Midwife Gloria Lemay's Response
Find VBAC-related articles by Gloria on her
index page.
How you can be successful with your VBAC births:
1. Write down a list of all the things you really
want in your VBAC birth and word it in I want
terms, rather than I don't want terms.
2. Keep making lists of things you are "hoping"
for and know that hope is a very bad place to
be. Turn all the "hopes" into reality
long before the day of the baby's birth.
3. You may need to stop being "nice"
to get this VBAC.
Also: keep things quiet. Many births begin in
the night... woman will get up to pee, feel her
membranes release and then an hour later begin
having sensations fifteen minutes apart. Because
we think of birth as a family/couple experience,
most women will wake up their husbands to tell
them something's starting and then, probably because
we all hope we'll be the 1 in 10,000 women who
don't experience any pain, we start getting the
birth supplies organized, fill up the water tub,
etc.
I have seen so many births that take days and
days of prodromal (under 3 cms dilation) sensations
and they usually begin this way. The couple distracts
themselves in that early critical time when the
pituitary gland is beginning to put out oxytocin
to dilate the cervix. Turning on the light causes
inhibition of the oxytocin release. There is a
lot written these days about the importance of
melatonin in the brain and how darkening the bedroom
can help with many health problems. We don't hear
much in childbirth circles about melatonin, but
there are so many things we don't know about how
the brain affects the progress of birth.
Many couples don't call their midwives until
the sensations are coming 5 minutes apart (30
secs long) at 7:00 a.m. but they've been up since
midnight timing every one of the early sensations.
If they had called their midwife at midnight,
she would have said "Turn off the light and
let your husband sleep as much as possible through
the night. You, stay dark and quiet. It's still
very early. Take a bath with a candle if it helps,
but the most important thing is get rest. Call
me back when you think I should come over."
That first night can make all the difference
and yet so many couples act like it's a party
and don't realize they are sabotaging their births
right at the beginning. Staying up all night in
the early part does two things- it throws off
the body clock that controls sleep and waking
and confuses the brain AND it inhibits the release
of the very hormone you need to dilate effectively,
oxytocin.
When you begin to have sensations, I urge you
to ignore it as long as you possibly can. Don't
tell anyone. Have a "secret sensation
time" with your unborn baby and get in as
dark a space as you can. Minimize what is happening
with your husband, family and the birth attendants.
What would you rather have- a big, long dramatic
birth story to tell everyone or a really smooth
birth? Being to focused on "sharing"
everything that's happening can sabotage your
vaginal birth.
You do have a say over your hormone activity.
Help your pituitary gland secrete oxytocin to
open your cervix by being in a dark, quiet room
with your eyes closed.
-Gloria Lemay, Vancouver, BC
Mothers reply:
"This makes perfect sense to me. I'll
definitely save this to refer to once I have an
imminent labour. Thanks."
"Thank you for this, Gloria. I have admired
your style of midwifery, which I know of only
through stories and your posts. This really hit
home. After a precipitous unattended homebirth
with my third child (midwife was en route, talking
to my dh on her cell phone), when I went into
labor at 3am with my fourth, I immediately called
her and asked her to come, called my mom, set
up the birth tub, turned on lights, etc.... After
24 hours of labor which included 17 hours of pushing,
I had my second c/s. Gosh, if I had known then
what I know now."
"Thanks for this! I'm ready to go into
labor at anytime, and this was a major concern
for me-- my husband really needs his sleep (obstructive
sleep apnea+ lack of sleep= man who cannot function)
. Thanks for bolstering my instincts to stay low
key for awhile."
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