medicine. A cannula was fitted at this point for syntocin and fluids but the placenta came out in one piece. It was found I had two 2nd degree tears, but only one needed to be repaired. I managed to avoid theatre, which would have been my worst nightmare. Once this was done, the midwives brought me a mountain of tea and toast and weighed baby, she was 9lb13.5oz!
We had to stay overnight but we were home by lunchtime the next day. The worst part of recovery for me was going for a wee, the pain was worse than the contractions but I think this was from the tear I didn’t have repaired. Day 3 was the worst, but it’s eased after that.
I also put a lot of focus into that birth and I didn’t really prepare for the aftermath. I had a huge comedown afterwards because I expected it would heal my previous trauma. It didn’t and that was a shock. It did help me massively though to know that my previous sections were caused by a failure within the medical system and not by my body.
My VBA3C baby is now 3 and I’m still immersed in VBAC through my work. I love it so much, the best part is seeing people achieve the birth they put so much planning and effort into.