The Birth Story Seth David | Positive Unmedicated VBAC
Well my friends, this is a post that I’ve been putting off writing for way too long: the positive unmedicated VBAC birth story of our 5th child (and 4th boy), Seth David.
I normally like to write out these stories, for my sake more than anyone, as soon as possible after the birth. I don’t want to forget any details! Yet, here I am 6+ weeks postpartum, finally getting my act together enough to write it down. Maybe that’s just a natural effect of having 5 kids, 5 and under? That’s my excuse, anyway!
I’ll start by giving you some context for why this baby was a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean), in case you aren’t familiar with any of my other stories. (I’ll include links to those stories at the end of this post.)
As always, if this isn’t your cup of tea, you can stop reading any time. These posts exist for those interested and for my own personal benefit!
My previous births
My first 3 babies were all born at home with a midwife and were all very positive experiences. That said, for my last birth (our 4th), I wanted to have another home birth… but he was transverse for much of my pregnancy, and he flipped breech right before I went into spontaneous labor.
When I went into labor, we went to the hospital to confirm his position, and there was only one OB on the floor that night. Since she was not comfortable delivering a breech baby, we ended up with an unplanned c-section.
Unmedicated VBAC birth – Home or hospital?
For this baby, a second c-section was out of the question. I grieved my first one; I felt cheated out of the opportunity to give birth, and the recovery was so long and so hard. Also, my husband and I would love to have more kids in the future… but the more times you have a c-section, the more risky future pregnancy becomes.
So, we planned to try for an unmedicated VBAC birth. There is a small (but real) risk of uterine rupture with a VBAC… and the window of time to save mom and baby (if that should happen) is only about 20 minutes. So, we had to decide: should we try to have this baby at home, where we feel more comfortable? Or, since we are about 20 minutes from the nearest hospital, should we go to the hospital to eliminate the time on the road, should an emergency occur?
Although the risk of uterine rupture is small, we both felt that it would be wiser to have this baby (with a midwife) in the hospital.
Why an unmedicated VBAC birth?
There are three reasons:
- Aside from my c-section, I had only experienced unmedicated births in the past.
- It can be a slippery slope when it comes to interventions/medications in childbirth. While they can be great, they can also affect the process of childbirth in a negative way (sometimes making the process harder or increasing the likelihood of needing a c-section).
- All of the stories I had heard of people who have experienced uterine rupture had used pitocin (artificial oxytocin) at some point in their birth, which can increase the risk of a uterine rupture taking place (source).
For all of those reasons, we wanted to have an unmedicated VBAC.
Leading up to my unmedicated VBAC birth
My first two babies were both born early, and my second two came late. So, I really didn’t know what to expect for this one. I hoped for an earlier labor (38-39 weeks was my wish)… but you really can’t plan these things when it comes to natural birth!
About 10 days before my due date, I started having regular, rhythmic contractions. (I always have Braxton Hicks contractions for months before birth, but this was definitely different!) We were out for a walk, the weather was beautiful, and I was ready to have my baby. I was so excited! We got takeout for dinner and even called my in-laws to alert them that things could be happening (they were going to look after our other 4 children when the baby was coming).
After about 6 hours, my contractions started to die down and space out. We were disappointed, but having experienced false labor with past pregnancies, we weren’t too surprised.
Off to the hospital!
I was due April 17. On April 15, around midnight, I started having contractions– and they were quite strong! Strong enough that I had to really concentrate to breathe through them, a tell-tale sign (I thought) of true labor. They were coming every 3-4 minutes or so, lasting about a minute long.
Since my previous labors had all been quite fast (my last natural labor was only 3.5 hours), I was nervous about this baby coming before we could get my kids to my in-laws and over to the hospital. So, after an hour or so of timing steady, strong contractions, I wanted to head over. To give ourselves lots of space to progress without pressure, we had planned to go to the hospital and set up a little “bed” in the back of our van so that I could rest and use the Bradley Method for early labor. (Since I wanted an unmedicated VBC, I didn’t want to go into the building until things were further along, to avoid unnecessary pressures or interventions.)
We alerted my in-laws, took the kids over to them, gave the midwife a heads up, and headed over to the hospital. We parked, set up our van, and let my body do its work. However, after an hour or so of more steady contractions, things began to die down again… Disappointed, we decided to drive home, get some rest in our own beds, and pick up the kids the next day.
False labor… again.
The next two nights were the same, minus the the trip to the hospital. Strong, regular contractions (each night stronger than the one before), started around midnight every night. Yet, again, each time they died down after several hours. I had been having pretty strong, irregular contractions through the day every day, but around midnight is when they would settle into a pattern (preventing me from sleeping). After 3 days of false labor in a row, I was thoroughly spent.
Discouraged
On Saturday, I felt some extreme movement… so just to be sure the baby was still in a good position, we went to the hospital for an ultrasound. I had been having contractions every day for several days at this point, so we also decided to see if my midwife could check me for progress, hoping that perhaps the check could kick-start an already pending labor.
I was already 3 cm dilated, 40% effaced. My body was getting ready!
We spent that day with my in-laws. After dinner, feeling completely spent, they offered to keep the kids for us that night, just in case. They told us that if nothing happened, at least we would get a chance to rest. We agreed, and headed home.
Making the call to go in
Once again, the same thing happened around midnight: more contractions! Only this time, they were even stronger. Rather than just having to sway and breathe through contractions, now I found myself wanting to vocalize through them. I felt sure this had to be it… right?
The only thing keeping me from feeling sure was that this time, my contractions where quite irregular for timing. They would sometimes be 2-3 minutes apart, and sometimes 8-10 minutes apart, lasting 45 seconds to 1 minute long. Still, the strength of them made me feel like this was happening. We called the midwife to see what she thought, and she suggested I try calming things down by taking a warm shower.
The shower felt amazing and seemed to settle my body—but right after, the timing between contractions was tighter together, and we decided to head to the hospital. It was around 2:30-3am.
Real labor?
This time we didn’t bother with laboring in the van (we learned from trying it before that it wasn’t a very effective setup with all of our kids’ carseats in the back). After getting checked in, my midwife checked me to find that I was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. This certainly seemed to be it!
We got to our room and continued laboring. Contractions kept coming, and continued in their strong way… but after several hours, they didn’t seem to be getting any stronger. In fact, some of them almost seemed weaker, and the timing of them was all over the place. Sometimes 3 minutes apart… sometimes 9. I remember thinking at one point, “Am I really going to have a baby tonight? Or is this another round of false labor?”
Getting things going
At this point, the sun was coming up, and we still had no baby. I was so disappointed… I was hoping for a baby by morning! Around 9am (I think?), my midwife suggested that we do a stretch and sweep to see if we could get my contractions to fall into a pattern. She did—and it was horrible—But it worked! Almost immediately my contractions picked up and got MUCH stronger.
My hardest labor yet
I think it may have been my exhaustion speaking, but this labor felt like my hardest. I remember feeling like I had to express (although I knew in the moment it must mean I was almost there!) that I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. Even through the pushing phase, I felt like I had to work SO hard for every part of this baby to come out! In the past, I felt like once the head was born, the rest of the body came quickly and easily after. This time, not so– I literally felt like I had to work so hard for every inch of him! I also felt like I had to work really hard for the placenta to come, which was not my experience in the past either. I was utterly spent.
Successful unmedicated VBAC – It’s a boy!
Once the baby came out, they handed him to me. As you know by the title of this post, it was another boy! Our fourth boy in a row. I felt like I could barely lift my hands to hold on to him, I was so tired– but what a relief, and what joy. We had our successful unmedicated VBAC, and our sweet little baby boy was healthy and strong. 8 lbs 6 oz, 20 inches long, with soft dark hair and a sweet little face that looked just like his big brother Albert.
On our way home, we chose one of the names from our list that we felt suited him best: “Seth David.” His name means “Appointed Beloved,” and reflecting on his birth later, we chose one of the Psalms of David for him:
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.”
Psalm 130:5-6
I remember praying for strength to get through this labor, trying to think of Scripture to encourage me in those final, difficult moments… and watching for the morning, waiting for our baby to be born. I so wanted to be holding my newborn baby as the sun came up!
Truly, I waited on the Lord for the strength to carry me through that labor! It was He that carried me through.
My other birth stories
If you like reading birth stories, you can check out my other ones here:
- Baby #1 – Faith Yvette (natural home birth)
- Baby #2 – William John (natural home birth)
- Baby #3 – Albert Walter (natural home birth)
- Baby #4 – Silas Joseph (hospital c-section)
That’s all for today, my friends. Thanks for reading. <3
Naomi
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