I will try and condense this post as much as possible. Some of this info may be TMI for some but I want to document all the details for my own memory!
Andrew's mom came into town on Tuesday, May 7th and the countdown was on! I turned 39 weeks that day and in my mind it was TIME for this baby to come, especially since I had Riggs at 38 weeks. That week came and went and the following Monday I went to work and then turned 40 weeks on Tuesday and still NOTHING!
That Monday at work I had a little down time and researched some more on VBAC inductions (considering that I was going in to be induced on Wednesday morning if nothing happened before then). I came across a "trick" so to speak that some doctors will use to help manually dilate the cervix and can sometimes stimulate labor. With this little info I called my doctors office on Tuesday, May 14 (my due date) and asked about this. My doctor was out, but I was told I could come in and see the midwife and have this foley bulb inserted. After talking with her, she stripped my membranes and inserted a foley catheter bulb into my cervix in hopes that something would happen on its own. I was already dilated 3 cm and they usually only use it if you are 1-2 cm. With that said, the midwife said she would blow it up a little bigger and if it happened to fall out on its own during the day then I would probably be dilated to 4 or 5 cm.
Move ahead to that afternoon and the bulb fell out on its own around 5 pm. I had felt a little cramping all day but nothing that I thought anything of. That night (about 8:30pm) we were just sitting watching TV and I felt like the "cramps" were a little more consistent. I pulled out my handy app on my phone and sure enough the "cramping" was about 10 minutes apart, lasting about 30-45 seconds each! I finally looked at my mother-in-law and Andrew and said, "I think I'm having contractions!" I was so excited! I never experienced any of this with Riggs. And most of all, this is what I had been praying for!
At my first doctors appointment with this pregnancy my doctor asked me if I was interested in a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and I DEFINITELY was! Since that moment I prayed very specifically for this labor and delivery. I don't feel like I was cheated of anything with Riggs' delivery but I knew that I wanted to experience birth the way that it was intended! I am thankful for the fact that I had a healthy baby and ultimately an uncomplicated recovery with Riggs but I wanted to experience holding her right afterwards and nursing her immediately...all things that I didn't get to do with him. And, aside from the bonding I know the risks of surgery and that the complications with surgery are more than the 1% chance that I would have a uterine rupture from having a previous c-section.
Stay tuned for part 2!
In the meantime, here is a little glimpse...
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