Alex came to my weekly pregnancy yoga classes in Darenth as she prepared for the birth of her second baby – a vbac at Medway maternity unit.
My first birth was a planned home birth. I laboured at home until 7cm, but Joseph’s heart rate kept dipping a bit too much after contractions so they recommend transferring in. At the hospital they advised a hormone drip to speed things up as I was progressing slowly, which I agreed to after weighing up the benefits and risks, and based on what I knew at the time. Joseph’s heart rate then went quite low and I didn’t progress past 8 cms after quite a few hours, so we had an unplanned C-section at 42 weeks.
For my second pregnancy I had No complications so wanted to plan a VBAC at Darent Valley birth centre. My named community midwife and the consultant midwife were very supportive when planning my VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean), and I faced no pressure on induction or sweeps etc.
Very early on, one of the community midwives who covered my first appointment when my named midwife was on holiday wasn’t as good and was more “they will want you to follow guidelines” when I asked about birth centre and monitoring. This made me a bit anxious so I still think it depends on who you get, and not many people realise they can ask to see another community midwife or have someone else looking after you even in labour.
I had a birth reflections meeting about my first birth and did quite a bit of research which helped me understand what I wanted ahead of the birth preferences meeting with the consultant midwife. The consultant midwife was brilliant and very supportive when we went through it and answered any questions I had really well.
My second labour started with very faint tightenings late on Wednesday night when I went to bed. I slept for a couple of hours before I couldn’t settle any more, then spent some time downstairs on my own watching a TV program and then listening to the Bloom and Flow hypnobirthing tracks.
At about 1.30am I woke my husband to help me get the tens machine on and call our doula to give her the heads up as things were ramping up quickly.
Once my sister in law had arrived to look after our son and 3 dogs, we made our way to the birth place at Medway (midwife led unit) at 5.30 and met our backup doula who arrived at the same time to help us walk in.
(Side note, my mum was on holiday this week and she was the main person to look after my son and our 3 dogs when in labour. My doula also found out last minute that her house move was going ahead on Thursday 2nd so I was sure I wouldn’t start until the weekend at least when they would all be around. A little bad timing but it all worked out in the end.)
I laboured through the day using the breathing techniques, changing up positions, listening to the hypnobirthing tracks in the background and using gas and air. I also used the birthing pool intermittently through labour and during the pushing stage. Baby girl was born at 7.19pm with her hand against her face! Gestation was 40+6.
The midwives were great at following my birth preferences and respecting my decisions. And I’m so please I achieved my VBAC in a midwife led setting and had another positive birth.
The pregnancy yoga classes were great and so glad I went to them 
