Carly: Posterior Baby #1 Leads to a C-Section, Postpartum Anxiety, and Posterior Baby #2 During COVID With a Redeeming VBAC

Carly from Philly joins us on the podcast today! Carly found out she was pregnant around 8 weeks with her first while she was finishing up Grad School & her student teaching. When she went to the hospital to have her first baby she waited in a wheelchair in the hall until being told what to do next in triage and finally was sent up to delivery. She pushed for 3 hours and was told that her baby was posterior with no exit in sight. She consented to a c-section but struggled with the trauma and anxiety that came postpartum.

She found out she was pregnant again 2 weeks into the pandemic in 2020. She started on her research for a VBAC early, but was told by her OB to schedule a c-section around 39 weeks. At the anatomy scan, the baby seemed to have a lemon shaped head, which was a sign of spina-bifida, and her husband was not allowed in the appointment with her. Around 24 weeks, she made the decision to switch her care to a midwife, and a hospital 45 minutes away. The night before her due date, she started having contractions and didn’t have time to make it to that hospital, and had to head to the one where she had her first daughter, which triggered her anxiety. The baby was posterior again (which she had a feeling would happen) but Carly was completely dilated when she arrived to the hospital. Among a lot of remarks from her nurse, she was able to have the VBAC she planned and worked hard for! She recently started her own podcast called Labor Lessons!