Birth – Part 2

So basically, we went w/ this doctor. He was very motivating and very optimistic.  His residents however seemed to be kind of ‘different’ shall we say?  A little threatening, and at other times just wayyy too ‘cautious’. 

Ok so leme back up a bit. Because I was on this mission for a vbac, I tried to do everything I could for a vbac. So I got a doula. And that indeed the best thing I ever did. She was absolutely wonderful. Very supportive, with great suggestions, but never bossy! So naturally, we were very pleased.

My labor was long but doable for the most part up till the water breaking part.  At that point, the pain got really excrutiating and we headed to the hospital.  I was prepared to go natural had the pain remained at the level it was before the water broke and it was considerable. But after the pain just passed the level of my threshold, I was VERY READY for the epidural(and that is an understatement).

After the epidural, my senses returned and we generally sailed through labor till the pushing part which was short and alhamdulillah not too bad.

Ok so back to the fear mongering that the residents did for a bit..basically at one point even though I was 8 centimeters..they thought the labor was slowing down and they gave me sort of a time period to reach 10 centimeteres..otherwise they would have to do this or that.

At that point, the Hero OB lol basically told ‘em to check me like 5 or 6 hours later! thus saving the day. Because once I was checked that many hours later, I was dilated.  Once i heard that, I think the word rupture was nonexistant in my dictionary. I just started crying with joy. I think at that point I felt like this is great .. i’ve done it..before even giving birth.

Before this birth, I thought that this whole thing about “having the birth you want” is all gobeldy gook. As if the birth itself is a goal. But I realized afterwards, that there was a satisfaction to be gained from having a generally “pleasant” lol birth.  One significant thing was that my husband got to spend time with the baby right away and we both felt like that gave him this bond w/ the baby right away which was pretty special. 

Going back to the doula thing, I think it was sweet how a complete stranger can become so familiar in a sense because they share such a significant experience in your life. My doula was truly wonderful. Without the doula, we would have been sort of like overwhelmed and trying to do this or that, without the proper knowledge or direction.  Ofcourse, if we had taken childbirth classes, we would have been more on top of things, but studying things theoretically is ALWAYS different than actually experiencing them.  And the doula was obviously experience and so she was on top of things.