My first birth was traumatic.
For me.
For my husband.
For my baby.
Induced at 36 weeks due to pre-eclampsia.
Slow labor, called failure to progress.
Baby’s heart tones “not recovering properly”.
Emergency C-Section.
I was in the recovery room for two hours. TWO HOURS before I got to even see my baby.
My husband, Mom, and Mother in Law all got to hold him before I even got to see him.
Then, I got wheeled into the nursery to hold him, snap a “first family photo” and then got wheeled right back out into my room. My baby stayed in the nursery, without me.
For two weeks. I was only “allowed” to see him every three hours to nurse. My milk never came in. Ever. So, every three hours were bottle feeds. I missed out on critical bonding time for the first two weeks of his life.
This is obviously the very short version. There were so many details and things that happened along the way that, had I known better, things may have ended differently.
After digging and digging, and getting my op report from the hospital I learned that while my induction may have been necessary, my “emergency” cesarean was not.
From all that I had learned since, it seemed to be due to impatience, and a provider who had given up on my chance for a vaginal birth before I even got into active labor. I wish I had known about how to research provider and hospital maternal outcome statistics, and that I SHOULD.
My nurses call my doctor “The Quilter” because his incisions always come out looking perfect. His cesarean rate is 47%. The hospital I was at has the highest cesarean rates in the entire state. I didn’t know any of those things, then.
But yet, I am grateful. That journey has led me where I am today, 3VBACs and advocating for so many women like me. Educating and creating momentum for VBAC and cesarean prevention awareness. There is so much power when women fight on a united front! So MUCH can be and has been accomplished!! Fight with me!
Yes, statistically and factually, there are many great reasons for VBAC, and vaginal birth in general. I could spout them off in my sleep. But I will save that for another day because this… Stories like mine… There are thousands of them!!! This is WHY WE VBAC!
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Listen to my full story and how I went on to have 3 HBACs on our podcast.
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