So I think I want to share the details of my VBAC!

So quite a few weeks before I had my baby I was having infrequent painful contractions, lost my mucus plug more than once. I was checked dilation at 36 weeks and I was 1 cm and 50% effaced. I bounced on my yoga ball since 36 weeks as often as I could and started walking more. I had some pineapple and date smoothies for breakfast a few times and I drank a bit of raspberry leaf tea. So all this leading up to 38 weeks he was also measuring big and was checked head down and turned the right way at 36 weeks.

I kept having painful contractions during the night and nothing much during the day. So when I hit 38 weeks on 07/27 I wanted to do my midwives brew. So I woke up and got my house cleaned, set up a special spot in my house where I could labor at home as long as I could comfortably, and I cleaned out my car and put my infant car seat in it. I drove to my parents and took my midwives brew and finished it at 1:00pm. Took me 10 minutes to chug it all. I started bouncing on a yoga ball for a bit before I went home. I felt a little nauseous from chugging all that liquid. I started having contractions about 7 minutes apart at 3:00pm about. At 3:40pm I started timing them 2-3 minutes apart. I got back home and did hypnobirthing meditation and hugged my yoga ball and rocked my belly and hips in the air. My husband rubbed my back to help with discomfort. I sat down for a bit and ate a sandwich. They were coming so frequently and getting a little more painful so I decided to take a shower. They got a bit worse in the shower where I was moaning through them and told my husband to call my mom to come to the house and for my dad to take our son to watch. While they were on there way they got even worse and I was on the toilet and felt a small pop, and a small gush came out. So I was expecting to see that my water broke and instead I see in the toilet a lot of dark blood and some clots. I immediately knew I had to go into the hospital. My mom and dad got to my house and we immediately packed me into the car and my son went with my dad. My contractions at this point were a minute apart and extremely painful, and it was about 4:50pm. The whole car ride I was in a lot of pain and had very close together contractions. I got to the hospital and me and my husband get taken to labor and delivery, me in a wheelchair yelling in front of everyone in the ER... embarrassing... they get me to the triage room and check me, I am at 7cm and 100%. I believe he was a -1 if I remember correctly. They took me straight away to the delivery room. About 5:20pm. I get on the bed and they put my robe on me after getting me undressed. I’m asking about an epidural at this point and they’re saying it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to stay still for us to do it safely. My contractions are so bad I’m being very loud to put it nicely! My water breaks by itself and immediately my body is pushing so I start telling them I feel like pushing! I’m screaming at this point it’s so intense. A nurse gets me in the zone and tells me you’re going to do this and you’re going to push with these contractions! She told me to hold my breath and curl my head down, and I grabbed my own legs and pulled them up into my body. I could tell when I was pushing correctly because my contraction pain would stop which was a huge relief, but my ring of fire was happening a bit and my butt hurt haha. I got a small breather between pushes which also helped. I feel his head coming out and my husband is cheering me on along with all the nurses and the doctor! I can feel progress so I am like time to push my ass off! I started pushing as hard as I could with my contraction and he came out about 1-2 contractions later! At 5:50pm!! And all the horrible pain was mostly done and my husband and I are in total disbelief that I was only in the hospital for 30 minutes... everyone was telling me they couldn’t believe that happened that fast especially for a VBAC and my first ever vaginal delivery. I did have a 2nd degree tear which I didn’t even feel. I still can’t believe I had my baby that fast.... 4 hours and 50 minutes exactly after I finished my midwives brew. He is a perfectly healthy 7 pounds 11 oz and 20 inches long. I got to go home the next day at 7pm! Which was exciting since I missed my other son so much!