I first met C and J before baby Daven was conceived. C and J were meeting with midwives before they were pregnant with baby number three because they wanted to be prepared. C had cesareans in her previous two births and wanted to ensure she had the best chance possible at having a VBAC, which she did not think would happen in the hospital. C’s first cesarean was due to oblique presentation. Despite the presentation, she progressed to 8cm. C found a VBAC supportive OB for her second birth. She went into the hospital at 4cm and found the doctor on call was not supportive of VBACs. She was taken back 30 minutes later for a repeat cesarean at 7cm. Her VBAC chance was stolen from her. The funny part of the consult was I never figured I would hear back from C and J. I had their consult scheduled on a day when my husband also had a meeting so my then 4 and 2 year olds were home, and my 2 year old had recently started potty training. It was quite an hour to say the least. I was mortified when they left. A little over a month later, C emails me saying she had gotten a positive pregnancy test and that her and J have decided they wanted me to be their midwife. <3 C’s pregnancy progressed well. The 20 week ultrasound showed a marginal placenta previa. We were confident it would move, and decided to schedule a 28 week scan to check that it had moved. The next scan came back indecisive over whether the placenta was marginal or low lying. C went in for a second opinion scan at 30 weeks and the placenta was 1cm from the inner os of the cervix. C scheduled a 37 week ultrasound. We prayed, and prayed. I was so confident in C’s ability to have a vaginal birth. I hated seeing her chance taken away because of the placenta. C went in for her 37 week ultrasound. No sign of a marginal previa or low lying placenta! No evidence. God is good! We all rejoiced that C and J could continue on with their home birth plans! Three days before C’s due date, she called me that morning saying her contractions felt different. C had been having contractions off and on at varying intensities for a few days. That particular day my husband and I had a special date planned. C decided she wanted me to come check her and it would better help us make a plan for our evening. Around 10am on what would be Daven’s birth day, I found C contracting irregularly about every 5-10 minutes apart. Cervical exam found her to be 2cm dilated, 70% effaced and baby engaged at a 0 station. C commented that with her last two deliveries, she had appointments the morning she went into labor and was dilated 2cm, and had the baby later that day. C was exhausted. She took a couple benadryl and tried to sleep. A little after 1pm, C text that she got a nap in and contractions were consistently coming every 10 minutes. Three hours later they were every five, and an hour later they were coming every 3-5 minutes and C asked me to come. I got to C and J’s house right at 6pm. I found C laying on her side in her bath tub. She was very serious, moaning with contractions. Music was playing in the background. C agreed I should check her cervix. She was now 6cm\/80%\/0. Labor was progressing well! J did an amazing job at helping keep C comfortable through the intense parts of active and transition labor. He massaged her back and helped her change positions in the bath tub. I sat back and let them connect as a couple through the laboring time. At around 7:30pm. C’s water broke. Contractions were coming every 3 minutes, lasting 90 seconds long. The urge to push became unbearable. After a couple of pushes, I did a cervical exam. C was 9\/100\/+1. I encouraged patient to blow through the contractions while in a squat position. Squatting helped. Ten minutes later, just a lip of cervix was noted. I held back the lip while C pushed. Minutes later, C was 10\/100\/+2. Baby slowly descended from there. Right after 9pm, we could see a small amount of the baby’s head. C could touch baby’s head during a contraction. It was very encouraging. The last contraction C had before baby was born showed a clementine sized amount of head crowning. The next contraction came with such force that C pushed the entire baby out. Baby Daven was ready to make his entrance! C was in a squat with J behind her. She brought Daven up from the water and to her chest. Her face was glowing. She was meeting her baby, and she did it! She got her HBAC! So proud of C for sticking to her plans and trusting that her body could give birth vaginally. She was amazingly strong through her labor. The kicker to this amazing HBAC story is to talk through baby’s weight. C’s first two babies were 7.15# and 7.6#. Baby Daven weighed in at a whopping 9.1#. I love how God shows women that not only can you have a vaginal birth, but you can do it with a much bigger baby! Welcome to the world Daven Christopher, born on May 24, 2013 at 9:31 pm weighing in at 9.1#, 21.25 inches long. Congrats C and J on your sweet baby boy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I first met C and J before baby Daven was conceived. C and J were meeting with midwives before they were pregnant with baby number three because they wanted to be prepared. C had cesareans in her previous two births and wanted to ensure she had the best chance possible at having a VBAC, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n