Chelsea describes how she adjusted to a disappointing change in plans for her birth experience.

It has taken me a few weeks to process the birth of my third child, a daughter. I was hoping for a VBA2C and felt well prepared and well supported.

At 42 weeks and after weeks of prodromal labor I went into labor. I had an appointment with my OB that morning and by the time I made it there my contractions were 5 minutes apart. I arrived and was 4 cm dilated and fully effaced.

My daughter had been laying on my right side for weeks and hadn’t moved but she was still engaging my cervix. I was admitted and left to labor alone with my husband for about 4 hours. When my clinical midwife arrived and said I had not progressed and she asked for permission to break my water. I agreed because this was it, I had agreed to a c section for the following morning if I didn’t go into labor by that day!

She broke my water at 13:00, I got in the tub and began using the meditation techniques I had learned with my GentleBirth app and as the waves intensified I felt in control. Not just of the contractions but about what was going on with my body. At 16:00 I still hadn’t progressed and I was becoming tired from the back to back contractions. They said they were concerned that she wasn’t going to turn as she was ROT. They asked to book the operating room. I agreed mainly because I felt pain in between each contraction in the front of my uterus and was nervous I may have a rupture.

Then the midwife came back an hour later to get me and checked again and I was 7 cm! She asked if I wanted to keep going and I looked at my husband asking for an answer and he said keep going!

They emptied my bladder because I couldn’t do it myself and the pain left, and I got another burst of energy. At 19:30 I was fully dilated and I began to push. The urge to push was so strong. I pushed for 30 minutes and she came down to station 2 but I could t feel her coming down. I pushed on my hands and knees the entire time. At that time her heart rate began racing before a contraction and it would drop during the contraction and while I pushed. They let this go on for about 45 minutes. She wouldn’t turn.

We did spinning babies in several positions and she wouldn’t move. At that point everyone, including my midwife who didn’t work with the hospital agreed that she was beginning to go into distress. I agreed a second time to a c section because at that point I was concerned for her.

During the c section, I watched her be born, had a lotus birth and was the one who got to see first if she was a boy or girl.

Even though my birth didn’t end how I dreamed I did feel that my birth was positive, that I was in control which I hadn’t felt before. She was placed on my chest and didn’t leave for 2 hours. My husband got to cut the cord and he skin to skin with her, another first.

I feel that the months of preparation with the GentleBirth app allowed me to stand my ground, stay in control and focus on having a positive birth. Like I said the ending wasn’t what I hoped for but I was prepared for that because of the preparation I had, so thank you! I am grateful and feel like the GentleBirth app was vital in my positive experience! This recovery has been by far the easiest physically and emotionally . I really believe the gentle c-section and the ability to labor the way I did helped with that.

Chelsea

Meet Dan and Ellen who experienced an unexpected change to their birth plans and how GentleBirth helped them.