My first child was born at 32 weeks gestation. It was very scary, so when my second child came along I was looking forward to a "normal" birth, but it was not to be. Baby number two was delivered by an emergency C-section.
Finally, with baby number three I was hoping for an easier birth. My doctor wanted me to have a planned C-section, but I asked if I could try a vaginal delivery. He said OK, with a few exceptions. He said they needed to have extensive monitoring of the baby and I had to agree to an epidural in case it became necessary to have a C-section. So, I agreed.
It all went so much better than I had ever dreamed. I was only in labor for about six hours, and most of that was relatively pain-free because of the epidural. I had the epidural when I was dilated to about 4 centimeters and within two hours I was at 10 centimeters and ready to push. The epidural had worn off enough that I could feel when to push, and after only 15 minutes of pushing, my little girl popped into the world.
The best part was that for the first time I got to see and hold my baby as soon as she was born. My first one rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and I didn't see her for almost six hours. My son was taken to the nursery after my C-section, so I didn't get to hold him for a few hours either.
After my third was born, I just looked at her and cried. Even though she was still covered with fluids from the birth, she was so beautiful.
After it was all over I felt great and was ready to go home. When I was walking in the hospital hallway to go to the nursery to see the other babies I encountered a woman who had just given birth also and she said she was amazed that I had just had a baby. She said she couldn't tell!
Six weeks later, my doctor said my vaginal birth after Cesarean (VBAC) went perfectly, and he wished they all were that easy. So in the end, I finally felt like I had a real birth.
