Angie's Birth Story

Congrats to Angie on your recent VBAC! Thanks for sharing your birth story here.

Rayna Wong Yi Qing
Born 9th Sept 2010
3.27kg
50cm
22hrs labour
Natural tear with epidural

"All along I knew that I wanted to give birth the natural way, but I was too naïve to think that it will come naturally.

My first child was born prematurely at week 34, for the reason of amniotic fluid too low since week 32. It was an induced labor, I failed to dilate after 24hrs, ended up had an emergency C-Sec.

For my 2^nd child, I wanted a natural birth, that would be VBAC (Vaginal birth after Caesarean) and I knew it would not happen “naturally”, I had to plan for it! I mentioned my plan to the gynae. He was ok with the idea, though he has the obligation to tell me the risk of VBAC and he did it very professionally.

He started to mention uterine rupture at week 32. “C-sec would be a better option, it would be easier for everyone”. Yes easier for everyone except for me and my baby. I know natural birth would be the best for me and my baby, I cannot let myself go under the knife again without trying to have natural birth. That is, if my baby and I are in the condition to do it (e.g. baby position is right; her heart beat is healthy; there is no issue with my blood pressure, etc).

My husband was very worry about the risk of VBAC: uterine rupture. Oh me too! But I also know that fear will not helped anyone, especially if I wanted to give birth the natural way, I have to learn how to do it and I need to learn how to have “no fear”.

I started my study on the Internet and I came to communicate with some mums who had gone through the same situation.

Jul 30: “Met” a great Mum (May) on the internet, she was sharing her experience about Hypnobirthing and her success of VBAC. That was very inspiring! She recommended a Doula and some labor technique such as birthing ball, birth plan, etc (see below for her tips!). I wished to be able to do the same and I had to keep myself motivated!

Many people asked me why am I so keen to try natural birth, with the “risk” of VBAC, the unknown hours of labor, the pain and after all that, there is no guarantee of a success!! Yes, I knew all the consequences, but not only because I feel that natural birth is the best for my BB and myself but also for a speedy recovery so that I will have time for my elder son! I love my children, I want the best for them, and as a mother, I have the instinct of what would be the best for us. I know that VBAC is a great challenge, with gynae and hubby both on the “better-to-have-C-sec” side… and I know if I wanted VBAC, I have to try my very best to prepare for it!!

“Unfortunately” my husband is the conservative type, he is more worry about the RISK of rupture (hence may be fatal!) and unknown complication that he would not want to imagine.

All the while when I saw my gynae, I mentioned about VBAC and he seems to be very neutral about the idea (did not say yes or no), only when I reached week 32 then he mentioned about the risk and that it is “safer” to have a C-sec. That was his final statement. (I wondered how can they be sure that C-Sec has lesser risk?!) Too bad that I only knew about this at the end of my pregnancy, it was already week 32, it's kind of too late to change gynae?!

But I knew that I could make a final decision about how I wanted to give birth, so what I needed to do was pick up the knowledge and practice that I would need before I go into labour! I needed to get reference books from the library about hypnobirthing, natural birthing technique, etc. And I'd better do it sooner!!

Also, I needed to pray that my baby will agree with me and will initiate natural labour, not too early or too late.

2 Aug: Hubby disagreed with my “over-enthusiasm about VBAC”. He said that I should trust our gynae and wait-and-see if everything is fine to persue VBAC ?! OK I have to agree with that. I have to admit that natural birth is not guaranteed. It depends on baby's position at the very last stage of pregnancy, my own health condition, any issue such as if baby is distress during labor etc. OK I will wait and see but at the meant time I MUST prepare myself for VBAC too. If I fail to plan, I plan to fail!!

Borrowed some books from library, included "HypnoBirthing (The Mongan Method) 3rd edition.

Tips from May:

“No doula? Its ok. No supportive hubby or gynae? That’s ok too!! What you do need to have is a relaxed state of mind and to have NO FEAR”

“Remember, when there's no fear, you can relax. If you relax, the uterine muscles will dilate. If the uterus muscles dilate, your baby can come out!”

1) I ate biscuits and bananas and water during labour at home. Helps to last the marathon.
2) I did perineum massage (learnt from the book), I must say it did help although I didn't like doing it. Now is the best time to start, if you do everyday for 5 minutes, you're helping the muscles "warm up" for the big day.
3) Tell your baby constantly when you want him/her to come out. He/she might just listen! Worked for my friend's 3 kids, I tried and worked for mine as well.

36hours record of VBAC experience

8-Sept-2010 (Wed)

9am – Bloody Show (brownish discharge)

3pm – CTG @ TMC, everything is fine, no contraction

5:30pm onwards – Fresh bloody runny discharge frequently, contraction started

6pm – 7pm: Time contraction, irregular, average duration less than 1min, 10min interval

9pm – 10pm: Time contraction again, more than 1min/contraction, interval less than 5min

11pm: Call gynae, advised to be admitted to TMC

11:45pm: Arrived TMC, settled down at observation room

9-Sept-2010 (Thur)

12am: started labor

12am – 4am: Walked, squatted, frog position, tried to relax and at the same time speed up the labor!

4am: ONLY dilated 2cm after 4hrs!!

8am: gynae visited, still 2cm (after 8hrs!!), were told if dilation did not happened by 8pm, we have to go for c-sec (another 12hrs to try!) Husband worried about my condition, I must have looked pretty bad after staying awake the whole night.

8am – 12pm: continue to walk, squat, frog position, getting very tired. Contraction is getting stronger and stronger.

1pm: 4cm!

2pm: 5cm! I started to feel too tired to keep going and op for epidural

3pm-5pm: had a little nap

6pm: 7cm!!

8pm: 8cm!

8:10pm: moved to birthing ward. Nurses guided the birthing very well, tried to get to 10cm for an hour. Husband became the cheer leader, encourage birthing whenever I felt the urge.

PS: I can hear next door birthing process, nurse shouting PUSH, Push, push, Mum screamed and later on, baby cried.

9:30pm: Gynae arrived. He said that baby heart beat is getting weaker, he told the nurse to prepare vacuum tools. Water bag burst naturally.

10:11pm We were overjoyed and in tears to receive our new love of life, Rayna Wong ! Weight: 3.27kg, Height: 50cm. She was put to my arms immediately, I witness the cut of umbilical cord. I tried to latch her on and she sucked very well! We did it!! We succeeded on VBAC!!"

- Angie Wong

May's Birth Story

I'll start the ball rolling with my birth story:

Daen Lau
Born 26th March 2010
3.25kg
Natural tear, drug-free

We've all grown up with these images of delivery : the woman, screaming in pain, gripping her panic-stricken husband, the midwives shouting commands of "one-two-three push!", the doctor resorting to epidurals and forceps to "get the baby out".

Many women just accept that the pain and the upcoming "ordeal" was the price to pay for having a baby.

But my pain threshold is SO low. I can't even endure pre-menstrual cramps and would take painkillers at the first sign of it. Instinctively, I knew I needed an alternative way to deal with the birthing process when the time came.

I learnt about Hypnobirthing from a dear friend - the way to a drug-free, painless natural birth with significantly shorter labour. She had successfully utilised the technique and gave birth within 4 hours of reaching the hospital. Hmmm...all you had to do was condition your mind and learn a few relaxation techniques to have a gentle birth? It sounded too good to be true.

We were still not fully convinced, but we decided to give it a shot.

Ian and I attended classes diligently to learn more about this technique.

For the first time, we watched videos of women in labour that were so different from the televised images we have become accustomed to. These women were in labour but they looked like they were sleeping! Some did not even make a sound as their babies emerged! Some even squatted and passed their babies out into their own hands! It was surreal, but oh so natural.

When complications arose with Vera, my plans for a hypnobirth were shoved aside and what took place was a C-section that was so traumatic for me that I swore I'd never give birth again if I had to have one.

So when Daen came along, the choice was clear. I had to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesearean).

Problem is, very few doctors out there are comfortable with letting women do this. There is a 1% risk of uterine rupture due to the surgical cut of the previous Caesarean if a woman pushes too hard during the next delivery. If that happens, an emergency C-section is necessary and a supposedly normal baby could come out with severe complications.

People offered well-meaning but cautionary advice.

"I think you better have a c-section, it's safer,"

Doctors asked me: "1% risk is quite high you know, are you prepared to put your baby at risk?"

I needed help to believe in a VBAC. But I knew of no one who had had one. On internet forums, there were hardly any moms sharing their success stories.

Luckily, Ian was supportive right from the start. And we found our wonderful doula Lauren. And we got Dr Paul (one of the handful of gynaes in Singapore who supports VBACs) to be our obstetrician.

So I picked up where I left off and diligently continued preparing for a hypnobirth. With help at home looking after Vera, I was able to devote time to conditioning my mind, re-programming it to think in a whole new way:

1) That there is no such thing as "pain".
2) That the body itself knows how to birth a baby vs WE needing to instruct it to.
3) That there is no such thing as "pushing", only "breathing".

Determined that this time, I was going to get the birth I want, I tried my best to zone out whenever people shared their stories of how they couldn't endure the pain and had to ask for painkillers or gas.

And when the time came, everything just fell into place. All my years of controlled breathing during my choir-singing days and my experience with slow breathing as a diver finally came in handy.

I breathed like there was no tomorrow.

Early Labour - Focused on breathing, breathing and breathing

With the help of my oh-so-calming doula Lauren and my cool-cucumber hubby, I laboured in the comfort of home for 6 hours before heading to the hospital.

I was afraid that the change to a clinical environment would slow down my progress but I needn't have worried. Once we got there, Lauren made sure that I did not have to speak to any nurses nor deal with any admission paperwork whatsoever.

Towards to end, I did lose focus when the surges became too intense. But Lauren always assured me, "You're doing beautifully," Those three words were all it took to keep me going.

Final Stage - Getting intense as baby bears down

I continued to labour on the birth ball, on a birthing stool, and even in the warm water tub.

And it was true: When the time came to push, I didn't have to. My body did it for me, on auto-pilot. It was like it had taken over from the mind. And after about 8 times, it birthed my baby out - into the hands of the midwife - even before Dr Paul returned.

At no point did I ask for gas or drugs. And because of that, baby Daen came into my arms so alert, and I was perfectly conscious to have and to hold my baby - straight from my womb, his umbilical cord still attached.

Straight from womb to arms, fully alert and calm

I had waited for this moment for 2 years. The emotional release was so overwhelming I burst into tears for a good 10 minutes.

I did it!

Sometimes in life, you just have to take a leap of faith and believe. We are so blessed and thankful that everything turned out just the way we wanted:

Au naturel!

Congrats Angie!

I have been in email contact with mom Angie since she was about 33 weeks pregnant. She was really determined to have a VBAC. I'm so happy to say that she got it! Her baby was born on 9th september 2010 virginally with natural tear. Do read her birth story here and be inspired!