Episode Details

Happy podcast Wednesday, Women of Strength! You do NOT want to miss today’s episode. Clair shares her beautiful journey to a VBA3C. After fully dilating and pushing for hours but ultimately ending in C-sections with her first three babies, Clair finally had the vaginal birth she so badly hoped for with her fourth! Clair shows just how powerful birth can be when a woman’s intuition is combined with informed consent and an open-minded birth team. 

There were unfortunately some technical difficulties during this episode and part of Clair’s third birth story was not recorded. Clair graciously submitted this written account below.

24:08 “With my third baby (attempted VBA2C), I dilated quickly and smoothly, baby was descending beautifully, and I started feeling like it was time to push. I pushed for a long time - a couple of hours - and he was coming down, but slowly. We tried many different positions, moving around, etc… but it was taking a while. 

Looking back, I was having some back labor and it’s likely that when my water broke on its own, he dropped into a posterior position. After several more hours, we could see his head! I thought a VBAC might really happen! But baby’s heart rate started having decels and having a hard time coming back up, so we decided to transfer to the hospital for monitoring. 

I was pretty exhausted by that point, so I was hoping that IV fluids would help me regain strength and keep going. When we got to the hospital, however, they would only let me labor in the operating room because I was a VBAC patient, so I was very limited in mobility and my options. Baby seemed stable, but they were basically prepping for surgery from the moment I walked in the door and wouldn’t tell me baby’s stats. 

We eventually called it, opting for a C-section on our terms so we could have delayed cord clamping and a calm environment. Baby boy was almost 10 pounds and had very healthy APGAR scores! I was disappointed I didn’t have a VBAC, but I felt respected by my midwife the whole way through. Postpartum physical recovery was difficult, but emotionally this birth was much less traumatic because I had a supportive birth team. I also took two intentional weeks to do nothing but be with the baby and rest, which I hadn’t done with my previous two births, and that made a huge difference in my mental health and bonding with my baby!”

Additional Links

Needed Website

How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for Parents

Full Transcript under Episode Details 

Time Stamp Topics

01:56 Review of the Week

04:30 Clair’s first pregnancy and birth 

07:50 Recovering from a C-section while moving 

09:24 Getting pregnant at 3 months postpartum & dual care during COVID

14:39 Laboring at home to complete & hospital check-in

17:49 Clair’s second Cesarean

19:08 An emotional recovery

23:38 Third labor with a home birth midwife

24:08 Pause in story – read caption!

24:20 Fourth pregnancy 

28:49 Moving to Utah 

35:34 Midwifery care in the hospital

38:47 Active labor begins

45:04 Circumvallate placenta 

Meagan: Hello, hello Women of Strength. We are at the end of February here and we have a story that I swear– VBAC after multiple Cesareans is very highly requested when it comes to this community so we have a story for you guys today for VBAC after three C-sections. Not only was it a VBAC after three C-sections, but it was also a pre-term VBAC after three C-sections. I think in a lot of places around the world if someone came in pre-term and they have had three C-section