Juliette's Birth Story

A bit of background to begin with: I gave birth to Genevieve in Feb 2006 via unplanned c/section due to foetal distress. I had used hypnobirthing and made it to 7cm dilated drug free until Genevieve decided that she wanted out and wouldn't wait. Her heart rate kept dropping and not coming back up. When the OB was getting her out he said that she had been posterior which had been a major contributing factor to the distress.

When we found out we were having another baby we researched our options and decided that given the circumstances surrounding the previous birth there should be no reason that I couldn't attempt a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarian). I found a wonderful pro-VBAC OB who was very realistic but also very positive. I employed a wonderful doula who had worked on VBACs before and I did my hypnobirthing revision to use again.

Given that the first pregnancy was problem free and I went into labour spontaneously after my waters broke at 37w6d, we assumed that this baby would also be early and also pretty similar in timing and size etc. However, I probably should have known this one would be different when we had a bleeding scare at 6w. After the scare though everything progressed well and I finished work at 36w assuming that I wouldn't have long to go.

Well my pregnancy passed my delivery date with Genevieve and this baby seemed like it was in no hurry to go anywhere. I started doing all of the natural induction methods that I was allowed to which included acupuncture, massage with clary sage oil, eating curries, lots of walking and the "other methods" (wink wink) but still nothing looked like happening.

At 39w3d I had an internal with my OB who said that my cervix was effaced and I was 1cm dilated so I was encouraged by that. That night and the next morning I lost my mucous plug and had a show. That morning I visited a friend and started getting some strong crampy back and low down pain. Even after walking home it didn't let up. Then I had another, larger show and started getting more contraction like pain.

I rang my mum to warn her to be on alert as she was on-call to pick Genevieve up from childcare. Then I rang my OB and my doula. Both said it sounded like early days and that I should stay at home and try to rest a bit longer. I decided to have a shower and wash my hair. I started to get stronger and more frequent pains that felt a bit more urgent so I called Cory at work and said that I felt like a wuss but I really wanted him to come home right now. He was home within 20 min. In that time things had ramped up in intensity and when he started timing me the contractions were 2mins apart lasting 30-40sec. We decided he should pack the car and that I should get into the hospital just as a precaution.

Just as we were leaving the house I went to the toilet and my waters broke. It looked like there was some meconium staining but I couldn't be sure so I said we had better go now just in case. When we got to the hospital (10 minutes later) I got back into the shower in the birth suite and the midwife confirmed there was meconium in the amniotic fluid so she wanted me out to monitor the baby. Then things started to get really painful. I was trying to use the hypnobirthing breathing to breath through the contractions but this pain was at the front of my uterus and it wasn't going away with the breathing. It was different pain and it felt wrong and out of control. It felt like I was trying to push the baby out through the front of my uterus. I described the pain to my doula and the OB. The OB had a look and saw some fresh blood and said we needed to prep for a c/section now as it was a possible rupture of the previous scar!

I was immediately rushed into theatre and given an epidural. About 10 minutes later the OB said she could see bub's hair through the uterus it was so thin and then as she touched the old scar it ruptured completely. She said we had about 5 minutes up our sleeves and my uterus would have ruptured during my contractions. In that situation it can be fatal for the baby and also the mother.

Fortunately baby Juliette Nicola was born safe and sound and I was able to be repaired however if I hadn't listened to my instincts and gone in when I did the outcome could have been so different. I am just so grateful I knew something was wrong and followed through with it. I can't even feel disappointed that I didn't get my VBAC as everytime I look at my little girl I am overwhelmed with the joy that she was clearly meant to be here and that for a matter of minutes she might not have been (and neither might I).