Sheryl’s first baby was five days late. Her second baby was five days early. From the first contraction to a surprise car birth, Sheryl’s third baby was under an hour!
Not only were the methods of delivery very different with each baby, but Sheryl’s life circumstances were too.
Julie and Sheryl chat about preparing yourself not only for the long, marathon labors, but also for the possibility of the fast and furious ones!
How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for Parents
Full Transcript under Episode Details
Julie: All right. Good morning, Women of Strength. This is Julie Francom, and I am so excited to be here with you today to share with you a very exciting story. One of my favorite types of birth stories, people might think I’m crazy, but– oh, do you know what? I’m not going to tell you what the story is, but if you have been listening for a minute, you might know when I say what my favorite type of story is, but I’m going to leave it to be a surprise.
We are going to go ahead and read a Review of the Week really quickly, then I’ll introduce my guest of the day. Okay, let’s see. This review is from Apple Podcasts. It’s from ccm57, and she says, “I am so thankful I came across this podcast and know it was an invaluable tool when educating myself regarding VBACs and the birthing process in general. My first son was born via Cesarean due to his stubbornness and refusing to turn from his breech presentation. Leading up to his C-section, I was devastated that I wouldn’t be able to experience the natural birthing process I had always wanted.
“I am in the medical world. I knew about VBACs, and it was never even a thought I wouldn’t try for one in my next pregnancy. I found The VBAC Link halfway through my second pregnancy, and it was so addicting. I listened to every episode, sometimes multiple times a day, until my delivery. Every woman’s story was amazing and truly helpful to me personally.
“Thank you, Meagan, for being as passionate about VBACs and educating women all over the world. I can excitedly say that God was so gracious, and I had my beautiful VBAC this past August. Thank you to every woman who have shared your story on the podcast and for all of the women who are listening and expecting a sweet baby, I am cheering you on.”
I am so excited to hear stories and reviews like that. It’s really incredible what can happen when you get a group of women together to share stories and to help uplift and inspire each other. I’m grateful to this reviewer today and to all of you listening, to everyone who has shared their story on the podcast, and to everybody who helps spread the word about VBAC and helps increase access to people all over the world, really.
All right. Well, guess what? It is very cold today. It’s been a very nice 70s and 80 degrees here in Utah for the last little while, but it is now mid-October at the time that we are recording this, and it is raining and freezing. There is supposed to be snow dumping up in the mountains today, and I am just wrapped up tight in my big, poofy blanket and very, very excited to talk to our guest today.
Her name is Sheryl, and she is going to share her Cesarean and VBAC stories with us. I am really excited. I am really excited for this story, you guys. I’m not going to tell you what we are going to talk about at the end because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. It’s going to be a great episode, and I am just going to go ahead and give it over to Sheryl and let her pick it up.
Oh, first, hold on. Let me read her bio. I am still getting into the swing of things.
Sheryl: Sure.
Julie: I need to remember that. Let’s see.
Oh, yes. Sheryl is a mom of three. She has been married for 10 years to her husband. They live in Sugar Creek, Ohio. I love the Midwest except in the winter. It’s getting ready to be not so fun out there. It’s beautiful in the spring and summertime. Anyway, okay. She recently returned from living in the Dominican Republic for the last two and a half years which is really cool. I feel like everybody needs to have an experience living abroad.
Sheryl: For sure.
Julie: You just learn so much when you are in a foreign country experiencing different things. I feel like it’s very valuable. Anyway, that was a little bit of a tangent. But now, for real, we are going to give it over to Sheryl. Go ahead, Sheryl.
Sheryl: Okay, well thanks so much for having me on. This is super fun.
Julie: Of course.
Sheryl: Yeah, I’m not sure where you want me to start, but I have had two VBACs and very different experiences with both. My first was a C-section. I’ll start with his story a little bit. He’s 6-years-old, so six years ago, I knew I wanted to have a natural birth. I took a natural childbirth class. I felt like I had prepared, but I don’t think I had mentally prepared for birth very well.
I think if I could do it again, I would definitely have hired a doula just to help with the mental aspect. I was five days late. I told my husband, “I’m not going to work tomorrow.” It was Sunday night. I was like, “There is no way I’m going to work tomorrow. I will go into labor tonight because I can’t go to work tomorrow pregnant.”
He was like, “Okay.” We went on a truck drive on a bumpy road. We played mini-golf. We were like, “Okay.” We started watching a movie. I was like, “I think I’m cramping a little bit. Okay, this is great.” We finally went to bed, and yep. Sure enough, a few hours later, I woke up with contractions, and I was so excited.
I was very taken back by how painful they were. Now, looking back, it was like, okay. Those contractions weren’t even that bad. It was going to get so much worse. I was progressing great. I think I went to the hospital when they were 3.5-4 minutes apart. I think I got there. I think I was dilated to a 4 or 5, so they were like, “Yeah, you’re progressing really well. This is great.”
I figured it was 7:00 in the morning. We would have a baby by noon. At 11:00, I said that I wanted to get in the birth tub or just labor, but I wanted to get out to have the baby. I was in the tub. Now, looking back, I think I was in transition. I ended up vomiting a little bit and just being so nauseous and in so much pain. The water did help, then they came and checked me and were like, “You are an 8.” They were like, “You should get out if you don’t want to have your baby in the water.”
I was so excited. They came and got things ready, then I really got fearful at that point. I was just very scared about what was going to happen and all of the things. They came and checked me, and they were like, “Oh, no. You’re not dilated that much. You’re maybe a 7.” I just tried to keep laboring on. We ended up doing some different pain management. I was just not progressing anymore.
At this point, I think it was 14-15 hours, so I was just exhausted. I was very thankful. One of the midwives at the practice that I was at was off that day. She had actually been on vacation. They let her know, “Hey, just so you know, Sheryl is at the hospital. She is having a really hard time. We can’t figure out why she’s not progressing further.” She was like, “I’m going in.” She came in. She was so kind, and she worked for hours trying different positions and everything possible.
Finally, she was like, “Okay.” I think it was 8:00 at night. She said, “You are exhausted. Let’s do an epidural,” which I didn’t want because I was like, “I don’t want needles. I hate needles.” I got an epidural. I got a little bit of a nap. It worked for about an hour, then it stopped working. The pain came back, but then obviously, there’s nothing you can do except lay there. I was at a 9, and it wouldn’t go any further.
She kept trying different things even with the epidural. Finally, she was like, “Okay, he’s actually gone back up. He was down, and now he’s back up.” She said she was going to go talk to the doctor and see what he thinks we should do. They came back. It was 10:30 at night. They were like, “I think it’s time for a C-section. We don’t know why he’s going back up, but typically, it’s a sign that things are not going well, so we’re going to do a C-section.”
At that point, you’re just so tired that you’re like, “Okay, yeah. Whatever we have to do to get him out.” They ended up doing a C-section. I was so tired that I was falling asleep while they were doing the spinal tap. I was just exhausted.
The C-section went very well. My postpartum was hard. I think just as a first-time mom with a C-section and all of those, and then feeling like a failure. That was a really challenging time, but right away, the doctor told me that they were one in the area that was known for VBACs. They had successful VBACs.
He told me and my husband right away, “You will be able to have a VBAC. There is no doubt in my mind that you will be able to have a VBAC for your next.”
Julie: Oh, I love that. I love that they said that to you right from the get-go.
Sheryl: Yeah. It was so great, so it was like, “Okay. We know that the next one will be a VBAC.”
We actually had a miscarriage between baby number one and baby number two. That was really challenging. It was a surprise.
At that point, we had committed to move to Haiti. We weren’t planning on getting pregnant, but we got pregnant, then 10 weeks later, we miscarried.
Julie: Wow.
Sheryl: It was definitely a difficult time, and it was the year 2020. I don’t think I need to say anymore than that. It was February 2020 when I miscarried.
Julie: Oh, Sheryl. COVID ruined everything. It really did.
Sheryl: It was definitely a challenging year. We were ready to go on a mission. That got delayed until we ended up moving to Haiti in March 2021. We were there for almost 6 months, and then the
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