Suzanne and Sarah VBAC birth story

Hi Lainey, delighted to tell you our beautiful baby girl Sarah was born yesterday morning. We got the VBAC we’d hoped for but it was quite the rollercoaster so you might want to upgrade your cuppa to a glass of wine!

So as you know the team at Holles St had been supportive of my VBAC preference but under strict criteria that labour needed to happen spontaneously and I could only go a max of 10 days over. I felt this was a good plan and gave good flexibility without compromising on risk. But as my due date approached I started to get a little anxious and as the days went on I felt like the timer was on.

I repeated the mantra ‘my baby knows how and when to be born’ and trusted in it… until about 8 days over when I also threw every single labour inducing tip in the mix too from eating pineapples to Accupuncture! However unfortunately none worked and we got to 10 days over and finally had to accept a VBAC was not meant to be.

When I arrived in the hospital for my scheduled C-section the team did one final exam with the hopes of being able to break my waters if they saw any sign of things progressing, however the doctor was unable to do it and that was the last hurrah and with it came the tears, but at least we’d be meeting our baby soon.

As we waited to be called for surgery I started to get cramps, which then over a few hours started to feel like what I imagined a contraction would. So I said it to the midwives and they agreed to monitor me using a trace to see… and yes contractions had begun!

They were all amazing and pushed me to the last C-section of the day to give more time to see what could happen. By about 4:30 they were ready to call me and did one final exam. I wasn’t yet dilating but again, another amazing midwife said she would advocate for me and if I wanted she’d push my section to the following morning to give time to see what would happen overnight.

I took the opportunity and then it was over to me and baby to keep things progressing. I did everything I could to stay in the zone and the contractions stayed regular and progressively more painful.
Later that night I started vomiting with every contraction due to the pain. I had always planned against pethidine and initially refused but then changed my mind as the pains and vomiting got worse as I knew I needed help to get through the next few hours. I will say that what id heard before is true and you do feel completely out of it on pethidine but in my case it was the right call as shortly afterwards my waters broke!

At around 3am the team made the call to transfer me to the birthing suite and at that stage I asked for the epidural. But by the time the anaesthetist arrived i felt things were really ramping up and with the support of this amazing midwife I felt I could do without.
With gas and air, support from my husband and the best midwives I could have hoped for our baby girl arrived at 6:44am.

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done but she was worth it!

Im so grateful for everything I’ve learned from you and all the amazing mamas in the class.
I went into this feeling so informed, trusting in my decisions and confident that my body and my baby know what to do.

Soaking up the newborn baby bubble now and looking forward to Sarah’s big bother Luke meeting her tomorrow

Tips for others wanting VBAC would be to prepare for the best case scenario where you go into labour spontaneously and do as much as possible to stay in the zone to keep contractions going so that you’ve the best chance of minimal intervention.

The other thing I’d say is make your wishes known to anyone and everyone in the hospital. I found there were an incredible number of people who were willing to advocate for me but only because I had a clear preference. I imagine the other hospitals are the same but I couldn’t speak more highly of Holles St and how much encouragement I got while labouring and also post partum from the staff

Thank you Lainey and thank you so much for all your help and encouragement along the way

Sending lots of luck and love to the mamas coming next, Suzanne x