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VBAC
Week by Week

Austin Jacob Smit

I had the most terrible experience I could ever have imagined when my one and only child was born January 27, 1997. First of all, it took 7 months to conceive him due to a previous miscarriage at 11 weeks that screwed my body up royally and left me period-less for 3 months. My midwife ended up putting me on the pill for two months to jump-start things. That worked and finally, after two more months off the pill, our son was conceived.

The pregnancy was going well and about 5 months into it, we moved out of our house and into a camper while our new house was being built. It had already been started and was only "supposed" to take a few more weeks. Well, weeks turned into months and we moved into our new house December 10, 1996--just 6 weeks before the baby was due! Unpacking is not fun when you're 34 weeks pregnant! That's when the swelling started...

My feet, ankles, legs, fingers (I had to have my wedding ring cut off), lips, eyelids--if it could retain water, it did. My blood pressure had risen from a normal 110/60 to 150/100 and I gained approximately 20 pounds of water--after 30 pounds of pregnancy weight! I was a miserable mess. I missed Christmas--I was put on complete bedrest. There was so much stuff to unpack and I couldn't do anything. I was going nuts!

Then at my due date appointment, January 20, 1997, my midwife took one look at me and said, "We need to get that baby out of you" and, of course, I agreed. She sent me to the hospital to have Cytotek treatments, where they put this tiny little pill on the cervix to help it soften and hopefully to start labor. They did it twice on the 20th, twice on the 21st and three times on the 23rd. I was going to go back in on the 25th, but I was having lots of contractions that started about 1:30 am Saturday the 25th. During the day Saturday the contractions were getting gradually closer and I spent the day resting, soaking in our Jacuzzi, cleaning, whatever. By evening, everything had stopped. I went in to be checked and nothing was happening. Why I was having contractions, I don't understand. Then, at about midnight Saturday night I woke up and thought I had to go to the bathroom. I tried but nothing happened. So, I went back to bed. 20 minutes later, the same thing. 15 minutes later, the same thing. All night long this happened! Little did I know that what I thought was constipation was really labor! Sunday morning at 7 am we went to the hospital and told them that we were not going home until there were three of us. I was only at 3cm.

They gave me a shot of Morphine so I could get some rest after being up all night two nights in a row and sure that I would be giving birth in the next 24 hours. I slept for 8 hours, during which labor slowly progressed and I was at 6cm when I awoke Sunday evening. I walked around, ate, watched the Super Bowl. By 10pm, I was only at 7cm and they decided to pit me (Pitocin). Getting an IV in my very swollen body was rough--it took 1/2 hour! I was finally complete at 4am Monday morning.

I pushed for 2-1/2 hours. The baby was in a posterior position (not facing my spine like he was supposed to) and his head was stuck in my pelvis. After a couple failed attempts to turn him, they decided I would need a cesarean. At that point, I was so exhausted, I could not have cared less. My son Austin Jacob Smit was born January 27, 1997 at 7:32am. At least something wonderful came out of such a rotten experience!

Now, we're thinking about our second...hopefully next fall. I'm hoping for a VBAC!