Baby #2 VBAC birth story

Well my second baby boy arrived as the perfect Father's day gift! He was born June 18 2017 at 7:14pm weighing in at a tiny 6lbs 8oz, 20inches long via successful VBAC! He was born at 41 weeks, and due to his low birth weight and my gestational diabetes we had to stay in hospital so his blood sugars could be monitored. We ended up getting to leave the hospital after 2 nights, he was borderline jaundice but they agreed to let us go home. The day after we ended up in the ER because he had not had a wet diaper in over 30 hours. I was extra concerned because there was some concerns regarding his kidneys which showed up on one of his growth scans. Apparently he is just cheeky and wanted to freak mom out because after blood work and being checked out by the doctor he was given the all clear. Of course after we got to the hospital he started having wet diapers. But, with a little bitty baby it's better to be safe than sorry! Anywho, here is my birth story. I had been scheduled for an NST on the following Monday and induction with the balloon catheter on the Wednesday. I was beginning to get very discouraged about my desire for a VBAC, my csection with my son was the result of a failed induction/poor positioning. The Friday before he was born I had hoped to my mother in law about him waiting until Father's day, little did I know that would actually come true. Saturday June 17th I wasn't feeling all that great so I waited until my husband had come home from work so he could come grocery shopping with us. While at the store I had run into a coworker who gave my belly a lecture about how he needed to come out and stop torturing his mama. I guess it worked because 5 minutes after seeing her I had my first contraction. That was around 6-6:30pm. I had a few more throughout the evening but they were fairly mild and far apart so I decided to go to bed. 2am rolls around and I was woken up by a contraction. They had become much stronger and closer together. I attempted to go back to sleep but they were close enough together I could not fall asleep in between. I decidenro get up and have a bath. They spaced a little further apart so I tried to go back to sleep, I was not successful. I woke my husband up around 4:30am after having contractions anywhere from 4-10 minutes apart to inform him he was not going to work that day because I was pretty sure it was baby day. He responded with "cool" and rolled over and went back to sleep. I was jealous of his ability to sleep, I was so tired! At 5am I text my brothers girlfriend to let her know what was going on since she was going to be watching our toddler for us. She had to work until 10:30am which gave me motivation to labor at home as long as I could handle. She ended up getting to our house at noon and I practically ran out the door when she arrived because my contractions were very intense and about 4 minutes apart. Luckily the hospital is less than 5 minutes away. I got there and went in to get an NST and to be checked. I was 5cm! They took me down the hall to our room. I was so happy to get the gas! I found standing, swaying my hips was the most manageable position for me during contractions. The nurse I had was AMAZING. SERIOUSLY. AMAZING. She encouraged me so much, gave so many good suggestions for positions to labor in, encouraged me to try and labor in the bathtub... squeezed my hips and put pressure on my tail bone during contractions, and encouraged me to go as long as I could without the epidural. 2 hours after getting checked in I was at 9cm! I was so excited! My body was working! I was so close! I was in so much pain I could not relax even between contractions so I had stalled at 9cm. I ended up begging for the epidural at that point, I couldn't handle it any longer. I had been in active labor for over 12 hours on 2.5 hours sleep, I was exhausted. It took 3 attempts to get the epidural in. It did the trick though, I was almost instantly at 10 cm! They let me rest and eat before pushing. I was so excited to be able to push. With my first I stalled at 7cm so I never got the option to push. Contractions had slowed down so they ended up giving me oxytocin to bring them up again. We first tried pushing in a hands and knees squatted position. 15 minutes later we switched so that I was laying on my side, slightly elevated, pulling my knees toward my chest. The nurse i had decided to stay late past her shift end to meet this baby. They called the doctor to come because they thought baby would be here very very soon. The doctor barely made it in time! 14 minutes after switching positions baby was here! 29 minutes of pushing and he was out! I couldn't believe it! Very minimal tearing, no stitches! It was the most amazing experience! Whether I was willing to have any more kids in the future was very dependant on this VBAC. Luckily for my husband I avoided another csection and I am willing to continue growing our family in the future.

1month old (Wilder) and 21.5 months old (Maverick) So much love for these boys! Melanie

Intro...

I guess I should start off by introducing myself... I am a wife to my high school sweetheart - Trevor, mom to an almost 2 year old wild little boy named Maverick and almost a week overdue with his little brother. We have an almost 2 year old red heeler/bordie collie mix - Georgie, and 3 cats-litter mates Benny and Mr. Meowgi who are 4 years old and a 5 month old crazy lady kitten named Sadie. My husband and I have been together for about 11 years and just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary back in April. We have relocated 12+hours away from family 3 years ago and it have been very hard on me as a mom but I am trying my best to keep my shit together to support Trevor in his journey to a new career.

This is my cute little family at my son's first birthday party. We will have to get some updated family photos after this baby boy arrives! I actually found out we were expecting our second on our sons first birthday. That was kind of fun! In hindsight I should have started writing this sooner so I could have documented my pregnancy and all the fun stuff that has gone alone with it. Gestational diabetes, extra ultrasounds and a bit of a scare over baby's kidneys. Poor little guy is going to have to have an ultrasound shortly after he is born to make sure he doesn't have a kidney disease... Gestational Diabetes can often cause "big babies" but in my case baby has been measuring small. I am sitting her overdue waiting for my VBAC attempt, so I'm sure I will post about my VBAC journey and whether or not it is a success. I'm really hoping to go into labor on my own without any interventions but the clock is ticking. This has turned into a bit of a ramble so I guess I will leave it as this... and end off with my most recent belly photo.

Until next time, Melanie