Side note: remember that fun\u00a0trip to\u00a0<\/a><\/i>Vegas<\/a>\u00a0I took, full of spa time and boozing? Yeah, turns out I was pregnant then. I definitely worried for a while that I had poached my baby from my time in the hot tub.<\/i><\/p>\n The first notification went to the hubby. The next was to my would-be doula, as well as the homebirth midwives I hoped to deliver with (because no way was I going back to a hospital). I had done my research on providers, so I wasted zero time notifying the people I wanted to help me have this VBAC.<\/p>\n My midwives didn\u2019t begin prenatal visits until about 10 weeks. I\u2019m incredibly impatient, and honestly a bit sensitive about early miscarriage, so I took that time to go visit my last practice and get confirmation of the pregnancy via sonogram at 7 weeks.<\/p>\n The visit was fine but completely confirmed that they were not the right providers for me. The entire appointment, aside from the sonogram, was spent focused on irrelevant numbers. My advanced maternal age (because I would be 35 when giving birth), my weight (they recommended I only gain 15 lbs), and my deadline delivery date (they won\u2019t let a VBAC go past 41 weeks). No way was I going down the road of negativity again. I was going to build myself a birth bubble<\/a>, and I knew better than to listen to anyone telling me that\u00a0ANY<\/i>\u00a0of those numbers have anything to do with my ability to give birth vaginally.<\/p>\n My pregnancy this time around was relatively easy, physically speaking. I was going to see my chiropractor every other week, and I was weightlifting or running almost every day. I only gained about 20 lbs in total, and I was really proud of that. I knew I was in good enough shape to take on whatever my labor would be like this time.<\/p>\n It was my emotional state that was a bit of a mess. This time around, I had a new job that I actually liked, so I didn\u2019t have work stress involved. I did, however, have a lot of anxiety over my previous birth<\/a>, and I needed to work through that with a lot of therapy.<\/p>\n Halfway through my third trimester, there was a concern the baby was breech, which of course sent me off the deep end. If the baby was breech, I wouldn\u2019t be able to deliver with my midwives as they don\u2019t do breech deliveries. It would be back to a hospital, which to me equaled surgery, and I couldn\u2019t have that. All of my energy went towards daily mantras like \u201cmy baby is in the optimal position for birth\u201d, and doing inverted poses found on spinningbabies.com.<\/a><\/p>\n Thankfully, she was confirmed head down at my 36-week appointment. She was posterior, but she was head down, and that was enough to settle my nerves. Little did I know how much that posterior position was going to influence my labor and birth.<\/p>\n In the weeks leading up to my due date, I was still wrestling with the demons in my head. Thoughts about \u201cwhat if I don\u2019t go into labor\u201d and \u201cwhat if my body just doesn\u2019t do this\u201d were constantly popping up. Thankfully, the hubby was always there to recite some mantras with me, and help me stay in a positive mindset.<\/p>\n Between 39 and 40 weeks, I started to have Braxton Hicks contractions, and I couldn\u2019t have been more excited. I had never experienced them at all during my first pregnancy, so each time I felt my belly tighten, I knew my body was getting ready to go into labor. I would just sit and enjoy this feeling, especially since there was no pain involved with them.<\/p>\n My due date came and went, but I know those dates mean basically nothing. It\u2019s an approximation, and I wasn\u2019t going to worry about it this time around. Thanks to having providers that didn\u2019t have a deadline for how long they would \u201callow\u201d me to be pregnant, all I had to do was sit and wait for the baby to decide when she was ready to meet us. I won\u2019t lie, I was impatiently waiting, I was ready to have this baby.<\/p>\n I woke up on a Saturday morning, two days after my due date, and had a small gush of fluids and what looked like the beginning of the bloody show. It wasn\u2019t anything too exciting, but I knew my body was getting another step closer to going into labor. I was PUMPED. My body was working how it was meant to, and I was going to have this VBAC.<\/p>\n That day my football team had a game, so I threw on a pad and went on my merry way. Sitting, watching the game, I started having some small contractions. Everyone would ask me how I\u2019m feeling and if I thought I would have the baby soon. Knowing that I didn\u2019t want anyone involved in my labor, aside from the selected few I had on my \u201cbirth team\u201d, I just replied, \u201chopefully soon\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, I was telling my close friends that were planning on helping with child #1, that they may be on call in the next few days. The contractions had become stronger during the day, enough to the point I had to start closing my eyes and breathing through them.<\/p>\n The contractions were about 10 minutes apart during the day. As night came, they were getting to be 6 minutes apart, and I had a hard time sleeping thanks to them. I was starting to believe that active labor was imminent, and Sunday could be the day we met our baby girl.<\/p>\n Sunday was not the day. Neither was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or even Thursday. Those days were spent having contractions, with lots and lots of pain in my back. This posterior baby wasn\u2019t moving no matter how hard my body was working to make her. Every 6-10 minutes my contractions would come, leaving me incapable of functioning during the day or sleeping at night. I was miserable and in so much pain.<\/p>\n The hubby had to take over all childcare and household activities, because I was spending all day in my bed, either on hands and knees or attempting to sleep in between the contractions.<\/p>\n By Friday I felt so broken down. It had nearly a week of these contractions and I wasn\u2019t going into active labor. \u201cWhat was wrong?\u201d, \u201cShould I go to the hospital?\u201d, \u201cMaybe this means I\u2019m just not meant to give birth?\u201d I was fighting the demons in my head more than ever, but I knew I didn\u2019t want to give up on this VBAC.<\/p>\n This is when I called my doula<\/a>. I was crying, I was tired, I was frustrated. She came over the next morning (now a full week since my fluid leaking\/contractions began) to get me refocused and re-energized. She\u00a0rebozo-ed<\/a>\u00a0my belly, tying a thick knot on the spot in my back that feeling the worst.<\/p>\n Rebozo-ed in Labor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We attached the Tens machine<\/a>, in hopes of some physical relief. The biggest thing we did was get my head back in the game. She had me write down all my motivational sayings on pieces of paper and hung them all over my bedroom. I was strong, and I was capable, and I needed to see that everywhere I looked, so I could stay focused on my VBAC goal.<\/p>\n That night the movie Bridesmaids was on tv, and in the end, there is a scene with Wilson Phillips singing their song \u201cHold On\u201d. I began singing along, holding tight to the lyrics \u201chold on for one more day, things\u2019ll go your way, hold on for one more day\u201d. I needed to hold on, for one more day and things would go my way\u2026right?<\/p>\n I went to bed that night after taking some Tylenol PM in hopes I could get some sleep between my ongoing contractions. Sunday morning I awoke from a dream feeling like I needed to push the baby out. I knew I didn\u2019t really need to push, but the sensation was so strong I woke up my husband and said: \u201cfill up the pool, I\u2019m having a fucking baby today\u201d.<\/p>\n We filled up the birth tub, and I spent the day with my painful back labor contractions. Friends came to take the boy to allow me to focus on laboring. Being that it was a Sunday and my favorite football team the Buffalo Bills were playing, the hubby set up a mirror so that I could watch the game from the birth tub in the reflection. Honestly, my contractions were regular enough and intense enough that I didn\u2019t watch the game (but really the game was wretched and not worth watching anyway). As the day went on, it became another Groundhog Day, with no baby making an appearance.<\/p>\n Going to bed after being so sure I was going to have a baby that day left me frustrated and impatient. I wanted this labor, I did. I wanted to let my body do what it needed to do, so I was thankful, but man I was over it. At about midnight I woke up to some painful contractions that were even more intense, and seemingly closer together. After timing them for an hour, and having consistent waves at least a minute long and 5 minutes apart, I called my doula and my midwife. The midwife advised us to continue timing them and call back in a couple of hours if things stayed consistent. They did, so I asked everyone to come over. It wasn\u2019t showtime, but I really needed more support and reassurance everything was going well.<\/p>\n 3 am Monday morning my birth team arrived. Everything was going well until the sun came up. I was distracted by getting my son out the door; he was being taken by a friend to play and then to school. This would be the last time we see him until after the baby is born. I lost all momentum in the transition and was sent outside to take a walk to see if we could get contractions going again. It didn\u2019t really work, and when I got back I cried to my team that I was worried if I didn\u2019t start having contractions more regularly they would leave until I was more active. They reassured me they were all in until I had the baby and that made me feel so much better.<\/p>\n The entire day Monday was spent doing everything under the sun to get some real progress happening. I was in the tub in a variety of positions, I was on the floor on hands and knees. I walked, I crawled, I cried\u2026and cried some more.<\/p>\n Birth Tub Laboring<\/p>\n<\/div>\n My greatest challenge during the day was back labor. The pain was so intense in my lower back, and it started wrapping around my hips so much so I felt like I couldn\u2019t move my legs to walk. I had to reach my arms up in the air to engage my abdominal muscles just so I could walk to the bathroom.<\/p>\n After hours of this (and listening to me whine) my midwife sat me down and told me about an option I had to alleviate the pain in my back. I was so desperate I was willing to try anything. It would be something that only stopped the pain for about an hour, but I could get some relief and use that time to either rest or try and get some good contractions going. The catch, because there is always a catch, was that it is an incredibly painful option. She explained it would be 4 injections that would feel like incredibly bad bee stings. Saline<\/a> would be injected into my skin around the area I was experiencing the back pain. I really thought there was nothing that could be more painful than what I was feeling in my back. WRONG. I screamed bloody murder and crushed my husband’s hands as my midwife and doula each injected me simultaneously, two times. But you know what, that shit worked.<\/p>\n Immediately after they injected me I looked at them and asked if either of them has experienced that before. My midwife said \u201cyes, I have\u201d and I said \u201cgood\u201d. It made me feel better knowing that she knew how awful that felt before inflicting it on me.<\/p>\n I was able to spend about an hour relaxing in bed with my hubby. What a difference it made not having pain radiate through my whole back and hips when having a contraction. Labor felt easy during that hour\u2026I may have even dozed off in between contractions.<\/p>\n Now, I was very adamant that I didn\u2019t want cervical checks during my labor. My team knew I wanted them there for support and positive reinforcement, but I did not want to be handled the way I had my first birth. They fully respected that. There were points that they thought it would be a good idea to be checked, but they asked me what I thought and how I was feeling, and if it would help me go on to know how far I had dilated. I knew I risked being discouraged, but at the same time, I also needed some motivation. Around 3pm I was checked and was 7cm dilated. Not far to go!<\/p>\n As we approached the evening hours I knew things would pick up as they had every night before. I even overheard my doula saying she felt confident I would have the baby that night. By 11 pm I was having some crazy contractions that were so different than what I had experienced thus far. They really caught me off guard and I had an incredibly hard time breathing and figuring out how to adjust to deal with them.<\/p>\n![\"RebozoPic\"](\"https:\/\/ericaheinsman.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/09\/rebozopic.jpg?w=300&h=245\")
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