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Shannon's Inspirational VBAC - Vaginal Birth After Caesarean

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Vaginal Birth After Caesarean

We are so proud of all of our PregActive Mamas. And just so proud of Shannon, who is so excited to announce her baby boy arrived by VBAC. This is her inspirational Vaginal Birth After Caesarean.

Here is Shannon's inspirational VBAC story.

Just announcing the birth of my second child - a little boy named Tobias James Smith - 8 pound 7 ounces. We already have a 2 year old little girl who is very proud to be big sister. She loves to kiss and cuddle her little brother.

He was born on the 11th of Nov at 7.11pm. I had a successful VBAC. My daughter's birth was an emergency caesarean after a very long labour and failed vacuum.

This labour was still long - 28 hours from first contraction but not as long as my first. I put my daughter down for a nap on the Tuesday afternoon and started having contractions.

They were irregular to begin with. Over night they went to 10 mins apart so I didn't get much if any sleep and by midday the next day they were two in 10 minutes.

My mum came and picked up my daughter Wednesday morning so we could relax and focus.

I tried to relax as much as I could because I didn't know how long this would take.

In some ways it was an easier labour than my daughter's but in other ways it was harder. The contractions were very strong. I used my TENS machine a lot!

We watched Netflix and I actually ate a bit of food while labouring. By the afternoon I was really tired and had been texting my midwife about my progress. She said to come in when I was ready and I was. I needed to know how far along I was as I was running out of steam.

When we got there we found out I was 6-7cm dilated so we would be staying until this baby came. They put a cannula in and monitors on me as I was having a VBAC.

I sat on the exercise ball for a while but because I was so tired I ended up on the bed.

At 6pm I had a really big contraction and my waters broke. They were clear so that was positive. My waters never broke with my daughter so that gave me hope that I would have him naturally. It was a cool feeling 'the pop'.

After that the contractions got closer together and really strong. I was using the gas and air but found it wasn't really helping me much. I found out after that it wasn't on very high so no wonder!

At least it helped me breath a bit. I did find it hard this time to belly breathe through the contractions because my stomach felt so tight.

Anyway a little while after my waters broke, my bubba's heartrate dropped to 80. My midwife did a check and I was fully dilated so it was decided that I needed to push early and that the vacuum would be used to get him out quicker. I did not mind this help as by this stage I was very tired and struggling.

They gave me some Fentanyl right at the end which helped calm me a bit. I still was able to feel the urge to push and did try to when I could.

The doctors were able to get him out with the vacuum and pushes from me.

His shoulders ended up getting stuck so they had to turn him. Thankfully that all went fine and he came out healthy and well. I was beyond relieved and very surprised to have had a baby boy.

I was convinced we were having another girl!

The birth was hard but definitely worth it to have my beautiful bubba boy.

Even though I needed help to birth him, I am proud I was able to have a VBAC and felt well supported by my husband, my midwife and the doctors.

My midwife has since said to me I could of birthed him by myself but because of his heart rate dropping they needed to intervene. I am thankful they got him out when they did and that he was okay!

The recovery from this birth has been so much easier and I feel so well compared to my first birth. I did have a second degree tear but this has healed quickly and is nothing compared with a Caesar.