How To Prepare For A VBAC!

How do you prepare for a VBAC? Well – Beth did all the things! Beth took Hypnobirthing with us for her first birth and things didn’t quite go as planned. In this video, she talks about the unmet labor expectations and the tools she used to navigate the unexpected, moment by moment. Because Beth already had those tools in place, her cesarean was not a traumatic experience. When preparing for her VBAC, she pulled out all the stops and made sure she did her part to ensure the best chances for success! We are very lucky in San Diego to have a great birth community and supportive providers for our VBAC families. Dr. Capetanakis was Beth’s provider for her VBAC. He is a doctor who believes in the power of a woman’s body and has helped so many women believe in themselves to have great birth experiences.

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Video Transcript:

Hello, my name is Beth Mario and I just had a VBAC. A little bit about my first birth experience. I ended up having a C-section with my son about two years ago, and my husband and I did participate in the Hypnobirthing classes which were extremely helpful throughout my entire pregnancy and through our labor. And what happened for me was around 41 weeks and five days, my water broke at home and we were very excited. Unfortunately, over a 24 hour period I did not go into labor so we were transferred from a birth center, which is for low risk moms to the hospital at Sharp Grossmont. I received pitocin there, I definitely used a lot of my hypnobirthing techniques to get through the surges and the labor but after about 12 hours and not progressing very far, I went ahead and had an epidural, another 12 hours after that my son started to have some late decency and so what was decided between my doctor and myself that a C-section was needed to have my son come out and be healthy.

And so we had the C-section. I definitely used a lot of the things that I learned to help me cope with the changes that were happening throughout, that 48 hours of labor time and definitely being prepared we brought both a natural birth plan and kind of as a last resort which we ended up using a C-section birth plan which my doctor was very accommodating to follow along with the different requests that I had for that. And although it wasn’t the birth that I had hoped for or plan for initially, I definitely had all the information, I was able to ask a lot of questions as we went through these changes from being at a birth center, having a planning for a water birth to going to the hospital, having pitocin, accepting an epidural and then eventually needing to have a C-section.

It was not traumatic. I did some grieving after my son was born for the birth that I had hoped for for him but during the process, I never felt pressured. I felt like I had a lot of information from the doctor but I also feel like because I asked for a lot of things and asked a lot of questions, I was given a lot of information and the doctor that I had was not my original care provider because of our transfer process, I went from midwives to a hospital, I asked to do some time in the bathtub there which doctors won’t do or they won’t even suggest, he granted me that. There were a lot of wiggle room that I was given, if you will, from there very strict procedures just because I asked and because I was educated on what is possible.

With an IV in, they wrapped my arm in plastic and I sat in the bathtub with my arm out. At least I have been able to stay in that bathtub, I probably wouldn’t have been able to labor a lot longer without an epidural. So I knew I wanted to have a VBAC, my husband and I we had prepared greatly for our first son to have a natural birth, to use the Hypnobirthing and we did feel like we didn’t get to use all of the skills that we had prepared for. So this time around, I knew I wanted to hire a doula because I feel like she would have helped us even more so during our first birth even if it had ended in C-section. So hiring a doula was a big step for us ’cause I wanted to have that extra support person along with my husband there and she was paramount in helping us get through the full process this time.

I took, I think about six of the relax and release classes here, at the Birth Education Center also because I already had one child, I wanted that special time to connect with just my daughter and also to work through some of my anxieties, fears, trepidation about having a vaginal birth after having a C-section. My husband and I also took the Hypnobirthing refresher course which was great. My husband was able to also get a lot out of that class, he is able to relieve some fears he had as well as I did. We did a lot of practicing at home. Part of the Hypnobirthing techniques is to practice with your partner and so a couple of times a week, we would go ahead and practice doing our soft touch and I would practice my breathing and relaxing and I used all of that during this second birth and VBAC.

So this is my daughter, Bell, who was born just about seven weeks ago, VBAC. Just to tell you a little bit about our birth this time around. I went into labor on my due days which I didn’t believe could have happen . And she was born just about three and a half hours after her due date. This time around, we chose a very VBAC friendly, OBGYN, doctor Cap’s office and he believed in my ability to have a vaginal birth from the minute I met him which was great and it was very relaxed with me and definitely believed sometimes more in me than I did at that particular moment in myself. You will hear my little baby in the background, she’s being held by someone else and giving her own opinions on this .

We started seeing Dr.Cap and we hired a doula about halfway through my pregnancy, Christal, who was great during our prenatal visits and then kind of helped us just glide right into our, into our natural birth. I wanted to labor naturally just because I know all of the benefits that come with that as well as just trusting that my body knows what it’s doing. Using the Hypnobirthing techniques, I really didn’t realize I was in labor until about 4:30, five o’clock in the evening, my husband was picking my son up. He got home around 6:30, I told him I think maybe I’m having some contractions. We ended up having my son go to his grandmother’s house. I used my breathing techniques to get through each of the surges, we even put on a comedian ’cause I thought these aren’t real. So we ate some dinner, I had a really nice hearty dinner, we watched a comedian, my husband did some soft touch on my arms when I would have a surge which were lasting around a minute and were coming like three to four minutes apart.

That’s when I decided, okay, maybe I’ll let my doula know that I’m progressing, see what she thinks. After I was uncomfortable to sit down anymore, I was like, okay, I’m done with dinner, I’m gonna hop in the shower. I labored in the shower for about an hour. My husband started to get a little nervous ’cause my contractions or surges were about three minutes apart. We waited for our doula to get there, she said, you’re looking good, we can labor at home a little longer. Still at this point I felt like this was gonna be a longer time doing this. We labored in our living room which was my comfy-cozy area where I did all my practices with my husband for about an hour until I felt my body starts pushing down which is when we said let’s get in the car. So I had a couple more surges at home, got in the car, had a few in the car, wore my mask, which if you take Hypnobirthing, your fully blinks mask, made my drive about half the time in my mind is what it was.

Our doula met us there in her car and was able to basically get the doors open ’cause it’s the middle of the night. So I could just walk right in ’cause I did have a surge in the parking lot and then went right in. I brought my own birth gown. So they were, had the gown ready for me and said, I got my own, popped up on the bed, let them get started with, I needed to have an IV ’cause I am a VBAC and then I labored for about an hour after that and then I said, I’m ready to push. When I arrived, I didn’t want to know what my centimeters were, they didn’t want to psych myself out but I was nine and a half when I arrived. My doula didn’t know, I said, you go ahead and find out and then you can help me progress as I need to and then after an hour I said, I really feel like I’m ready to push this baby out.

They checked me, I was at 10 and about 45 minutes later, my baby slipped right out. And the look on my face was one of shock. I’m not entirely sure why, I knew there was a baby in there but I just couldn’t believe that that I thought I was gonna have a baby that weekend, maybe this she was born on a Friday and then she came out ’cause I felt like I tried the first time and he didn’t come out. So my great experience and my baby was able because she was placed directly on my chest she started nursing about 10 minutes after being born. So I really got all the positive things that I missed out. It was both shocking and amazing.

There’s this amazing feeling when you see your child who you’ve been carrying for nine months or longer when they first basically arrive and so I just couldn’t believe that she was here and that she, that I got her there, I pushed her out when I think that’s ’cause I believed in myself and my doctor believed in me and my husband believed in me and my doula told me that I was doing great and preparing well and that I had this in the bag and so kind of having that cheerleader section there for you just really makes you believe, wow, I really did, I really did this, I really had a baby. And so sort of my shock and joy were because I didn’t.

For me this time hiring the doula was definitely one of the major things that I did and I knew I wanted just because I knew having somebody there who knows birth, who’s seen birth, we chose a doula who had quite a few experiences with VBACs as well. I think it’s just important to have people around you who have seen it happen and know it can happen and it’s not an anomaly, it’s natural for you to have a vaginal birth. Definitely, if you’re going for a VBAC, don’t fight your feelings of worry or concern ’cause I definitely had those thoughts, even though I knew my body could do it, there was this little voice that was like, maybe it can’t because it didn’t happen the first time and you did prepare the first time and it ended in the C-section but that’s maybe just the way he needed to be born. I definitely wanted to work through any of those feelings.

So coming to a group, talking to other pregnant women, talking to moms who’ve had C-sections who are going to have VBACs or have had them like me and just work through those because that’s I think your biggest deterrent. It’s not that you can’t do it, it’s that maybe you think you can’t. Coming to relax and release class, having a supportive provider, I think those are the main things. I feel like the thing that would’ve stopped me from having a VBAC would have been my mind and not my body.