Sydney Rose VBAC
(Vaginal Birth After Caesarean)
2013
3rd baby (previously had twins by c section)
Lived in: Kaitaia, Far North
WHERE WAS YOUR PLANNED PLACE OF BIRTH?
Kaitaia Hospital
WHERE WAS YOUR ACTUAL PLACE OF BIRTH?
Kaitaia Hospital
SYDNEY'S BIRTH
Signs of early labour
I woke up 30 Jan 2013 at 7.40am and could feel slight stomach cramps, it didn’t bother me.
After going to the toilet I found blood and rang my midwife, she let me know it was my show and baby would be coming along and to ring her back when things got more intense.
I carried on with my day and spent my time tidying up my house.
My contractions start to get a little bit intense but they didn’t bother me yet, so I jumped in the shower and then started tensing up a little bit when contractions happened.
After getting out the shower I let hubby know I was having contractions. It felt all normal to me, it didn’t sink in that I was going to have baby soon, I was still walking around like nothing was different.
Labour intensifies
I rang midwife again and let her know it was getting more intense (while I was laughing) she said I didn’t need to come in yet cause I was still laughing she said if I was in established labour I wouldn’t be laughing and boy was she right! So we just chilled out for a little and then about 2oclock my contractions started to get more intense and closer together. So I rang midwife and she told me to come in. On my way to the hospital (hospital is 30mins away) my contractions just got worse to the point that I started tensing up and the only relief for me was squeezing something really hard. We were five minutes from hospital when my waters broke, I remember having a contraction and then hearing a pop noise and then I felt like I was peeing myself, lucky our car has leather seats cause I had nothing underneath me.
2.35pm
We get to hospital at 2.35pm we arrived and there was no one in the maternity office so I yelled out and then was escorted to delivery room, put a hospital gown on and then lay on the bed.
Midwife checked baby heart beat and me, I was 8cm dilated and she told me bubs would be here soon. I asked if I could try gas, I used it for about 10mins and then I stopped cause it was making me too dizzy. I was also really hot but they wouldn’t put air con on cause the room needed to be warm for bubs so I had my mum, brother and sister taking turns putting cold wet cloth on my forehead while I was going through labour, I felt really relaxed and it kinda felt like it wasn’t happening, the idea of my baby coming just wasn’t sinking in.
Anyway as labour progressed I felt calm and almost felt zoned out, I felt no pain, even though I had no pain relief! I was very surprised at that, I really thought it was going to be the most horrible thing ever! When the contractions were happening they felt annoying not painful. My family said I was really quiet through the whole thing, to me it felt like I was in my own world, I couldn’t hear anybody but my midwife but I felt good. I could feel pressure in my butt the feeling of “I feel like pooping” as baby started to make her way into the world.
Bubs arrival
At 4.25pm Sydney Rose arrived, midwife said she came down and out sideways and that I handled it extremely well. She weighed a healthy 9pound 3ounces and was 51cm long. I did receive a small tear but it wasn’t enough that it needed stitching. I loved my birth!
Things you would do the same?
Im glad my husband made me go hospital - if I had left it longer I may have her in the car! Eek!
Things you would do differently?
If I could change anything to be different, it would just be to tell someone to video it! I would have loved to watch what I went through.
What advice would you reccommend to other Northland mums / families?
My advice to other mums is try to be relaxed and tell yourself, yes it will hurt! Cause if you can get your mind in the right state of mind afterwards you will be like “was that it!”
And remember You can do it!
Extra info I learned after babys birth
It was cool having a VBAC in Kaitaia! (I had a c-section 2 years earlier) though they did tell me if I had gone in earlier they probably would have sent me to Whangarei, So I guess the advice people tell you to wait at home as long as you can really helped there for me :)
I stayed there for 4 days, I was really homesick cause I was missing my other children so I wanted to go home but you can stay longer.
Their maternity unit is very homely and there is no visiting hours, You can visit whenever, as long as you dont disrupt the others. Your partner/family/friend can stay with you which is really awesome for some extra support.
You get your own room with a double bed, drawers, tv and chairs. They have a little outside deck area just for the maternity unit, which is awesome to get out and soak up some sun.
They have an excellent birthing pool in the delivery suite. If there is no one using it, they will allow you to bathe in it, you just need ask, I bathed in it a few times and it was even better cause they salted the water which was really soothing, it is cleaned well after each use.
The midwives and nurses are really helpful anything you need, they will do their best to help and their food is really nice considering its hospital food.
The breastfeeding support was good, my midwife also visited me when i was at home, still visits me now and baby is 9 months. Though it did take me 8 weeks to conquer breastfeeding because Im a really un-coordinated person so I found latching hard, I always used my feeding pillow (I took it everywhere with me) until baby was about 8months because I just couldnt get comfy and latch her at the same time, but now after lots of practice I can now breast feed without my pillow. My advice to new mamas for breastfeeding is to soldier on, it can take months for some mums to establish breastfeeding but some mums can just get it right away.
