B.A.C to Normality Midwifery Services

Tina’s Story
Text Box: I had been niggling for a couple of weeks with regular contractions which would last for about an hour and a half or so and then they would stop.  It was really frustrating! But then on Easter Saturday night (term +11), my parents had been over for dinner as they were staying locally for a family 'do'. About 5 minutes after they left I went to the loo and about a minute later felt a trickle of something. It might have been due to a lack of bladder control, but I really didn’t think so. About 5 minutes later I had a quite noticeable contraction. The contractions continued but they were fairly irregular – 8 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 8 minutes etc etc. I was also getting a lot of discharge.   Eventually I went to bed. Throughout all of my niggling, whenever I lay down they would stop, so I thought that would be the best way to tell if this was the real thing or not. They didn’t exactly stop, but they did seriously tail off, so I resigned myself to more waiting! That night I couldn't sleep properly and couldn't get comfortable. DH put my TENS machine on but I still couldn’t sleep so I eventually got up at 5 a.m. for some raspberry leaf tea and a bounce on my birth ball and timed some contractions (I used Contractionmaster.com for some of them as that way I didn’t have to look at a clock. I could just hit the space bar at the appropriate time and then after a few look to see what was happening). The contractions were about 8 or so minutes apart, fairly regular and noticeable but easy to deal with.    When we got to a sensible time of day we called my parents and asked them to look after DS1. They arrived at about 10 a.m. and off DS went. We got ourselves busy blowing up the birth pool and filling it to two thirds full. I knew it was too early to use it, but we hadn’t done a trial run and therefore didn’t know how long it would take to fill, so we had decided to do it early and then top it up when the time came. The major downside at this point was that my cold which I had thought I had got rid of was back with a vengeance and my left sinus was excruciating!   We let our doula know what was happening and got ourselves ready to meet our new baby.   Once I got out of the shower things really started happening and there was no doubt this was it.  Tina’s story can be read in full at:

http://vbac.co.uk/stories/story.php?s=tina
Text Box: After five children, four of which were born via caesarean section was it really possible for me to plan a vbac (vaginal birth after caesarean section), I researched the world wide web, read the as much information regarding vbac as possible. I must admit, I was slightly confused as the statistics I had been quoted by the consultant were a lot different to the ones I was now reading and the fact I had previously delivered vaginally with my first was an added bonus in my favour surely, but a vba4c? I knew I was up against it from the start and would need to plan carefully to ensure I would at least have a fighting chance. Text Box: For the full version of Melanie’s story please go to: http://vbac.co.uk/stories/story.php?s=melanie Or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUBriTYAgSo This story is also available in the AIMs Journal Dec 2008

On Wed

30th June 2010

Melanie gave

Birth to

“Mark”

Another

VBA4C!!
Text Box: Lindsey planned a Home Birth after Four Caesarean Sections with a Doula. Unfortunately the labour did not progress so transferred into hospital for a caesarean section. This was a positive experience as Lindsey was in control throughout...