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Induction Turned Cesarean Birth Stories
After having a fairly easy and healthy pregnancy, Vidita was excited to meet her daughter soon as her due date approached. Unfortunately, she never went into labor and at 41.5 weeks hesitantly agreed to go in for an induction, as recommended by her doctor. Not knowing the strong correlation between inductions and C-sections, Vidita was completely blindsided when her induction stalled and led to a non-emergency C-section due to “failure to progress”.
In the months after her daughter was born, Vidita spent endless hours nursing her round the clock while simultaneously thinking about all the things she would do differently when she became pregnant again. She was convinced that the choices she had made had led to her first C section and she was determined that her birth outcome would be different the second time around. She felt like somehow she had failed by not achieving a vaginal birth. She read all about VBACs and researched everything that could possibly increase her chances of success.
When the time came, Vidita did everything to achieve that VBAC – she hired a doula, found a VBAC supportive provider, gained the minimum recommended weight, worked out – and as her due date approached, she tried everything that could possibly induce labor, from eating dates to acupuncture. This time she had made sure her doctor would let her wait until 42 weeks hoping that was enough time to let her body go into labor naturally. Unfortunately, it didn’t and she was back in the same boat and scheduled for an induction at 42 weeks.
Even though her induction went much better this time around and was so close to being a VBAC, she stalled again around 8cm and they called it given the circumstances. During surgery, the doctor found her son was sunny side up and it would have been a very difficult vaginal delivery, if successful. Vidita had an amazing gentle caesarean experience, and got to do skin-to-skin with her son in the OR right away. She had an incredibly easy recovery and was able to go home after 2 nights. She is thankful there were no emergencies in either of her births and her babies always came out healthy and strong. She has no regrets!
Vidita Chopra Bio
Vidita has a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley, with a focus in Maternal and Child Health. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband Matt, 3.5-year-old daughter Ellora, and 2-month-old son Helix. Vidita currently works at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute as a Project Coordinator managing health services research. Instagram handle: vidcho Email: vidita.chopra@gmail.com
Resources
https://www.acog.org/Patients/FAQs/Vaginal-Birth-After-Cesarean-Delivery