Meet Guest Blogger Taia! On her journey towards a VBA2C

Hi.  Let me introduce myself.  My name is Taia and very close to having a vba2c (vaginal birth after two cesareans).  Actually my due date is hours away- tomorrow!  For this vba2c I will be doing home birth which is completely new to me.

I never thought we would ever consider a home birth and honestly, thought most who were planning one were crazy.  I am a Christian and feel that God has lead us down this path for a reason.  We would not be here if it weren't for the fact that He is in control.

My first birth as a c/s prematurely due to severe pre-eclampsia.  I was at 36 week and really had no real care if the birth was natural or by c/s.  (I was a c/s birth myself and was raised that it is no big deal.)  I quickly discovered after the birth that I had strong feelings about birth and I was not ok with the experience I had.  I won't go into it here as it is not the focus.  I am sure about anyone reading this has had some negative birth experience, each unique, but each cutting deep into the sole.  I did go a full year dealing with my feelings and emotions poorly before a wonderful couple ladies started up a vbac support group locally.  I went to the first one and have been a faithful member for the past nearly 6 years.  It was only through those meetings that I was able to begin healing.

My second birth was to be a hospital vbac.  I had wonderful support from my midwife and had hired the most respected doula in my area.  I had not experienced any type of labor before and was a little nervous about if I could handle it.  My doula has this theory that God only gives us what we can handle.  Therefore, if you can't handle pain well, the labor will start slowly and may take a couple days to really kick in.  If you can handle a lot, the labor my kick in full force.  We assumed it would take me a while... we were wrong.  The hospital was located an hour away which was the closest who would support a vbac.  The plan was to get a hotel room close to the hospital when labor began.  That way we could labor at my pace but not worry about the hour trip.  As soon as labor kicked in, I quickly cancelled those plans.  Things were progressing fast and we left for the hospital within 2-3 hours if the first contraction.  I was handling things fine.  I was calm and pleased to be experiencing things I never got to with the first birth.  I'm not intending to share the whole story here, so I will fast forward.  I ended up with a c/s because the doctor on call (who I had never seen before) took the first chance he could get to section me.  He refused an epidural which all his colleagues said after the fact was my right.  Instead he insisted on a c/s.  The official reason was "failure to progress."  My personal opinion as well as many others say, "failure of doctor support."  It was difficult to go through again.  There were parts with the second c/s that were better.  But one of the hardest parts was having to tell people we had a c/s and them not understanding it wasn't because it was unsafe but because the doctor was a jerk.

About 18 months later, we discussed having our third and final child.  My husband was wanting me to get pregnant asap so we can get out of the baby stage and move onto other childhood stages he enjoys more.  To date, my oldest is 2 months from being 7 years old and much more enjoyable for my husband than the younger one.  Anyway, I was not comfortable getting pregnant without knowing first that we had a provider who would support a vba2c.  My last provider who cheated me out of my vbac made it very clear that they will not support a vba2c.  Nice.  That midwife reluctantly gave me the name of an Amish community birthing center who may be "crazy enough to attempt a vba2c."  That was a little scary but I didn't have many choices.  It was an hour and half drive from my house but only a half hour drive from my parents' house.  So, I made an appointment to see the center and talk with them.  The ladies were so supportive.  The center was small and simple.  It reminded me a lot of a nursing home without a huge dining room.  They do home births as well but would not travel as far as I live.  Understandable.  Next all I had to do was get pregnant.  Little did I know... I already was!

As the realization that the pregnancy has already begun, we began talking more seriously about our options.  I was telling my husband how little there was in the center and that is basically the same as a home birth, just in a different less comfortable (to me) environment.  As I said this, I realized there was no difference between the birthing center and a home birth.  We both kind of had the Ah-Ha moment at the same time.  We had heard from several over the months that there is one home birth midwife in a town just 5 minutes from my house.  We decided to make an appointment with her.  Ironically... or God's timing... it depends on how you feel about that- but I noticed an acquaintance I knew on facebook had her baby THAT weekend.  As I looked at the photos, it was pretty clear this was a home birth.  I had no idea!  As I told my husband about this discovery, he said the name sounded familiar and thought he may have just met the husband at work just a couple weeks ago.  Turns out, he DID know the husband and was shocked, "HE did a home birth?"  It didn't seem so crazy after that.  Did I mention the baby was over 10 pounds?

That is the short version of the path God took us to a home birth after 2 c/s.  We love our midwife.  She is extremely knowledgeable, supportive, and kind.  She is looking out for me and will not risk my or the baby's health just to have a home birth.  We also rehired out doula from the last birth.  Both doula and midwife are on call, waiting to hear things are progressing with us.  We are feeling the same.

I will write more later about my feelings as I approach my due date and things I have done to get me this far without much fear.

I would love prayers for a safe and healing birth if you are a faithful follower of Jesus.  Thanks!