I’m going to try to keep this short and to the point but we all know how blog posts can get away from us so we will see how it goes.

I was in labor with Abby for 42 hours before I decided to go with the cesarean.  I went into labor around 6 am and once my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and 45-90 seconds long, we went to the hospital.  I wasn’t in intense pain but since I wasn’t registered, hadn’t had group strep b testing or an ultrasound since 30 weeks we wanted to make sure that everything was handled before baby came out.  (For those not in the know, when we moved I was never able to find a new OB).  I was checked and it was determined that I was about 4cm dilated.  I was elated, I had never gone into labor on my own with Nate and I was still suprised that I was going into labor on my own, I had hoped to be further along but you win some and lose some.

From the very get go, I was frustrated, this hospital is not VBAC friendly and the doctor on call flat our refused to VBAC me.  She told me she wouldn’t, used scare tactics and told me that the baby or myself would die.  It was awful, so stressful and I felt out of control.  My plan before we went to the hospital had always been that if a doctor or a nurse wasn’t on board with VBACing then we would just ask for another doctor.  The other doctor didn’t come in until 7am, there was literally only ONE DOCTOR for the ward and they had to call her in from home.  After my refusal to instantly agree to a cesarean and request to be allowed to have a trial of labor we were told we would be left alone. They would not give me labor augmentation or break my water (which I didn’t want).  All of the stress of arguing with the doctor and nurses led to a slow down in labor, when they would leave us alone for awhile it would pick back up and then slow back down when I had to have another argument   I was told to have an ultrasound that I got to have while having contractions every few minutes which was a real treat since it was a student and they wanted a full scan.  My mom readers know that a full scan takes at least 30 minutes and usually even more, like an hour.  The arguing then continued for about three hours and they decided to admit me into the hospital and the doctor claimed I was ‘forcing her to VBAC me because I refused to have a cesarean’ and that she was ‘writing on the chart that she does not approve of this and is being forced’.  Suddenly the contractions picked up and became very very painful, I was sure that I had to be transitioning.  When I was checked again I was only at 5, six hours and I was 1 cm further.  Chris and I had begun to discuss the possibility of a cesarean because my labor just wasn’t getting on track, the contractions were coming but then they would slow again.  I was having the contractions I needed but they weren’t getting me anywhere.  It was frustrating and the pain was intense.  I had told myself that if I wasn’t at 7cm then I would concede and have the cesarean.  It’s something that I struggled with, greatly and I very much felt like I was failing.  I couldn’t believe that we were actually considering putting my through another cesarean.  It had been so awful with Nathaniel that I was literally left traumatized.  Terrified, I agreed and requested a cesarean.

Oops!  It’s getting really long, let’s finish another day!  Hopefully tomorrow!