I gave birth to my son on Tuesday and just wanted to share my VBAC story as it was a real positive experience (despite a few complications along the way).
My first birth was with twins (12 years ago) and I was induced, on a drip for 30 hours, had untold pain relief ie 6 epidural top ups...and ended up having an emergency c-section. I don't really have any fond memories of the birth which is why it's probably taken so long to have more children ! I have had a number of apprehensions about giving birth again...from panicking about uterine ruptures to panicking about long labours and big babies etc !
Anyway, I went into labour naturally 2 days after my due date and went to hospital when the contractions were coming thick and fast and taking my breath away. I was checked at about 11pm and it was discovered that i was only 2cm dilated. My partner was sent home and I was moved off of labour ward for the night and given tramadol. I was absolutely disappointed at this point as I was in unbearable pain and didn't know how I could get through labour without an epidural. I was also panicking that I would be in for a very long labour again - that would take hours to progress and get nowhere.
After a couple of hours of lying in the ward (trying to be quiet)...I suddenly lost a lot of blood. I was taken back to labour ward and it was found I had progressed to just 4cm - but I was allowed to have gas and air and could call my partner to come back.
The gas and air kept me going - it was more the focussing that helped me ! I had a lovely student midwife who stayed with me throughout. At 6cm I had pethadine - that didn't work.
The transition stage was hard going...it was intense at the time and I really lost control. By this point I was crying and begging for a c-section. My partner was being lovely and comforting but I was quite inconsolable.
All of a sudden I had a need to push which felt massively relieving. My memory of this is the staff telling me to push really hard and 5 pushes later my son was born. There had, unbeknown to me, been a sense of urgency during this stage as my son's heartrate had dropped and he needed to come out fast. There was talk of a c-section if I hadn't been able to push him out so quickly and I had an episiotomy and a 2nd degree tear- but I was unaware of this as I was so focussed on what I was doing.
He came out healthy with an AGPAR score of 10...despite a paediatrician being on standby incase he was born poorly.
For me, the whole experience was amazing and I am so glad I went through with it 
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