When I had my son in 2022, I had a C-section because he was breech the entire time I was pregnant with him. I was told after having him that I would be a great candidate for a VBAC, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to try for a vaginal birth, because c-section birth was all I knew. When I got pregnant with my daughter, I did a lot of research and a lot of praying, and decided I wanted to go for a VBAC! I also really wanted to have an unmedicated birth after learning that there were so many benefits for me and baby in doing so.

My daughter’s due date was May 24th, so when her due date was approaching, my friend, and doula, Emma asked if she could try doing a foot and hand massage to see if it would kickstart labor. I really think this is what put me into labor! That same night, I woke up to some mild contractions, but strong enough to wake me. I tried to go back to sleep, but I was anxious to know if this was the real deal or not. After a few more hours of sleeping on and off, I got up and went about my day.

At 12:30pm My husband (Aaron), my son (Westley), and I went to a flea market with Emma to walk around and see if that would get contractions more consistent- it sure did! By the time we left the flea market I was very uncomfortable. We were originally planning to stop and get lunch, but we ended up just going home because I was so uncomfortable.

Around 4pm we got home and I took a warm bath, which helped me manage contractions better, and also helped them speed up. I squeezed a comb in my palm to help as well. I honestly wasn’t really sure if it was helping or not, but I held onto a comb for the rest of labor, so it must have been doing something! After I got out of the bath, I decided to lie down in bed and see if I could take a nap. I fell asleep for a few minutes, but my contractions mostly kept me awake.

At 6pm Emma checked in to see if she should come over. I think what I told her was that I was “holding onto a comb for dear life,” so she got over to my house as quickly as she could! Emma got to my house around 7:15pm, and at this point I could still talk through my contractions, so we turned on Pride and Prejudice for distraction. My husband decided to leave and go get a much needed haircut because who knows when he would have the time after the baby was born. (Don’t worry, I was totally fine with him leaving since I had Emma there.) When my husband left, Emma suggested I try doing the Miles Circuit to help get baby into the correct position. This involved 3 different positions for 30 minutes each: exaggerated side lying, a chest to floor position (kind of like child’s pose), and doing hip circles on a birthing ball. I think doing the Miles Circuit really helped things move a lot faster from here.

The next thing that happened was so crazy, but so cool! In labor a lot of times the mom will get the “labor shakes,” which usually means she’s in the transition phase of labor. When my husband got home from getting a haircut, he came over to me while I was laying on the couch and rubbed my back. Within just a few seconds I started shaking, meaning labor was progressing faster. I think my shaking happened because I fully relaxed knowing my safe person was there, and my body kicked into gear.

At 10:15 my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. Emma suggested I try using the tens unit on my back to help with contraction pain. I don’t know that this necessarily made the pain better, but it definitely distracted me from it, which made it more bearable.

At 11:30 labor slowed down a bit because I decided to take a shower for some pain relief. It was actually really nice that labor slowed down because then I got to rest a little bit.

At 12:30am after taking a shower, I went in my bedroom with Aaron and listened to my Christian Hypnobirthing app. (This app is amazing by the way!) I think being in the dark with the hypnobirthing app was really helpful for me to relax and get labor to ramp up again after it had slowed down.

At 2:30am Emma encouraged me to go downstairs after a bit and walk around to get contractions closer together. We were only downstairs around 30 minutes before my contractions got to about 2-3 minutes apart again, and then it was time to head to the hospital. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t sit down. I think baby was super low and probably the only thing keeping her in was that my water hadn’t broken yet. I remember telling Aaron that the only way I was getting in the car was if he put me in the trunk so I could be on all fours- I seriously couldn’t sit down!

It was only about a 10 minute drive to the hospital, so we got there at about 3am. The walk through the hospital made my contractions even closer together and more intense. When we got into the delivery room, Emma knew that I wanted to use the tub, so she went and started the water for me. The nurse in my room told me if I could get onto the bed she would check to see how dilated I was. I hadn’t been checked at all yet, and I honestly didn’t want to know how dilated I was because I was worried I wouldn’t be nearly as far along as I was hoping. Also, I doubt I could have been still enough for her to check me anyway. I looked over at Emma and asked her if I had to get checked, and she told the nurse I didn’t want to get checked right now, and the nurse was totally fine with it. This was one of the moments I was so glad I had hired a doula. It’s very difficult to advocate for yourself to a stranger in a hospital- especially when you are in a lot of pain! With how quickly everything went from this point, I think if the nurse had checked me I would have already been fully dilated.

At 3:30am I got into the tub, and literally the second I got in the water my body started pushing for me. I had heard about fetal ejection reflex, and even hoped and prayed to experience it myself, but I truly don’t know how to describe the feeling, other than to say that it was an out of body experience feeling my body push for me. I don’t remember this part, but Emma said while I was in the tub, the nurse tried to put my IV in and blood was spewing everywhere, so I’m glad I don’t remember that part. Ha! I do remember though when I locked eyes with Emma and said, “How do people DO this?!”

My midwife arrived just in time. She saw that I was already pushing and felt to see where baby was, and told me I needed to move to the bed right away because baby would be here soon. Somehow I managed to walk over to the bed and they had it set up for me to be on all fours. That position wasn’t specifically in my birth plan, but I knew I wanted to try that position first, so I was really happy that it was already decided for me! With one of my contractions on the bed, my water broke- I was amazed that it stayed intact for so long! I had actually specifically prayed that my water wouldn’t break until right before my baby was born. I knew contractions could be much more intense and painful if your water breaks earlier in labor. I was so grateful this prayer was answered!

I was so ready for her to be out at this point and asked Emma how much longer she thought it would be. She told me she could see baby’s head, which was a relief to me because I was so exhausted I didn’t know if I could keep going. I had heard a lot of stories about women having to push for hours on end, so I had been kind of worried that would be the case for me. Thankfully, I only pushed two more times before she was out! The only thing I wish I had done differently was being a bit more in control of my pushing, because I did have a tear that may have been avoided, but I was so desperate to get baby out that I just didn’t really care in the moment.

Adelaide was born at 4:04am, just an hour after arriving to the hospital! I was definitely in shock for a good bit after giving birth. I kept saying, “how did I do that?” for probably 20 minutes. I still ask myself the same question when I reminisce my birth story because giving birth was a wildly beautiful experience. This birth was honestly the best VBAC experience I could have asked for. Everything went unbelievably well, even down to the small details that I hoped and prayed for. What they say is true, you really do forget the pain after giving birth, because I keep catching myself thinking, “wow, I can’t wait to do that again!”