The Home Water Birth After 2 Cesarean (HWBA2C) of Baby Yang Syahmi

Today marks the 3rd month after the hwba2c of baby Yang Syahmi. The best experience ever in my life. I was so afraid of birthing after being cut open twice but hubby & I have always dreamed of a big family. Luckily I found 'ICAN Malaysia / VBAC Support' group on facebook before conceiving Syahmi.

                          Yang Syahmi with his 2y 4m old elder brother Yang Syafiy

Convincing hubby wasn't easy too as he was raised by a nurse (my MIL). He was also being showered with negative infos by the doctors, magazines, newspapers which all emphasized the risks of vbamc. I signed us up for AMANI classes with Hanz Jamaludin without informing him & told him it was already paid for so it would be a waste not to attend.

After what felt like dragging a heavy log to the first class since he was still reluctant to go, he was eager to learn more on gentle birth & vbamc as now he sees that it is achievable & had been done before..lots of times in fact by others. He ended up googling for more infos & videos of gentle births.  I wanted to boost his confidence by seeing a supportive obgyn, so we went to Colombia Asia Balakong to see Dr Haw who opened up a new door for us. He was supportive & stated all the positive possibilities without denying the risks involved. I was healthy throughout the pregnancy, Alhamdulillah & that was what made my hubby & I more confident in pursuing what used to be my dream. It became our dream. 

All I feared was baby being overdue & he did, exactly like his elder brothers. 40 weeks 5 days. I had the strong surges for quite a while. 2 and a half days to be precise. This was expected based on other successful vbac stories. I've been climbing up & down the stairs to our home on the 7th floor that week. What started the surges was the 'rojak buah' with extra pineapple that I had the day before while walking at Dataran Putra. I managed 2 rounds of the huge dataran.

It felt like Allah was washing away my sins through the surges (forgive me dear Allah for I have sinned). Pool had been inflated weeks before & I had been in & out of the pool for the whole 2 days. Hubby was great at making sure that the water was warm enough all the time (it was hard work he said). I bear with the surges with humming through it. It felt like forever. I can't eat at all, not even dates & had a few sips of milo during that period. So I was pretty weak but still so aware of what's going on.

28/01/14. The day. I actually said to baby that I'm gonna turn myself in if he doesn't come out that day & gave him up till 7 pm to make an appearance. LOL . Luckily hubby sent the children earlier that morning. He even asked me if it was okay if he wants to go to the car wash. I told him to come home cause I know that was it. During the transition period, the humming gets louder, more like groans. Told hubby that I gave up, that that was a mistake & all I wanted to do was sleep.

Tears came streaming down. Hubby told me that I did great & he believed in me. Told me to concentrate on the sensation. I remembered telling him 'this is not sensations anymore, this is pain'..sigh. But that was when I reached down & felt a very thick rubber coming out & immediately told hubby to get ready & stay in the pool with me. He was not with me the whole time for I told him not to be there. I might get distracted. Weird cause I know some moms would love their husband's company. He even asked if he could record the moment & I said I looked horrible & refused. Regretted that much soon after. After being in the pool with me for about 2 hours, & I tried 3 different positions for labour, I ended up squating holding my legs close to me when baby popped out easily. Alhamdulillah.

The moment we had been longing for. The 9 months journey was used fully to equip ourselves with gentle birth knowledge before the big decision was made. Hubby was so happy & proud of his achievement of being the first person to hold his baby & I was so happy to be able to hold him seconds after he was born. Held him up skin to skin & fed him immediately. He actually looked up at me as if saying "I'm great mama, you did great too, we're a great team". Happy tears then. I was so energized & was not sleepy anymore after that.  Yang Syahmi turned out to be a very calm & content baby. Cried only if he was sleepy or hungry & very sound if I managed to feed or put him to sleep first.

Hubby called the ambulance that arrived 5 mins later. Fast huh..that's how near the hospital is to our home. They cut the cord & brought us to the hospital for the placenta delivery. I wish I had done that at home too but hubby said he wants to make sure we're alright. I had my vba2c, so i succumbed to his wish. Pregnant moms & pregnant nurses came to me & asked how did I managed the vba2c as they were in the same shoes as I was. So there goes the grandma story of the birth of Yang Syahmi. Came out 3.5 kg n turned 6.7 kg in his 2nd month. The power of breast milk, but that's another story to tell. Happy birthing mommies. May all of you be blessed with the best birthing experience. InsyaAllah.

p/s: I wish my mother and sisters were there to support me too but I understand how concerned they were of my & my baby's safety. They looked up a lot on the risks of VBACs. Now that we succeded, I hope they would look up more on the positive side of it. Look up also on the negative side of multiple cesarean. It is way worse than VBACs in my opinion.

We went for check ups with the doctors & still accept their opinions. I can say all of them had their own personal opinion on birthing. We just ended up choosing the positive side of the whole process of birth. The most important thing is to make sure that you're knowledgeable enough of what should be done. Be informed before making your own dream birthing decision.

Oh my love, laugh & life..truly blessed. Subhanallah. Alhamdulillah.