Henry's Birth -- My VBAC

As Justin has mentioned, my labor and delivery with Henry was quite different than my experience with Elizabeth. With both births, I was aiming for a no-intervention, no-medication, natural delivery, but I only achieved it with Henry.

After Elizabeth's birth, I was upset it ended in a C-section. Of course, I was glad to have a healthy baby, but her birth wasn't what I wanted. I really hoped for a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) with Henry and made sure to choose practitioners and a hospital where I had a good chance of making this happen. Overall, it was a satisfying experience and I'm very glad that everything went smoothly.

On January 22nd, at 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant, I woke up with contractions at 3:30 am. At first I didn't think much of them since I'd had contractions for the three nights prior. Regardless, I decided to get out of bed since I was more comfortable upright. I had experienced a spike in my blood pressure the day before, and had given Henry a talk about getting out soon, but I wasn't hopeful that he was as obedient as his sister (who also came when called). It took me until about 4:30 to determine that I might actually be in labor since my contractions were regular, strong, and showing no signs of slowing down.

I timed them for the next hour while bouncing on my yoga ball and playing online. The contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart and one minute long. I wanted to labor at home for a long time since I knew once I went to the hospital my movements would be restricted by monitors, so I still hadn't bothered to wake Justin.

At 5:45 I suddenly threw up all over the floor in my office (and right next to poor sleeping Pecos). In hindsight, I should have seen this as a sign I was in transition (approaching 10cm), but I didn't. After making an attempt to clean-up after myself, I realized I was going to need some help with the task as contractions were coming hard and fast, so I woke up Justin.

After he was done cleaning up and had taken a shower, he commented that my contractions were much closer than 2.5 minutes apart and were closer to one minute apart. I brushed him off and continued packing snacks for my bag. At this point, he decided to wake Bill (he and Barbara were staying with us) so that Bill could start shoveling out his car for the ride to the hospital.

When Bill got up at 6:20 I told him that there was no rush and that we wouldn't be leaving too soon. I was wrong. Not ten minutes later I was in the bathroom feeling an overwhelming need to push. It seems I was fully dilated and I was freaked out.

While Bill dug out his car, Justin packed my bag, and Barbara comforted an awakened Elizabeth, I gave myself some pep talks in the bathroom. Namely, I told myself I would not have my baby at home in the bathroom (or we would have to name him John ... sorry, Justin's joke). After my water broke, I knew we really needed to get moving. With some assistance from Justin, I managed to get some shoes on and get to the car.

With some handy and illegal driving on Bill's part, and some strategic positioning on my part, we made it to the hospital quickly and I only had to endure three contractions in the car. Justin and I made our way to labor and delivery, where I explained that I was already feeling the urge to push. After a speedy exam in the triage room, and confirmation that Henry was indeed making his way out, I was rushed to a labor and delivery room.

At first, there was much hub-bub in the delivery room as three nurses tried to insert an IV in me in three different places and an OB coached me through pushing. Once my IV was in, things calmed down, and I was able to just focus on pushing. After about 35 minutes of pushing, at 7:47 am, Henry made his entrance into the world. Henry was immediately placed on my chest where we were able to get to know each other and he nursed for the first time. It was wonderful to have an hour for Justin, Henry and I to hang out together.

Overall, this labor and delivery experience was very smooth and was pretty much exactly what I wanted. Recovery has been so much easier as has nursing. Of course, I'm still tired, but its nice to not be tired and in pain from major surgery. Regardless, I'm happy to be home with my two babies, wonderful husband (dude is seriously awesome), and my mom.

And in case you are wondering, Elizabeth is doing wonderfully with Henry. She likes to help out with diaper changes and pick out his outfits. She's not showing any jealousy about the extra time I am spending with him. Of course, that might change when I'm on my own with the two of them in two weeks, but we'll work through it.

And Henry is a pretty chilled out little guy. He's napping in his crib now, which I don't think Elizabeth did until six weeks. He mainly nurses, looks around, and sleeps, but we're excited to get to know him in the coming months.