Planning the escape route

For anyone who doesn't know the birth story for my daughter, the quick version goes like this: 4 days of induction resulting in less than 3cm dilation and a c-section. 6 nights in hospital, 2.5 hours before I held baby for first time, 5 days for my milk to come in. The long version is here.

It was not the nicely medicated, textbook birth that I had envisioned. I honestly didn't give the possibility of a c-section any thought because if there is one thing the women in my family can do well it is push out babies.  I secretly thought that if I really wanted to I could do it without an epidural. That's how badass at delivering I thought I would be.

I was wrong.

But now I have a second chance. At my first doctor's appointment this pregnancy at 7 weeks, my doctor brought up the possibility of a VBAC. I said I couldn't think that far into the future. And that was true, at that point I was only focused on the keeping the little pea sized embryo in it's cozy home through the first trimester.

Now that I have managed that goal, I have begun thinking about how I'm going to get this kid out of me when the time comes. I previously thought that you couldn't go overdue and still have a VBAC, but I was wrong. That really opens up the door for me (I can't envision me going into labor before 420 weeks). The more I think about it and research it, I really, really want this).

This gives me a little added motivation to limit my weight gain and work on toning on flexibility. Excess weight can hinder chances for a successful VBAC and extra muscle is useful for pushing large parasites out of your ladyhole.

So that's my goal for February. That mean accepting that I likely won't have a baby before my 39th birthday on the 11th. It means considering my due date to be February 20th instead of the 6th. It means 6 months of worrying that maybe my body doesn't know how to go into labor. And 6 months of hoping that it does.