Rian's Story

My first pregnancy went perfectly. At 39 weeks I was happy, healthy and excited. Within a week, however, my blood pressure went from its usual low of 90/68 to 165/108. Two days after I was due my doctor sent me to the hospital for an induction, which ended up being changed to a C-section. Without any labor, my baby boy was born. I healed quickly and had little pain after the operation.

When I became pregnant with my second child, it was suggested by my doctor that I try for a VBAC. He is truly one who wants what is best for his patients. I looked at all the risks and agreed to try for one. At 41 weeks I went into labor. I woke up with annoying little contractions and spent all night trying to ignore them and get some sleep. At 8:00 a.m. I could no longer do so, and went to the hospital. The contractions were only three minutes apart, however, I was only three centimeters dilated so I asked to go home for a while. I was so tired after being up all night! I went home and fell asleep in-between contractions.

At 11:30 a.m. my husband freaked out and wanted me to go back to the hospital. By then, the contractions were only two minutes apart. I wanted to stay in bed!

When I got to the hospital, the nurse offered me a shot of Demerol (which I now know is literally a pain in the butt!) and ran a hot bath in the large soaker tub which the hospital had. I was still falling asleep in-between contractions and my mom and husband had to watch me because I kept tipping over into the water while I was asleep. At 1:30 p.m. I could no longer sleep because the contractions were so strong. I remember asking my husband to re-run the bath because the hot water helped with the pain. He was laughing at me because he said I'd never been so polite to him! All the nurses were laughing too. I kept saying, "Sorry for bothering you, but could I get some water." I'm not sure why I was so calm, I was experiencing the worst pain I'd ever felt - and I'm a rock climber! My mom had to leave because I was telling her I was pretty sure I couldn't last another hour and she sort of panicked.

At 2:20 p.m. I asked to get up to go to the washroom and I felt like I had to do more than just pee. When I got up I felt a "pop", and realized my water had broken. The nurse, in all her wisdom, checked me before letting me go to the washroom and realized I was ten centimeters dilated. I had gone from four centimeters to ten in less than an hour! She said I could go ahead and push if I needed to. However, my doctor was not there and another nurse told me to pant through the contractions until he arrived. He was just across the street. I was actually able to accomplish this, but when the doctor finally got there I pushed my son out in two pushes! I was tired of waiting!

My body was quite battered and I had to have ten stitches to repair the tears (I may have, in hindsight, pushed him out too quickly), but I asked to leave the hospital that day. My doctor allowed this but asked me to come see him the next day. It was a great experience and I delivered a healthy eight-pound baby boy.

Now that I am pregnant with my third, I've decided to try for another VBAC. My doctor is encouraging it and I am excited!