Monkey Bear's Miraculous VBAC: A Homebirth, Part 2

This is part 2 of my birth story of Monkey Bear, my homebirth after a c-section, from one year ago today! Here is part 1.

I hated the birth tub, which was really disappointing because at this point I was in a lot of pain & was looking forward to the relief I thought the tub would bring. I got so upset that I threw a loud fit, saying I couldn't do this anymore. My fit woke my sweet son who was sleeping in the adjacent room. He ran out of the bedroom, really scared, and kept saying "Nighty! Nighty!!" while pointing to the bedroom, as if to say, "Mom & Dad, why are you in that big pool of water? It's the middle of the night, and we're supposed to be in bed, sleeping!" Roy got out of the tub, went into the bedroom with Bear, and got him resettled. My midwife gave me a pep talk at this point (Roy says she took my face in her hands to focus me). But honestly, I wasn't at all thinking, "Take me to the hospital for pain relief/c-section." I was fairly positive that hospital/epidural would equal pushing on back/stuck baby/c-section (as it did with Bear), and I wasn't remotely interested in a repeat performance; I wanted a VBAC. I was thinking, "I am so tired, I barely slept last night, it's 1 AM. Can we make this stop for a second so I can take a nap?" My midwife checked my progress and I was "thinned out & very open". She didn't share centimeters dilated, and I didn't want to know. During Bear's birth, hearing my "progress" every few hours, or lack thereof in the case of his labor, was very discouraging, so I had decided ahead of time I didn't want to know centimeters. I decided to move to the bathroom for some reason, I think because it was further away from the bedroom. This is kind of amusing because my bathroom is really, really small, especially for 3 people!

I kept at it, with Roy & my midwife cheering me on. My friend Jess arrived around 2:30 or so. My midwife broke my water around 3 or a little before (during a contraction, not the most comfortable feeling!), and I pushed for about 2 hours. I was started to feel a bit discouraged because I really wanted to get this baby out before Bear woke up, which he typically did at 7 or 7:30. I spent the last few contractions pushing in a sitting position (though at the time I didn't know they were the last ones), which seemed to really open me up. The head was partially out, so the midwife had her hand on it, and said, "Brenna, if you want to stay where you are, you're going to have to listen to me during the next contraction, or you will deliver the baby right here." (I was in a rather awkward position.) I knew I would be vocalizing and not able to listen, so I stood up. Roy had gotten into the shower at this point because the bathroom is so small, there was nowhere else for him to stand. The midwife was in front of me, and on the next contraction, as I screamed due to the ring of fire, Monkey Bear made his appearance! He was born at 4:58 AM.

I sat down and looked at him in disbelief. I did it! I pushed out a baby the old-fashioned way! At some point, I looked down to see if he was really a boy :) I was bleeding a lot. The midwife said she thought the placenta was already detached, that she needed to get it out of me, and I needed to go lie down so she could see what was going on down there. So the placenta came out painlessly, and I was moved to the other room. I tore (between a 2nd & 3rd degree), and the midwife stitched me up while Jess went to get me some food (I hadn't eaten in a long, long time). Bear woke up around 5:30 or 6, and Jess went in to resettle him. I took a couple bites of the eggs Jess made me, put the plate down, and the dog ate them :) I did something to my arms during labor and I had little control over them. I lifted my arm at the midwife's request, and it dropped and fell on my face! My arm pain lasted for close to 3 months (next time, if I do this again, I'm lifting weights!). I eventually turned over on my side to try & nurse the baby and rest. When we weighed Monkey Bear, he was 8 lbs 2 oz. He seemed so tiny compared to Bear, who was 10 lbs 7 oz at birth!

Happy birthday miracle Monkey Bear!

Monkey Bear's Miraculous VBAC: A Homebirth, Part 1

10 days before launch

I've been wanting to post Monkey Bear's birth story for quite some time. Since tomorrow is his birthday, I figured: why not now? I tried not to make it too graphic, but hey. It's childbirth. I hope it encourages some of you. This is part 1.

I went to bed on Saturday, Nov. 14th 2009, but was kept awake most of the whole night by horrible acid reflux. I slept maybe 2 hours that night. I started having timeable contractions at 6 AM. I had 3 about 9-10 minutes apart; I could lay down through them. I continued to snooze on & off until around 8, at which point I had a few more contractions. I got up, took a bath/shower. Bear & Roy got up at 9. We hung out, had oatmeal, and went for walk. We went to the store to get some Zantac for the reflux, which was still really bad, and grabbed some lunch while we were out.

I called the midwife around 2 PM, just to keep her informed. The contractions were still 5-20 minutes apart, and not too intense. She said second-time moms could have pockets of labor like this for days before "the real thing", but I felt like this was going to be it. Roy & I put Bear down for nap at around 3. I started having more regular contractions, every 10 minutes, around then, so I called the midwife again. The contractions picked up to every 4-6 minutes, and I had blood show around 6, so I called the midwife at 6:15. Based on numerous factors, she too thought this was it. I called her again around 9 (the poor woman!) when contractions were 2-4 minutes apart. She headed over. I got in the shower, and the water helped a little. The midwife arrived at 10.

I tried different positions for laboring, but only really liked standing. Every time I tried a different position, the contractions got even more intense and scary. I felt out of control in other positions. I did take Benadryl around 10 & was able to lay down for 45 minutes after my midwife arrived. Then I labored outside on porch for a while. The only way to get through contractions was to vocalize and push down on back of hips. I got too loud outside and was disturbing the neighbors (I'm not kidding - the one across the street ran out of her house at one point to see what was going on), so I eventually went upstairs & tried the birthing tub.

Part 2 :)

Introducing Monkey Bear, our HBAC Baby

On November 16th, at 4:59 AM after 13.5 hours of intense labor, we welcomed Monkey Bear into the world. After having a c-section with my dear son Bear, Monkey Bear truly felt like a miracle baby, born safe at home the old-fashioned way.

I will be sharing parts of my birth story in the near future. Till then, I'm enjoying my 2.5 week old and learning to navigate home life with 2 sons!