Cathy's
Birth Story
 Our
second baby went overdue just like our first, but this
time we were prepared. Our first overdue led to 3 days of
induction, frustration, exhaustion, and a Caesarean. With
our second, we were well read, well supported by the VBAC
Association and midwives, and well prepared with both VBAC
and midwife birth preparation classes.
We wanted to plan a VBAC because we didn't want the
recovery time involved with a c-sec. We found out that VBAC
was safer than a repeat c-sec and I wanted to see this baby
born. I had a previous Caesarean because of "failure to
progress" according to the doctor's report. However from
our own research we would say it was more because of a
failed induction and too many interventions that left the
system no option. When planning my VBAC, I found the
following most helpful: reading, the VBAC support group,
VBAC preparation classes, midwife support, and midwife
prenatal classes; We found this the most difficult: finding
a doctor and hospital that would let us try our own way so
we finally chose to go with midwife care and home birth.
We had decided that our VBAC baby would be born at home with
midwives in attendance because we wanted to avoid the
hospital intervention we knew we would encounter. I had 3
days of early labour, then on Friday my contractions began
to get more regular. My membranes broke during an
examination with the midwife. I was 4 cm dilated at 3 p.m.
There was a slight show of meconium in the fluid but we
decided to continue at home. I laboured mostly in the
bathtub and on the toilet, constantly reassured by my
husband Loren and 2 midwives that everything was going  along
quite fine. Everything went along calmly and relaxed. About
midnight I started to push. After about 45 minutes Stephen
wooshed out.
All our preparation and hard work had paid off. It was an
exhilarating experience, one that couldn't have been any
better.
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