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You will NOT want to miss today’s episode!With her first pregnancy, Taylor was committed to having an unmedicated, vaginal birth. But after a 5-day induction at 37 weeks due to cholestasis and no cervical change or dilation, she knew it was time to consent to a C-section. Taylor knew she would fight for her VBAC even before she became pregnant again. 18 hours after her water broke, Taylor was barely 1 centimeter dilated. Labor continued for hours with transition-like symptoms. She knew she was close. Taylor agreed to a cervical check. She was 2 centimeters dilated. Find out how Taylor’s resilience helped her overcome that HUGE discouragement we feel when labor isn’t progressing the way we think it is.Additional linksHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull transcriptNote: All transcripts are edited to correct grammar, false starts, and filler words. Meagan: Welcome, everybody. You are listening to The VBAC Link podcast. This is your host, Meagan. Guys, I am so excited about this story today. This is Taylor.Taylor, we are so excited to have you on today. I am going to share a little bit about our course. Normally, we dive into reviews before we start the story, but I want to share a little bit more about our course. I wanted to let you guys know. We have a VBAC Prep Course. This prep course is for anybody wanting to explore their options for birth after Cesarean. You may or may not know if VBAC is right for you. This course is going to help you learn the pros and the cons of both VBAC and repeat Cesarean. We are going to dive into the history. We are going to give you tools. We are going to give you things to help you take with you to your provider to help establish a better relationship and help find out if that provider truly is supportive of you. Of course, there are some more stories in there and so much more information. This course is created for any birthing parent looking to know their options. And also, any birth worker wanting to expand their knowledge of VBAC and the history of VBAC and how to support future clients, especially if you are a doula on VBAC. Taylor is a labor and delivery nurse which is super exciting so we are going to talk a little bit more about that. I want to ask her some questions but even labor and delivery nurses, midwives, and birth workers, this course is going to be great for you. Learn more about our course at thevbaclink.com.Taylor’s StoryMeagan: Okay, Taylor. I cannot wait for you to share your story. I was telling you in the beginning, when I saw your face pop up on our Zoom when we were getting ready to record, I just knew exactly who you were from your image. I just remember seeing it and having all of the feels so I can’t wait to hear from you. Right from your voice, so thank you so much for being here with us today. Taylor: Yes, thank you for having me. I am so excited. Meagan: Seriously, I’m so excited. I would love to turn the time over to you. Share away. Share this wonderful story with the world.Taylor: Okay well, gosh. There are so many things. My first pregnancy was in 2020. July 2020 was when I had my first baby. That pregnancy was very uneventful. It was great. I didn’t have any issues. I strongly desired an unmedicated, vaginal birth. I got my husband to read The Bradley Method twice. Yeah. I just was chugging along. I actually wasn’t working labor and delivery yet. I was working in the mother/baby unit. That will kind of come into play later because I didn’t know what I didn’t know at the time. So just chugging along and then I got to about 36 weeks and I just felt like my feet were really itchy at night. I ended up telling a friend and she said that in her first pregnancy, that happened to her and she ended up having cholestasis. Meagan: Mhmm. I was going to say, cholestasis. Taylor: Yes, and so of course, I was just like, “Oh wow.” I went down the Google hole and I was like, “Oh, I have to tell my doctor. This sounds so scary.” I know y’all have talked about cholestasis on your podcast before, but basically, it’s a random issue with your liver during pregnancy. The worst-case result is a stillbirth or arrhythmias in the baby and things like that. My mind was just going straight to that. I told my doctor and she was of course like, “Oh yeah. We need to draw some labs.” They ended up drawing some labs and sent me on my way. They take about a week to come back, so I just was going on with life. Meagan: Which is so crazy to me. Can I just say that? This is a potentially serious thing and it takes a week. Taylor: Right, yep. So yeah. She gave me some medicine that was supposed to help with the itching and things like that. Meagan: I think it helps lower your liver enzyme levels right? Taylor: Yeah. It really is supposed to slow things down. I took it and I didn’t really feel like it helped, but I took it. Of course, I wanted the best thing for my baby. So I get to a little over 37 weeks at this point. I think I was 37 + 3. I was just at home. We had this really bad storm. My husband was normally off this day. It was a Monday. He was working late. The power went out. After the storm, I went outside to try and send him a text. He was calling me and said, “Hey. Have you talked to (one of my best friends who works at the hospital with me)? She’s been calling me. She’s been trying to get a hold of you.”I just was like, “No. I haven’t had service. We lost power so the Wi-Fi went out.” So I called her and she was at work. She just said, “Taylor. The doctor’s been trying to call you. Your labs came back and you have cholestasis. They want you to come in tonight.” I was just like, “What? What? Hold on.” You know, I just was—Meagan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’ve got to wrap your mind around it for a sec. Taylor: Yeah. I could tell that she was really sad to be the one to call me because she knew that I just really wanted this Bradley Method birth. So my husband came home and I just was like, “No. This is not what I wanted at all. Ugh.” I just was so sad. We ended up going in, of course, because I thought that was my only– they didn’t give me any other options. I just thought, “Okay, well I need to do what they say.”So I went in and yeah. I was a little over 37 weeks. They got me admitted. I ended up having a Cervadil that night and I was closed by the way. My cervix was closed, thick, and high. So I had a Cervadil just thinking, “Oh great. I’m going to have my baby probably tomorrow.” The next day rolls around. It’s still closed, thick, and high. I had another Cervadil which, if anyone has not had a Cervadil, it’s like a sandpaper tampon. It is horrible. Meagan: Mhmm, yeah. Taylor: It’s really horrible. So I had a second one with those and by the end of that day, still closed. I went in Monday night and between Monday night and Friday, I had had three Cervadils, Cytotec orally and vaginally, and a whole day of Pitocin. They tried to put a Cook Catheter through because, at some point, the furthest I got was a fingertip basically. The midwife was really, she was just trying so hard because I worked there and she knew I really wanted a vaginal delivery. So she was actually really awesome. But they tried to put a Cook catheter through my fingertip cervix. It was horrible. And yeah. So Friday morning rolls around and they came in. They were just like, “Yeah. There is really nothing else we can do at this point. I don’t know why nothing is working.” The doctors had already been trying to have a C-section on Wednesday and this was Friday. I just remember feeling so exhausted, so tired, and honestly, just in so much pain from all of the things. I looked at my husband and I was just like, “I guess I just know. I know that I’m going to have to have a C-section.” They were just like, “Yeah. That’s kind of your only option.” I ended up asking, “Can I go home? Can I go to antepartum? Can I just have some more time?” They just said, “No. We’ve done so much. You have cholestasis already. If it was going to work, it probably would have worked already.”I ended up having a pretty good C-section. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t rushed. Nothing was wrong with my baby. He wasn’t in distress or anything. We actually didn’t know it was a he. We didn’t find out what he was until he was born. But yeah, I just was pretty devastated. My husband was pretty devastated for me. We both were crying in the labor room all day until my C-section and then we just came to terms with it and it was fine. I had my C-section. I had my healthy little baby boy, Mason. And yeah. I had an easy recovery. I went home and I just knew that I was never going to have another C-section. That was my mindset when I went home because even though it was smooth and nothing was an emergency or anything, I just felt pretty devastated. I just remember even months after he was born, I would just cry in the shower thinking about it. I was like, “Why am I feeling like this?” I just never knew that your birth experience was just– now I know. It’s just truly one of the most important things that you’ll ever go through in life. Yeah. So I was determined that if I was going to get pregnant again, I was going to have my VBAC. So fast forward, my little Mason turned one. That was in July and I ended up finding out I was pregnant in September, so he was a little over one. I was ready. I was going to do all of my research and yeah. I started reading all of these books on VBACs. I went to the doctor and I knew– at this point, I was a labor and delivery nurse. My hospital is actually a community hospital and we don’t have in-house anesthesia, so we technically don’t do VBACs there. I went to see my doctor for my new appointment. She said, “Okay, well, we can put you down for a repeat C-section since you’ve had one.” I said, “No. I really want to have a VBAC.” She was great. She said, “Okay well, we, unfortunately, don’t do them here. The hospital that does is 2 hours away.” I said, “Okay,” because I already knew that. I knew she was going to say that. I was like, “ I am doing this.” Of course, then comes the VBAC calculator. The biggest thing that everyone kept saying was, “Well, your cervix never dilated with your first pregnancy, so that’s kind of a concern. We don’t know why that happened.” But anyways, I just knew that I still had a chance. They did the VBAC calculator, and yeah. I just planned on having my VBAC. I went through my pregnancy and all of my appointments just knowing that that was what I wanted. I found The VBAC Link podcast and listened to y’all every day. Meagan: Aww. Taylor: Yeah. I listened to VBAC birth stories. Yeah. It was just the best. I was listening to all of those and I remember I was 20-something weeks pregnant and I was at work one day. Someone I worked with was just like, “You know, I am totally for VBACs. I think they’re awesome, but I just don’t know if you’re a good candidate. There was a reason why you never dilated. I just remember I went in the bathroom and I just cried. I was devastated. She was not mean at all. It was like an honest conversation, but I texted my friend who had a VBAC after two C-sections. She ended up being my doula with my VBAC. I will tell you more about her. But I texted her and I was just so devastated. She was like, “Taylor. That is just not even true. You can do this.” I went forward and later in pregnancy, I went to the chiropractor, ate all of the dates, and drank the red raspberry leaf tea. I walked every day. I was chasing my toddler. I felt like I was healthier during this pregnancy, and yeah. I ended up being referred to that hospital that is two hours away when I was at 36 weeks. It’s a big teaching hospital, and so of course, they were like, “We prefer probably to be induced around 39 weeks.” I said, “Nope. I am not going to be induced. I don’t want that.”“Okay, well, we definitely want you to deliver by the time you are at 40 weeks.” I said, “Nope”. Meagan: “Thanks, but no thanks.”Taylor: I said, “Nope. I don’t want to be induced.” The doctor was just like, “Okay. Well, then what we will do is every week we will check your cervix and do a membrane sweep and see if we can get things moving. After 40 weeks, you’ll just have to come back for NSTs and things.” I said, “Nope.” I was like–Meagan: Way to advocate for yourself. Taylor: Yes. I, oh my gosh. That was just comical looking back. In the moment though, it was really scary because it is scary to tell a doctor, “No,” especially because we just assume that they know everything. Even being a labor and delivery nurse, sometimes it’s hard for me and I have to advocate for my patients and things. In the moment, it was scary, but now, I’m just so glad I did. I ended up having an appointment at 39 weeks at my local OB here. She was like, “Can I just check you, and maybe can I do a sweep?” I was just like, “Okay,” but telling myself, “Okay. This is not going to change anything whether I’m closed.” I just knew that it could be a trigger for me because the whole week of being induced with my son, everyone was just like, “Oh, you’re still closed. You’re still closed. Closed, closed, closed.” This time, I was like, “Okay. I am not going to let it be a trigger. It doesn’t mean anything.” I let her check me and of course, I was closed. But honestly, it didn’t bother me. Of course, the doctor was like, “We’ll have to talk to the other hospital and they’re probably going to want you to be induced. If you’re not dilated by 40 weeks, then I feel like they’re going to want you to have a C-section.” I just left there and I was really just like, “Seriously, no. No. I have come so far,” because I had my other baby so early. It ended up being 38 weeks because I was there for so long. I was like, “No.” I did not schedule another appointment. I was like, “I am not going back until I have my baby,” which probably was not that smart, but I just knew I was going to pay attention to my body, pay attention to baby moving, and if I went too far past, I definitely would make an appointment, but I was like, “I’m not right now. I can’t think about that because I don’t want them to check me again. I don’t want to have a weak moment and be induced.” So anyways, I went on my way. The day before my due date, I ended up drinking some midwife’s brew castor oil. I drank that the day before my due date and I ended up within a couple of hours just having intense contractions every 1-3 minutes. This lasted for a few hours. My husband was like, “Okay. Is this labor? Do we need to go?” Because we have a two-hour drive. He ended up calling my friend, Cami, who was going to go as my doula. She, like I said, had a VBAC herself at the same hospital two hours away. So he calls Cami. She comes over and I was just really into these contractions. She said, “Yeah. We have a long drive. Let’s just go.” These contractions continued the whole way down there. We get there. At this point, it had been past midnight, so I’m 40 weeks on the dot. They checked me and I was closed. Closed, thick, and high. Meagan: Oh, I bet that was hard. Taylor: Yeah, it was. I had actually had some bloody show on the way there, so I just knew I was going to be dilated. Meagan: Yeah. Taylor: I was like, “Okay, I am not dilated. This isn’t real. This is just from the castor oil. I’m going home.” The resident was just like, “Oh yeah. I don’t think that’s going to happen. You’re 40 weeks. You have a previous uterine scar and I just don’t think we can discharge you.” I just said, “Yes, you can actually.”Meagan: “I don’t think we can discharge you.” Huh. “Hello, I’m leaving.” Taylor: I just remember that my husband was like, “No, no, no,” because we had already been through so much with my first birth, and so I was like, “Yeah. Actually, can you go talk to someone else? Your attending or someone? I’m leaving. I know if I sleep, my contractions will stop. I’m not worried. I know all of the risks.” They tried to tell me the risks so many times. I was like, “Yeah. I know all of the risks an…
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