VBAC Journal - The End

Why the end? Well, because I already gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. However, my VBAC dreams indeed ended because I gave birth to her via CS again. After the 1st part of the VBAC posts, I was able to find a new OB. She did not seem to be a VBAC advocate but what made us choose her is because she offered to treat us as a house case, that means my delivery would be handled by residents and there would be no professional fee, just hospital bills. We needed the extra allowance in finances because having VBAC here in the Philippines (compared to VBAC articles and testimonies I've read from the US) is complicated. I was told that if my cervix opens 3cm, I would have to be confined at the hospital until I give birth and not wait it out at home. On the other hand, if I would not experience spontaneous labor by my 40th week, I would have to face the knife. 

Come February 19, my 40th week via LMP, I still wasn't experiencing regular contractions. My cervix was only 2cm opened. I was allowed to be mildly induced which meant staying inside the labor room that charged per hour. 24 hours passed and my cervix only opened 3cm, no regularly strong contractions and I was drained because I was no longer allowed to eat. I was asked if I still wanted to go through. I was torn because I was thinking about the hourly rate of the labor room until who knows how long, the possibility that the trial of labor would still fail and the expenses on top of a possible emergency CS. My husband, although supportive of VBAC, consoled me that our goal is to let the baby out safe and healthy despite a possible failure of TOLAC and that he would stand by me whatever my decision would be. I chose what's best for all of us and went for CS. 

I gave birth to Serenity Grace on February 20. It would've been happier if I had a successful VBAC but I'm happy to share that the breastfeeding policy of the hospital enabled me to breastfeed my daughter as soon as I gave birth until now and my CS wound seemed to heal faster than it did when I gave birth to Ella. Aside from being able to do crunches sooner and a hindrance to the possibility of having more children, I practically still achieved the things I feared I wouldn't from a CS delivery and that's what matters most.

you every woman,