I can’t tell you how excited I was to get this message:

 

Hi Pip Just wanted to let you know cam and I had a beautiful little girl yesterday morning at 7.14am. I achieved my vba2c at KEMH, the staff were absolutely amazing. Very grateful we did your hypnobirth course especially for Cam, I did lose focus towards the end but I achieved my natural birth x

Thank you Pip, educating yourself, believing in yourself and hypnobirthing is what helped me achieve the birth I wanted and so desperately needed to heal from my other births x

 

There is nothing more special than being part of a mum’s road to healing from previous birth traumas.

A Vaginal Birth after 2 Cesarean births takes a lot of strength and determination. Not because they are that risky or hard in themselves, but because sometimes everyone around you can seem to be intent on undermining your confidence.

Luckily Nicole had a good support team, including husband Cam, so all she needed to do was focus on her own mindset.

This is where the Positive Birth Program but Hypnobirthing Australia™ really helps mums get the birth they want.

 

Any birth needs mums to have confidence in their bodies and the right mindset, but a VBA2C needs this even more.

 

Here is Nicole’s awesome birth story, taken from the Western Australian VBAC Support Group Facebook page with Nicole’s permission.

“*long birth story*

1st baby induction 40 + 9, posterior, 28hrs labour 1 cm dilation, ECS

2nd baby attempted VBAC, induction 42 weeks, 5cm dilation, 10-hour labour, nonelective cs.

3rd baby successful VBA2C, 7 pounds 6 ounces 51cm long 36cm head circumference ?? attended NBAC clinic at KEMH, we are from country WA so 3-hour drive to King Eddie’s.

Bub’s EDD was 12/10/19.

Came to Perth on the 13th to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary stayed at the Crown and had a lovely dinner at Nobu.

Went to bed about 9.30 feeling quite nauseous and unwell.

Woke at 5 am to go to the loo, as I sat down felt a pop that was a bit of a bloody show. I wasn’t too concerned as we had an appointment at the NBAC clinic at 8.15 am.

Started having a few tightenings but nothing regular.

Explained to the consultant what had happened in the morning and asked her to do a VE to see if there was any dilation, was offered a  stretch and sweep, but I declined.

I was 1cm.

She wanted us to stay in Perth and come back on Thursday for CTG and growth scan.

I agreed to the monitoring but explained we would drive home and come back up for the appointment.

Spent the next few hours doing some shopping and looking at cars then did the 3-hour drive home.

Had a few more tightenings on the way but again nothing regular so made the decision to keep driving.

Got home at 6 pm, did some washing and finished packing our hospital bags.

Tightenings were getting stronger but not regular.

Went to bed about 8.30 pm to try and get some sleep but the tightenings started becoming quite regular.

Woke hubby at 10.30 pm so he could massage my back to try and help me sleep.

At 11.30 pm he said I think we need to go back to Perth as he had been timing the tightenings and they were 5 to 6 minutes apart (I didn’t realise they were so close).

We finally got on the road after midnight to head back to Perth, having to stop halfway to get petrol? Nothing like not being prepared.

The drive felt like it took forever but was probably the quickest we have ever done it, lucky we have a Landcruiser so there was a bit of room to move around in the back ? and I was using hypnobirthing to stay calm and focused.

By this stage, tightenings were coming every 3 minutes and pretty intense and I was very relieved to get to the hospital.

I needed the loo when I had a big loss of mucous.

The nurse took us through to the triage room where she did a VE and I was 6cm ??

I just started crying with relief, first time of going into spontaneous labour and I was already 6cm!

The doctor came in for a quick chat about canula and CTG.

I declined canula but agreed to an initial CTG to get a trace then doppler after that, to which he was very supportive of and how we wanted to labour.

The midwife from the birth suite came and got us, we hit the jackpot again with such a supportive positive person to be on this journey with, the first thing she asked was about our birth preferences.

We gave her our birth plan and she took the time to read through it and respected it.

Hubby set the room up with LED candles and put some music on, the midwife dimmed the lights and everyone was so quiet and respectful.

I won’t lie when my surges started getting really intense I couldn’t fully focus on our hypnobirthing techniques but they certainly helped me get to where I was.

I laboured in the shower for a while before I started asking hubby to get pain relief for me, he knew I didn’t want it as I told him pre-labour don’t let me have it if I ask for it.

And again our midwife was so supportive of this reminding me about my birth plan and how I didn’t want anything stronger than gas ?

I asked for a VE and I was 8cm, I was so proud of myself and so was hubby.

Things were really ramping up and I was losing control begging for an epidural, but I was past that point of being able to get one so I was chugging back on the gas like no tomorrow.

Our midwife did page the doc though to please me.

Meanwhile, I felt like a cavewoman and the sounds that were coming out of me were these deep groans, I started getting this intense urge to push and could feel something hanging outside of me, it was my membranes bulging but they just wouldn’t rupture.

I tried sitting on the birth stool with hubby supporting me but I wasn’t comfortable so I got up on the bed leaning over it, our midwife asked if I would like her to rupture them to which I agreed, there was meconium and bubs started to have some decelerations and not picking back up as quick.

With each surge, the urge to push became more intense and I was bearing down as hard as I could but just couldn’t get bubs head out.

So the doc wanted to help and suggested he use the vacuum.

By now I just wanted bubs out and said just do what you need to do.

So with an episiotomy and ventouse, our beautiful little girl was born with the next 3 surges at 7.14 am?

Unfortunately, we didn’t get delayed cord clamping as she wasn’t breathing too well on her own and needed suctioning but hubby got to cut the cord.

I also didn’t get to birth the placenta physiologically as I had a significant PPH, 1.5 litres, and the doctor needed to do quite a bit of repairing on an internal tear but I did I get my VBA2C!

Even though I am feeling like I have been hit with a Mack truck I am so bloody proud of myself for trusting and believing in my body and baby.

I had so much reservation about birthing at KEMH but I cannot fault any of the staff we encountered during labour and delivery, every single one of them was so respectful and supportive.

I also had a birth photographer present, Amber May birth photographer, who was absolutely amazing and I can’t recommend her enough ?.

Sorry for such a long post so well done if you got through it all. If anyone is having doubts don’t just believe in yourself you can do it! ??”

 

And here are a couple of beautiful photos taken by Amber May Perth Birth Photographer