One Year Later

It has been so long since I updated this thing, I doubt anyone reads it!

So today marks one year since my VBAC.  I have been pretty emotional over the past couple of days reflecting on where I was this time last year.  Sometimes it all seems like a dream!  I let myself travel back to the emotions surrounding that time.  I was so tired. I was defeated the night I went in to labor, yet relieved I had decided I would allow an induction if I reached 41+5 weeks.  I was done.  I went to bed that night and just told God "I give up."  That was what He was waiting for!  It still seems so surreal that I woke up to my water breaking.  It still seems so surreal that I had a VBAC!

I laid in bed two nights ago and texted the people who were at my birth telling them how much I appreciated them being with me that night.  I had these happy tears streaming down my face.  I know my birth wasn't exactly as I had planned, but it was MY birth experience and it was the most emotionally healing moment of my life.

I remember afterwards I was like, "I never want to do that again!" and now I can't wait.  Yes, we want to try *one* more time for that baby girl, but want to wait a couple more years.  We are immensely enjoying Baby B and Baby C. They are so sweet together!  Baby B is just blossoming as a one year old.  He is constantly pulling up to standing and babbles all the time.  First true word should be soon, but right now he imitates great and knows a couple of signs!  My boys are both late walkers, it seems.  Baby C walked at 16 months so I'm pretty laid back when it comes to milestones, although Baby B seems to be a little ahead of schedule than Baby C was.  He crawls on all fours and like loves to stand up, Baby C didn't do that until after 1 year old.  Baby B has 4 teeth (2 bottom, 2 top) and seems to be working on a couple more.  He is weaning off the bottle and loves to eat!  I still feed him pureed food occasionally because it fills him up.  He finally started sleeping through the night at 10 months and  that has made life MUCH more enjoyable!  I have loved being a stay at home mom this time around, since I worked until Baby C was 8 months.  I let Baby B set his schedule and we worked together to figure out his naps and what he needed to sleep through the night.

I am still leading the ICAN chapter here, although we aren't very active at the moment.  I have lots on my plate and am currently helping ICAN national on some projects.

I was telling a friend who is currently going for a VBA2C that after you achieve your birth, you get a "birth high" and then you kind of move on.  I am so passionate about cesarean prevention and VBAC, but I am a busy mom of two!  I am sure when it is time for #3 I will be obsessed again.  ;)

I'll end with the super sweet picture of my one year old VBAC baby! :)

Birth Story Featured on Mama Birth

So cool!

I follow the Mama Birth blog on facebook and she asked for people willing to share their VBAC birth story.  I contacted her and let her know a little about my journey and she wanted to interview me!  My story is featured on her blog today.  Go take a look! :)

Here's a link to the post!

RCS vs. VBAC

I was searching for something to post in my ICAN group this morning, and came across this great blog post on a blog I follow, written by one of my ICAN of North Texas friends.  I love the charts she incorporated from the ICAN of Omaha page and wanted to share them here, for those looking for the hard statistics of Repeat Cesarean (RCS) vs. VBAC.

Make an informed choice about the risks of Repeat Cesareans vs. VBAC's

1st C-section
 Risk of hysterectomy: 0.65%
Risk of blood transfusion: 4.05%
Risk of placenta accreta: 0.24%

2nd C-section	1st VBAC
Risk of major complications: 4.3%	Chance of successful VBAC: 63.3%
Risk of placenta accreta: 0.31%	Risk of uterine rupture: 0.87%
Risk of hysterectomy: 0.42%	Risk of hysterectomy: 0.23%
Risk of blood transfusion: 1.53%	Risk of blood transfusion: 1.89%
Risk of dense adhesions: 21.6%

3rd C-section	2nd VBAC
Risk of major complications: 7.5%	Chance of successful VBAC: 87.6%
Risk of placenta accreta: 0.57%	Risk of uterine rupture: 0.45%
Risk of hysterectomy: 0.9%	Risk of hysterectomy: 0.17%
Risk of blood transfusion: 2.26%	Risk of blood transfusion: 1.24%
Risk of dense adhesion's: 32.2%

4th C-section	3rd VBAC
Risk of major complications: 12.5%	Chance of successful VBAC: 90.9%
Risk of placenta accreta: 2.13%	Risk of uterine rupture: 0.38%
Risk of hysterectomy: 2.41%	Risk of hysterectomy: 0.06%
Risk of blood transfusion: 3.65%	Risk of blood transfusion: 0.99%
Risk of dense adhesion's: 42.2%

NOTE: "Major complications" include one or more of the following: uterine rupture, hysterectomy, additional surgery due to hemorrhage, injury to the bladder or bowel, thromboembolism, and/or excessive blood loss.

All VBAC stats for this chart are taken from the Mercer and Gilbert study, 2008 which includes induced and augmented labors. Additional studies have shown lower uterine rupture rates (especially with spontaneous labors) and higher VBAC success rates with non augmented or induced labors.

Sidenote: It's pretty awesome to know if I decide to have another baby, my chance of success for a 2VBAC is 87.6%!! :)

The Big Announcement!!

I am finally ready to share with you that I am the new leader of ICAN of Central Louisiana!!

What is ICAN?  I'm glad you asked!
"The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. (ICAN) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery, and promoting Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC)."

If you'd like to become a member of our group on facebook, visit us here.

You can contact us through email at icanofcenla (at) gmail (dot) com.

I'm VERY excited to get some cesarean awareness and prevention brought to Central Louisiana.  Hopefully this will help mamas like me in the future find support in the area and eventually achieve VBACs here as well.

3 Months Old

No, I haven't forgotten about this little ol' blog, if you're still reading.  Life is just busy with two kids and I've made a promise to myself to spend less time in the internet world and more time enjoying the present.  I read this blog post about "How to Miss a Childhood" and it has really impacted me.  I don't want to get so caught up in technology that I miss out on what life really is.  Everyone is asleep in my house, so I have some free time now.

So things never aligned for me to make it back to Texas for my postpartum visit.  I've been feeling fine and I talked with Dr. C's nurse, so I wasn't too concerned.  I started to have a little postpartum depression and I needed to decide what I was going to do for birth control, so I made an appointment with a local OBGYN that I've heard great things about when it comes to him supporting natural childbirth.  I had heard in the past that he had done some VBACs, but was told he "didn't like to get involved" when I called to ask for a consult.  The appointment went well and some great news is that if we decide we want to have one more child, he is totally supportive of me having a 2VBAC with him.  He says now I have a "proven pelvis" and he has no problem with me going to 42 weeks before talking induction.  I liked him overall.  He's no Dr. C, but I learned from my delivery of Baby B that the doctor doesn't matter as much as my mind set going in to delivery.  I'm not saying baby #3 is going to happen, but Daddy B and I want to keep our options open.  If it is going to happen, it won't be for quite a while, so don't get your hopes up!  

Baby B is 3 months old now!  He is the sweetest baby boy.  I could melt at the smiles he gives me when I go to get him up from naps or bed in the morning.  He's sleeping well, still swaddled, and does about 2, 6 hour sleep chunks a night.  We are on a great schedule that is flexible and he's taking 3 naps a day.  At 10 weeks he was 13lbs 12oz and 25" long.  He is rolling from belly to back and can hold his head up like a champ!  We love doing the kangaroo carry in my ring sling.

I'm still pumping!!  I'm proud of myself!  :)  I don't make much milk and this week it has dropped lower, but this next week is "Operation Increase Milk Supply."  I've deemed it so in my head haha.  Lots of steel cut oats, fenugreek and water.  I'm not ready to give up.  I have a goal to make it 6 months and take it from there.  It's very time consuming because I pump in 30 minute sessions, but I know I'll feel that dang mommy-guilt if I just quit.  

I'm still working on my big announcement.  The last step was completed today and I'm excited to share it with you!

I have lots of ideas of posts I want to do in regards to VBAC, c-sections, and inductions in our country, but I know work will need to go in to them.  I'm not sure how many people keep up with this blog, so with 13 followers, I don't know if I want to take the time away from my family to organize the posts and do the research to back up my statements. 

Here's some more pictures of my beautiful boys!

Loving the bumbo

Big smiles from my little dude

Brother play time :)

Baby C enjoying being part of the 3 year old class at VBS

2 Months

I can't believe my sweet VBAC baby is already 2 months old!  I have enjoyed the newborn phase as much as I can, but I have to be honest, I am so excited for the baby phase!  Baby B has been blossoming lately with his smiles, head control and hand discovery.

On the breastfeeding front...
First of all, breastfeeding is HARD.  I know for some it comes easy, but I am definitely not one of those women.  After about 3.5 weeks, we started having to supplement because Baby B was just not having enough wet diapers a day or gaining enough weight.  Baby B did great switching between a bottle and nursing at first.  I kept nursing during the day before offering the bottle of pumped milk/formula and over the course of another 3 weeks or so, Baby B started preferring the bottle.  I was okay with it because I think I fall in to that small percentage of women who simply don't make enough milk.  I am proudly still pumping and make about 4 oz a day with pumping every 3-4 hours.  Every drop of breast milk counts and I'm happy that I'm giving Baby B as much as my body can make!  (Yes, I've done the fenugreek, tea, etc. and it hasn't helped much.  The most I've gotten is about 5.5 oz in one day.)  I'm thankful to the LA Breastfeeding Coalition women for helping me make sure I had a good latch and supporting my decision to pump!  I love the support I've found here in Central Louisiana :)

I think something that was reiterated to me again, just as with my VBAC, is that birth and mothering isn't black and white.  I think it's easy to get caught up in what your ideal is and what you're "supposed" to do, but sometimes that just isn't what works for you and your family.  The best thing you can do for yourself is learn about your choices and options and make an informed decision.

I have some very exciting news (no, I'm not pregnant... thank God.  WAY too soon!).  I'll be sharing it very soon!! :)

My sweet boys!

Baby C Meeting Baby B

I wasn't too surprised to find out I had a second son.  The first time I heard the heartbeat, I instantly thought it was a boy.  We were so thrilled at the delivery when we found out Baby C had a little brother!

We stayed in the hospital about 36 hours, due to the delivery being at 1:23am and hospital policy having you stay 24 hours for observation (obviously couldn't leave at 1am the next day!).  We drove from the hospital to Aunt K's house, stayed the first night there and then made the long trip home.  I was BESIDE MYSELF excited to see my big boy!  I hadn't seen him in exactly 4 weeks!!  The time away was absolutely brutal on me as a mommy and I couldn't talk to him at night on the phone without crying.

We pulled up to the house and Daddy B went inside first.  I jumped in the backseat to nurse Baby B so he'd be happy to meet his brother, my MIL and my step-FIL.  Baby C was in shock when he saw me, but did give me a hug and kiss.  Then, Daddy B brought in Baby B!

(Following narrative of what I guess Baby C was probably truly thinking...)

"So this is that baby they kept talking about..." 

"Hmmm... he's smaller than I thought he'd be." 

"Let's put him in this 'baby chair'!" (Yes, he did insist we immediately put him in the swing!) 

"Well Grandma thinks he's okay.  If she thinks he's alright I guess I do too." 

"...but why are they making me kiss his head?" 

"Oh!  I get to hold him!!"

"Holy geez.  What just happened?  You mean he's staying here?  With us?"

"And now I have to share Daddy too."

I'm exaggerating, of course. :)  He has always been sweet, but in the beginning just didn't want anything to do with the baby.  He's warmed up to him quite a bit now.  I haven't taken a picture of them together in awhile, but just a few days later, he was already sharing our trains with him.

This was the very first time I put Baby B in his crib.  Baby C was so stinkin' excited that "baby" (how he usually refers to him since that's what we called Baby B the entire pregnancy) was FINALLY in his bed!

Baby C got smarter over the next few days and started bringing his stool in so he could reach the baby better.  He knows he's allowed to be gentle and touch his head.  He loves how soft Baby B is!

Now we are to the point that Baby C always ask if "Baby" is coming when we go somewhere and LOVES helping me in the nursery when I'm cleaning or organizing in there.  He insists on throwing away every single diaper and gets mad if I forget to ask him to do it!  He also knows who is the big brother, who is the little brother, who Bryce is (he calls him "Byce") and of course who "baby" is.

I love having two boys.  I can't wait to see them running around playing with each other!