This is the story of the birth of my son, sparing some of the details that you just don't need to know. ;) Be warned, however, that it IS a birth story, so proceed with caution.

I've had 2 c-sections with my other children. One in 2006, and one in 2008. My first c-section was the result of a doctor who was impatient to allow my body to do what it was designed to do. I've felt for 5 years now that his practices were wrong, and had I labored naturally, I would have progressed just fine. However, as part of inducing me, he immediately broke my water, putting us all on a time limit to give birth. My second c-section was scheduled because my due date had arrived, and baby was transverse and not dropping.
This time around I really wanted to try a vbac again. It isn't common that one would be able to do this, so I was pretty excited to find a doctor who would be willing to allow me to try. He told me that my bone structure was too small, and he didn't think I would go into labor, nor would I progress. But, if I did go into labor, we could try. I spent the last month of my pregnancy doing nearly everything I could to help this baby come out. I had started to dialate a tiny bit at around 37 weeks, and had braxton hicks like crazy on a daily basis. As I went for my last couple of check ups, I became increasingly frustrated that NOTHING had changed. I had a c-section scheduled for August 9th at 7:30 am if I didn't go into labor by then. I even tried to get him to strip my membranes, but I wasn't progressed enough. I left the doctors office on Friday thinking I'd never get to experience natural labor. Although I was sad, I had accepted it, and decided to enjoy my last few days of pregnancy without trying to make him come out. Another c-section was my fate, and I had accepted it. We had a busy weekend, and I did nothing extra that I had been doing. No extra walking, no natural herbs, no disgusting tea. ;) Sunday night we went to bed around 10. I woke up at midnight thinking I had just peed on myself a little. It wasn't a lot, so I thought the baby just kicked my bladder or something. I went potty and felt another little gush...but still didn't know what to think. I waited awhile to make sure I had an empty bladder, and returned to bed. As soon as I got to the bed, another little gush. I woke Brian up and told him I thought my water was breaking. I got up and put on a pad, and figured I'd go back to sleep until I started having contractions. Of course, as soon as we laid back down, they started. I thought, "Maybe I should time these" so I got my pen and paper. Of course, I remembered a few things I needed to pack up before we left for the hospital, so I got sidetracked on timing contractions and started rounding up last minute things. Then, I thought, "Maybe I need to go in now, since my water broke. Maybe I should call the hospital and see what they say". So I did, and they told me to come in. I'm in shock as I realize that I am going to have a baby, one way or another. We round everything up, call my Mom, and drop the kids off at her house. We arrive at the hospital and walk up to the main entrance, only to realize that they lock the doors after hours and we would now need to walk through the emergency room. When we got in there, they insisted on putting me in a wheelchair to get to labor and delivery. I wasn't contracting much at all, so I tried to avoid it, but the lady said she didn't want the baby "sliding out" as I walked. So I get in and the nurse in triage says "I'm going to check and see if your water did actually break. Do you think maybe you just peed on yourself?" I informed her that there was absolutely no doubt it was my water breaking because I was soaked. She went to check me and quickly realized that my water indeed did break. She asked if I was having a repeat c-section and I told her no, we were trying vbac. She asked who my doctor was and when I told her, she was shocked. She said he almost never does vbacs. When she found out that I had 2 previous c-sections, she was even more shocked. She said no doctor around her would even attempt that. I knew my rights, I knew the risks, and my doctor had already agreed, so I was going for a vbac. She was very supportive and helpful, even though my doctor wasn't very happy with me. She checked me and I was only dialated at 1. She wanted to give me a fighting chance at vbac, so she stretched my cervix to 2 and 1/2, bringing on the contractions strong and hard. That was pretty painful. They said they wanted me to get an epidural since the risk of uterine rupture was higher, so that they would be ready to wheel me into emergency c-section if need be. I am SO thankful for that, because the contractions were killer. I got the epidural around 5 am, and was dialated 3 1/2 then. I was worried that the epidural would stall my labor, and ruin my chance for a vbac, but I knew that it was a life threatening situation if my uterus ruptured, and it was best to be prepared for emergency c-section. The doctor came in at 7, clearly agitated, thinking I hadn't progressed any. He checked me and I was between 5 and 6. My daytime nurse came in and introduced herself and asked if she could pray with me. That was so special to me, more than words could express. God's hands were obviously all over this process, and this woman was just another reassurance of that. She got her prayer partner, who would end up being my nurse for the majority of my stay, and they prayed for me. I was quite humbled by that. She turned me on my side, set pillows up between my legs and behind my back, and left. 30 minutes later she came back and checked me and I was at 9 1/2. I have probably never been more excited in my whole life. Finally, this thing looked possible!! I might ACTUALLY get to have a vaginal delivery like I had been wanting for 5 years! She told me that she didn't want me pushing much, so we were going to let the contractions push the baby down until she could see hair. I was nervous, Brian was petrified, but we were both so excited. I labored for another hour and a half. It wasn't too bad because I had an epidural, but the contractions started getting worse and worse as he was moving down. Dr came in and checked me at 9, not thinking I was progressed very far, only to realize the head was visible! The nurse said she wanted me to wait about 15 more minutes before I started pushing. She had me do a few practice pushes, and said I was ready. So at 9:15 she did a few pushes with me, trying to stretch me to avoid an episiotomy. I felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out I was pushing so hard. She told me to stop pushing till the Dr came in, and a few minutes later we started again. I pushed a few more times, Dr had to cut me, and Josiah was here!! I can't describe the feeling I felt when they put him on my chest, but I don't think I could have possibly smiled any bigger. The doctor stitched me up, and we were left to spend time with our little man. I left a few things out, and don't want to go back and edit, so I'm just going to add them here.
While putting in the iv, the nurse messed up on the first one. She didn't want it to blow out, so she was holding that one while trying to insert another one. I had a contraction as she was trying to tape the new one, and it apparently caused the first iv to blow out and squirt blood everywhere. Brian was not happy with that, he was annoyed that they didn't do it right, and the sight of the blood made him have to go sit down.
I got to feel Josiah's head as it was coming out. Brian thought this was totally gross, but I thought it was pretty amazing.
The nurse told me signs of uterine rupture to watch out for, mainly unexplained pain and bleeding. As Brian would help me flip over, he noticed a little blood on the towel. I couldn't see it to know if it was normal, so he called the nurse. She said it was normal. About 30 minutes later when I flipped again, he got all worried again, but decided not to call the nurse this time. He was SO concerned the whole time, it was very sweet to watch.
As I was pushing, I remember looking at Brian and thinking "Could you please not look so disgusted as I'm giving birth to our child!" lol! I'm not sure if I said it out loud or not, but I definitely thought it.

It was an amazing experience! I may update with more details as I remember, but that is all for now.

Just got the news that he will soon arrive!

I was beyond happy to see him!

Daddy holding him for the first time

So in love!