Episode 211 Taylor's VBAC + Words From a Labor and Delivery Nurse

You will NOT want to miss today’s episode!With her first pregnancy, Taylor was committed to having an unmedicated, vaginal birth. But after a 5-day induction at 37 weeks due to cholestasis and no cervical change or dilation, she knew it was time to consent to a C-section. Taylor knew she would fight for her VBAC even before she became pregnant again. 18 hours after her water broke, Taylor was barely 1 centimeter dilated. Labor continued for hours with transition-like symptoms. She knew she was close. Taylor agreed to a cervical check. She was 2 centimeters dilated. Find out how Taylor’s resilience helped her overcome that HUGE discouragement we feel when labor isn’t progressing the way we think it is.Additional linksHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull transcriptNote: All transcripts are edited to correct grammar, false starts, and filler words. Meagan: Welcome, everybody. You are listening to The VBAC Link podcast. This is your host, Meagan. Guys, I am so excited about this story today. This is Taylor.Taylor, we are so excited to have you on today. I am going to share a little bit about our course. Normally, we dive into reviews before we start the story, but I want to share a little bit more about our course. I wanted to let you guys know. We have a VBAC Prep Course. This prep course is for anybody wanting to explore their options for birth after Cesarean. You may or may not know if VBAC is right for you. This course is going to help you learn the pros and the cons of both VBAC and repeat Cesarean. We are going to dive into the history. We are going to give you tools. We are going to give you things to help you take with you to your provider to help establish a better relationship and help find out if that provider truly is supportive of you. Of course, there are some more stories in there and so much more information. This course is created for any birthing parent looking to know their options. And also, any birth worker wanting to expand their knowledge of VBAC and the history of VBAC and how to support future clients, especially if you are a doula on VBAC. Taylor is a labor and delivery nurse which is super exciting so we are going to talk a little bit more about that. I want to ask her some questions but even labor and delivery nurses, midwives, and birth workers, this course is going to be great for you. Learn more about our course at thevbaclink.com.Taylor’s StoryMeagan: Okay, Taylor. I cannot wait for you to share your story. I was telling you in the beginning, when I saw your face pop up on our Zoom when we were getting ready to record, I just knew exactly who you were from your image. I just remember seeing it and having all of the feels so I can’t wait to hear from you. Right from your voice, so thank you so much for being here with us today. Taylor: Yes, thank you for having me. I am so excited. Meagan: Seriously, I’m so excited. I would love to turn the time over to you. Share away. Share this wonderful story with the world.Taylor: Okay well, gosh. There are so many things. My first pregnancy was in 2020. July 2020 was when I had my first baby. That pregnancy was very uneventful. It was great. I didn’t have any issues. I strongly desired an unmedicated, vaginal birth. I got my husband to read The Bradley Method twice. Yeah. I just was chugging along. I actually wasn’t working labor and delivery yet. I was working in the mother/baby unit. That will kind of come into play later because I didn’t know what I didn’t know at the time. So just chugging along and then I got to about 36 weeks and I just felt like my feet were really itchy at night. I ended up telling a friend and she said that in her first pregnancy, that happened to her and she ended up having cholestasis. Meagan: Mhmm. I was going to say, cholestasis. Taylor: Yes, and so of course, I was just like, “Oh wow.” I went down the Google hole and I was like, “Oh, I have to tell my doctor. This sounds so scary.” I know y’all have talked about cholestasis on your podcast before, but basically, it’s a random issue with your liver during pregnancy. The worst-case result is a stillbirth or arrhythmias in the baby and things like that. My mind was just going straight to that. I told my doctor and she was of course like, “Oh yeah. We need to draw some labs.” They ended up drawing some labs and sent me on my way. They take about a week to come back, so I just was going on with life. Meagan: Which is so crazy to me. Can I just say that? This is a potentially serious thing and it takes a week. Taylor: Right, yep. So yeah. She gave me some medicine that was supposed to help with the itching and things like that. Meagan: I think it helps lower your liver enzyme levels right? Taylor: Yeah. It really is supposed to slow things down. I took it and I didn’t really feel like it helped, but I took it. Of course, I wanted the best thing for my baby. So I get to a little over 37 weeks at this point. I think I was 37 + 3. I was just at home. We had this really bad storm. My husband was normally off this day. It was a Monday. He was working late. The power went out. After the storm, I went outside to try and send him a text. He was calling me and said, “Hey. Have you talked to (one of my best friends who works at the hospital with me)? She’s been calling me. She’s been trying to get a hold of you.”I just was like, “No. I haven’t had service. We lost power so the Wi-Fi went out.” So I called her and she was at work. She just said, “Taylor. The doctor’s been trying to call you. Your labs came back and you have cholestasis. They want you to come in tonight.” I was just like, “What? What? Hold on.” You know, I just was—Meagan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’ve got to wrap your mind around it for a sec. Taylor: Yeah. I could tell that she was really sad to be the one to call me because she knew that I just really wanted this Bradley Method birth. So my husband came home and I just was like, “No. This is not what I wanted at all. Ugh.” I just was so sad. We ended up going in, of course, because I thought that was my only– they didn’t give me any other options. I just thought, “Okay, well I need to do what they say.”So I went in and yeah. I was a little over 37 weeks. They got me admitted. I ended up having a Cervadil that night and I was closed by the way. My cervix was closed, thick, and high. So I had a Cervadil just thinking, “Oh great. I’m going to have my baby probably tomorrow.” The next day rolls around. It’s still closed, thick, and high. I had another Cervadil which, if anyone has not had a Cervadil, it’s like a sandpaper tampon. It is horrible. Meagan: Mhmm, yeah. Taylor: It’s really horrible. So I had a second one with those and by the end of that day, still closed. I went in Monday night and between Monday night and Friday, I had had three Cervadils, Cytotec orally and vaginally, and a whole day of Pitocin. They tried to put a Cook Catheter through because, at some point, the furthest I got was a fingertip basically. The midwife was really, she was just trying so hard because I worked there and she knew I really wanted a vaginal delivery. So she was actually really awesome. But they tried to put a Cook catheter through my fingertip cervix. It was horrible. And yeah. So Friday morning rolls around and they came in. They were just like, “Yeah. There is really nothing else we can do at this point. I don’t know why nothing is working.” The doctors had already been trying to have a C-section on Wednesday and this was Friday. I just remember feeling so exhausted, so tired, and honestly, just in so much pain from all of the things. I looked at my husband and I was just like, “I guess I just know. I know that I’m going to have to have a C-section.” They were just like, “Yeah. That’s kind of your only option.” I ended up asking, “Can I go home? Can I go to antepartum? Can I just have some more time?” They just said, “No. We’ve done so much. You have cholestasis already. If it was going to work, it probably would have worked already.”I ended up having a pretty good C-section. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t rushed. Nothing was wrong with my baby. He wasn’t in distress or anything. We actually didn’t know it was a he. We didn’t find out what he was until he was born. But yeah, I just was pretty devastated. My husband was pretty devastated for me. We both were crying in the labor room all day until my C-section and then we just came to terms with it and it was fine. I had my C-section. I had my healthy little baby boy, Mason. And yeah. I had an easy recovery. I went home and I just knew that I was never going to have another C-section. That was my mindset when I went home because even though it was smooth and nothing was an emergency or anything, I just felt pretty devastated. I just remember even months after he was born, I would just cry in the shower thinking about it. I was like, “Why am I feeling like this?” I just never knew that your birth experience was just– now I know. It’s just truly one of the most important things that you’ll ever go through in life. Yeah. So I was determined that if I was going to get pregnant again, I was going to have my VBAC. So fast forward, my little Mason turned one. That was in July and I ended up finding out I was pregnant in September, so he was a little over one. I was ready. I was going to do all of my research and yeah. I started reading all of these books on VBACs. I went to the doctor and I knew– at this point, I was a labor and delivery nurse. My hospital is actually a community hospital and we don’t have in-house anesthesia, so we technically don’t do VBACs there. I went to see my doctor for my new appointment. She said, “Okay, well, we can put you down for a repeat C-section since you’ve had one.” I said, “No. I really want to have a VBAC.” She was great. She said, “Okay well, we, unfortunately, don’t do them here. The hospital that does is 2 hours away.” I said, “Okay,” because I already knew that. I knew she was going to say that. I was like, “ I am doing this.” Of course, then comes the VBAC calculator. The biggest thing that everyone kept saying was, “Well, your cervix never dilated with your first pregnancy, so that’s kind of a concern. We don’t know why that happened.” But anyways, I just knew that I still had a chance. They did the VBAC calculator, and yeah. I just planned on having my VBAC. I went through my pregnancy and all of my appointments just knowing that that was what I wanted. I found The VBAC Link podcast and listened to y’all every day. Meagan: Aww. Taylor: Yeah. I listened to VBAC birth stories. Yeah. It was just the best. I was listening to all of those and I remember I was 20-something weeks pregnant and I was at work one day. Someone I worked with was just like, “You know, I am totally for VBACs. I think they’re awesome, but I just don’t know if you’re a good candidate. There was a reason why you never dilated. I just remember I went in the bathroom and I just cried. I was devastated. She was not mean at all. It was like an honest conversation, but I texted my friend who had a VBAC after two C-sections. She ended up being my doula with my VBAC. I will tell you more about her. But I texted her and I was just so devastated. She was like, “Taylor. That is just not even true. You can do this.” I went forward and later in pregnancy, I went to the chiropractor, ate all of the dates, and drank the red raspberry leaf tea. I walked every day. I was chasing my toddler. I felt like I was healthier during this pregnancy, and yeah. I ended up being referred to that hospital that is two hours away when I was at 36 weeks. It’s a big teaching hospital, and so of course, they were like, “We prefer probably to be induced around 39 weeks.” I said, “Nope. I am not going to be induced. I don’t want that.”“Okay, well, we definitely want you to deliver by the time you are at 40 weeks.” I said, “Nope”. Meagan: “Thanks, but no thanks.”Taylor: I said, “Nope. I don’t want to be induced.” The doctor was just like, “Okay. Well, then what we will do is every week we will check your cervix and do a membrane sweep and see if we can get things moving. After 40 weeks, you’ll just have to come back for NSTs and things.” I said, “Nope.” I was like–Meagan: Way to advocate for yourself. Taylor: Yes. I, oh my gosh. That was just comical looking back. In the moment though, it was really scary because it is scary to tell a doctor, “No,” especially because we just assume that they know everything. Even being a labor and delivery nurse, sometimes it’s hard for me and I have to advocate for my patients and things. In the moment, it was scary, but now, I’m just so glad I did. I ended up having an appointment at 39 weeks at my local OB here. She was like, “Can I just check you, and maybe can I do a sweep?” I was just like, “Okay,” but telling myself, “Okay. This is not going to change anything whether I’m closed.” I just knew that it could be a trigger for me because the whole week of being induced with my son, everyone was just like, “Oh, you’re still closed. You’re still closed. Closed, closed, closed.” This time, I was like, “Okay. I am not going to let it be a trigger. It doesn’t mean anything.” I let her check me and of course, I was closed. But honestly, it didn’t bother me. Of course, the doctor was like, “We’ll have to talk to the other hospital and they’re probably going to want you to be induced. If you’re not dilated by 40 weeks, then I feel like they’re going to want you to have a C-section.” I just left there and I was really just like, “Seriously, no. No. I have come so far,” because I had my other baby so early. It ended up being 38 weeks because I was there for so long. I was like, “No.” I did not schedule another appointment. I was like, “I am not going back until I have my baby,” which probably was not that smart, but I just knew I was going to pay attention to my body, pay attention to baby moving, and if I went too far past, I definitely would make an appointment, but I was like, “I’m not right now. I can’t think about that because I don’t want them to check me again. I don’t want to have a weak moment and be induced.” So anyways, I went on my way. The day before my due date, I ended up drinking some midwife’s brew castor oil. I drank that the day before my due date and I ended up within a couple of hours just having intense contractions every 1-3 minutes. This lasted for a few hours. My husband was like, “Okay. Is this labor? Do we need to go?” Because we have a two-hour drive. He ended up calling my friend, Cami, who was going to go as my doula. She, like I said, had a VBAC herself at the same hospital two hours away. So he calls Cami. She comes over and I was just really into these contractions. She said, “Yeah. We have a long drive. Let’s just go.” These contractions continued the whole way down there. We get there. At this point, it had been past midnight, so I’m 40 weeks on the dot. They checked me and I was closed. Closed, thick, and high. Meagan: Oh, I bet that was hard. Taylor: Yeah, it was. I had actually had some bloody show on the way there, so I just knew I was going to be dilated. Meagan: Yeah. Taylor: I was like, “Okay, I am not dilated. This isn’t real. This is just from the castor oil. I’m going home.” The resident was just like, “Oh yeah. I don’t think that’s going to happen. You’re 40 weeks. You have a previous uterine scar and I just don’t think we can discharge you.” I just said, “Yes, you can actually.”Meagan: “I don’t think we can discharge you.” Huh. “Hello, I’m leaving.” Taylor: I just remember that my husband was like, “No, no, no,” because we had already been through so much with my first birth, and so I was like, “Yeah. Actually, can you go talk to someone else? Your attending or someone? I’m leaving. I know if I sleep, my contractions will stop. I’m not worried. I know all of the risks.” They tried to tell me the risks so many times. I was like, “Yeah. I know all of the risks and I still want to go home.”Anyways, they came back in, and actually, they made me sign out AMA. I was like, “Oh my gosh. I’m a nurse and I’m signing out against medical advice.” Meagan: AMA. So against medical advice is AMA, everybody. They’ll say scary things like, “If you sign this AMA, you might not be welcomed back,” or “If you sign this AMA, insurance won’t cover you when you do come back,” or “If you sign this AMA, no one is going to help you.” They scare you.Taylor: Yes. Yep, definitely. And honestly, if I hadn’t just listened to so many people’s birth stories and done so much research and I didn’t know everything I knew, I probably would have been scared into staying which makes me sad for a lot of people because I know I would not have had my baby vaginally if I would have stayed. So I signed out AMA. I went home, slept the whole car ride home and sure enough, my contractions stopped. I was 40 weeks at this point and slept most of the day. I woke up in the middle of the night with these intense-seeming, regular contractions. I was like, “Oh wow. Maybe it’s starting for real.” It happened for a couple of hours and ended up stopping. I was like, “Oh wow. Okay. Well, I guess that wasn’t real.” So fast forward a few more days and that happened every night. It was horrible. I had some nice prodromal labor. Yeah. It was horrible because I just felt like, “Is labor ever actually going to start? What in the world? What is this?” I just remember my friend, Cami, who was my doula, she was just like, “Taylor, with every contraction, your body is just getting ready. Okay? It’s doing what it’s supposed to do. Don’t be discouraged. You can do it.” She was just so encouraging. I just have to stop and say that a good doula is so key. Oh my gosh. I never even realized. Even as a labor and delivery nurse, I never realized how important. Meagan: It’s so true. It’s so true, yeah. Taylor: Yes, yes. My husband was so great too. He was awesome. It was the day before I was 41 weeks, so I was 40 + 6. It was my birthday, so my husband and I just went to a quick dinner out and we ended up stopping at the grocery store. I kind of had some random contractions that afternoon every 15 minutes, but again, I had this prodromal labor for a week, so I didn’t believe anything was real. We go to the grocery store after dinner and I felt just like, “Maybe I peed my pants.” I went to the bathroom and I was like, “Maybe I did,” because there wasn’t much of anything. I was like, “Caleb, I think maybe I accidentally peed my pants or something. I don’t know, but we need to go home.” We go home and I just laid down. When I stood up, I felt a big gush. I was like, “No. No, my water’s not breaking right now,” because I definitely was not in labor and that was kind of my worst nightmare was my water breaking and not being in labor. Yeah. I definitely knew my water broke. I was like, “Okay. I still feel baby moving. Everything feels fine. I am laying down. I’m just going to try to wait it out and see if maybe contractions will start.” I texted Cami and told her, “I think my water broke, but I’m going to lay down and see if maybe some contractions will start up.” They did. They ended up being every 4-5 minutes for two hours, but I ended up noticing some meconium in my fluid. I just knew, “Okay. Well, I guess we do have a two-hour drive.” I wanted to just stay home so badly just because of the last time driving down there and still being closed. But then I just knew, “Okay. There’s meconium and I have been contracting for about two hours. Maybe we’ll just go head down.” On the way down there in the drive, I could totally tell that the contractions were spacing out. I just kept trying not to think about it. I had my AirPods in. I was just listening to music trying to be comfortable, trying just to relax as much as possible. We get down to the hospital and get checked in. Basically, they remembered me from the week before. It was actually the same nurse. Meagan: They remembered me.Taylor: They did. They remembered me and basically, instead of a triage room, they took me straight to a labor room. They were not going to let me go home this time which, of course, I didn’t. I go in and there were just so many doctors because like I said, it is a teaching hospital. There were so many people in the room. They were just telling me all of the risks again of having a uterine scar and, “Are you sure you don’t want a C-section?” I was just like, “No. I don’t want one. I’ve said this so many times.”“Okay. Well–” And I was super uncomfortable because all of these people were there. Bright lights were on and at this point, no contractions whatsoever. Of course, they checked me and I was closed. I was just like, “No. This is not real. This is my worst nightmare. I can’t believe this is happening,” because immediately–Meagan: So frustrating. Taylor: Yeah. Immediately, it was, “Okay. Well, you need to sign this form saying you don’t want a C-section and then we really want to start Pitocin.” I just said, “Yeah, no. I just need everyone to please leave me alone for a little bit. Can I just be alone in here?” I was so overwhelmed and it was the middle of the night. They were like, “Uhh, sure. We don’t have much time because your water has been broken for a few hours and you’re not having any contractions, so just know that we are going to come back and talk to you about Pitocin.” I said, “Okay. That’s fine. I just, please, want to be left alone. I just want to sleep.” So we ended up being able to sleep for a couple of hours. The next morning came around because it was already 5:00 a.m. when we were there. I wake up and the day shift nurse comes on. She said, “Yeah, they’re going to want to come in and talk to you.” I said, “Okay. I just want one person coming in.” I was determined because I tend to be a people pleaser and so I was just like, “No. I am not going to do that again because last night was so uncomfortable with all of those people here. Labor totally sucked. I just want one doctor coming in.” She said, “Okay.” A couple of hours later, a midwife walks in. I’m sure they were like, “This girl’s crazy. Who wants her?” A midwife walked in and she was just so awesome and so calm. She asked me what I wanted. I said, “I just really don’t want Pitocin. I want a VBAC so badly.” She was like, “Okay” and basically just said, “Well, how about you pump for a little bit, try and do some nipple stimulation to get some contractions started.” She’s like, “I really wish that I could tell you to take some midwife’s brew.” I guess she had worked at a birth center for 12 years before this teaching hospital. I said, “I have all of the ingredients. Don’t worry.” She said, “Okay. Well, if you take it, don’t tell me. It could take a few hours, so I’m just going to leave you alone for a while and we’ll see if your contractions start up.” I was just so thankful. That just kept the momentum going because I kind of felt at a loss before that like, “Oh, I’m going to have to have Pitocin.” Anyways, I take the midwife’s brew, pump, and that afternoon, it was a few hours later, and I did start having contractions. At this point, it was 18 hours after my water had broken, so yeah. I started having contractions and the midwife went off. A new doctor came on and they checked me and I was 1. I was 1 centimeter. I was just like, “Oh my gosh. My cervix dilated. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe this is happening.” Even though I was just 1, I remember high-fiving the resident. I was like, “Yes. This is happening.” Little did I know, I still had a long way to go. But yeah. So they were like, “All right. We really want to start Pitocin. You’re just really not progressing very much, but 1 is good. But we want to start Pit.” I said, “Okay. I want the absolute lowest dose and I want it as low as you can go basically.” They said, “Okay. We can do that. We’ll start low.” My night shift nurse was amazing. They started Pitocin. Literally, after an hour, they had to shut it off. I just started contracting so much. It was really intense. It was, I mean, every two minutes at least. Every 1-2 minutes. They had to shut it off because I was contracting too much. I was in and out of the shower, just throwing up. It felt like I was in transition. It was that intense for hours. I think maybe 4 hours of just sleeping between contractions, again, up to the shower, just walking around the room, not being able to focus on anything but the contractions, my husband and my doula were like, “Man, we really feel like she’s been acting like transition for hours. Maybe, Taylor, do you want to be re-checked?”So at 2:00 a.m., they came back in and I was 2. After all of that, legitimately thought the baby was coming and I was 2. The doctor was actually very happy about that. She was like, “You’re 2. That’s awesome.” I just really actually loved this doctor that was on. But of course, my husband, my doula, and I were like, “Seriously? A 2?” It just felt like all of the air was sucked out of the room because we were all exhausted and I just truly didn’t know what I was going to do. They really wanted to start the Pitocin back up because they were like, “Maybe these contractions just aren’t strong enough.” I was like, “I can’t. I just don’t think I can do this plus more Pitocin. This is just so intense.” So they were talking to me. I’m still having these really intense contractions while we are talking. They leave the room. My husband goes out because he just wants to know how he can continue to be positive for me because he basically just wanted to know if something was wrong. So he leaves the room. My doula and I, I was just telling her. I was like, “Is something wrong with me?” I’m crying and I’m just like, “Maybe my body wasn’t meant for this. Maybe I really can’t do it.” We all were sitting there and she was just trying to be encouraging. The doctor comes back in and she was like, “Taylor, I just really think you need to rest.” Because at this point, I did not have any pain medicine. I didn’t have an epidural. I was still determined that I was going to have my unmedicated birth. I ended up going back and forth for a while. “No, I don’t want an epidural.” I agreed to some pain medicine. I got to sleep for a little bit. I did end up getting an epidural around 5:30 in the morning and we all got to sleep for a little while. I woke up the next day. My day shift nurse came on and she was like, “Okay. We are going to change your position. We are going to get on this. We are going to have a baby.” I still hadn’t had much Pitocin because I was still just contracting so much on my own. My nurse was just amazing. We did a whole circuit of all of these positions which actually, I already knew from being a nurse but a lot of people don’t do them. I had actually taken a class that she had taken too. It was kind of like a Spinning Babies class. So I was just like, “Oh my gosh. What are the odds that I get this girl?” I just was so happy. So we did all of the stuff and I started feeling all of the contractions again. I was like, “Okay. Well, maybe the baby is in a weird position or whatnot.” They came in to check me and the doctor was in there for a while. I was like, “Great. She’s trying to find my cervix. Can’t find it. Oh wow. Still a 2 probably.” Meagan: Or it’s gone. Taylor: Yeah, or it’s gone.She was like, “Okay. Well, you are a 9.” Meagan: Oh! Really, actually, it was gone. Taylor: Yeah. I was like, “Oh my gosh! What? Are you serious? I’m 9? Because all of this emotion just came flooding because everyone had said, “You probably won’t dilate again” or all of these things. I was just like, “I’m 9. Oh my gosh.”Anyway, so I ended up just having a super smooth delivery. I was complete. I just felt like the baby was coming out. I told my doula. She was like, “Yep. Baby is coming out.” I went and got my nurse and I pushed a few times and boom. She came out. I didn’t know it was a girl until she came out. Yeah. I just remember being like, “Y’all. I did this. I cannot believe this.” I just was in so much shock. I didn’t cry or anything. I just was like, “Yes to everyone who told me I couldn’t do it.” It was just amazing. Yeah. I just couldn’t believe that I did it. I still can’t believe that I did it. Meagan: Yeah. Well, when so many people place doubt, even though we believe that we can do it, we start believing that we can’t. We start believing that doubt, right? Taylor: Yes. Meagan: Then having to go through all of what you had to go through and sign an AMA then return at the same stage. All of these things, yeah. That could be a time when you would let self-doubt get you. But you did it. Taylor: Yeah, it was amazing. I did. Oh, I still can’t believe it. Meagan: You did it. Oh, that’s awesome. Congratulations. I kind of love the doubt stories. I know it sounds really bad, but I have this weird thing. I love proving things wrong because I did the same thing. My doctor doubted me and was like, “Yeah. No one is going to want you there.” I was like, “Yeah. You watch me. You watch me.” It drove me even further, so I love it. I love that you stuck with it. You advocated for you and your husband together. Just so awesome and then having that total shift of positivity and “Let’s do this. We’re going to have a baby.”It’s so important. I want to talk a little bit about labor and delivery nurses as you are a labor and delivery nurse. What tips or suggestions would you give to people that are on the other side like you were? Giving birth and wanting certain things and maybe having a labor and delivery nurse that maybe isn’t as supportive of your wishes or pushing hard whether it be them or the provider pushing hard against them. What would you suggest? Taylor: Yes. So my number one thing is to try so hard to research and just educate yourself before you go in. But the biggest thing is asking questions. If you’re not sure about something or if you– let’s say they want to come in and break your water. You’re just like, “Okay. I don’t know anything about that, but I don’t actually know that I want to do that,” and you don’t feel good about it, you don’t have to do it. You can say, “No.” I think people don’t realize that they can say, “No” or at least ask more questions about it. That is what even as a nurse, I always tell my patients. If a doctor comes in and wants to do something, I say, “Okay. Are you okay with that? Do you have any questions?” Just really advocate, advocate, advocate for yourself because luckily I had an awesome doula. And get a doula!I had an awesome doula and my husband who could bring me back down to Earth and say, “Taylor, no. You don’t want this” or “Are you sure about that? Why don’t we ask some questions?” But definitely just advocate, advocate, advocate. Ask questions. If they want you to be induced, why? Is there an actual reason? What other options do you have? Ask for options. When I had cholestasis, I didn’t know that I could have had another option. My value was not high, my bio acids. It was only 16. Meagan: Ohh. Taylor: Yes. I didn’t know. Maybe I could have asked. Could you trend that? Do I have to come in tonight? Meagan: Yeah. Taylor: Yeah. I didn’t know and I didn’t know then. I think a lot of people probably are like that. You don’t know. Meagan: You don’t even know that there are different numbers that could make it seem like you don’t need to go in right then. Taylor: Right, yes. So advocate for yourself. Ask questions. You know yourself better than anybody. Meagan: Yes. Oh, I love that. I love that so much. Thank you so much again for being with us today. I love your story. It’s just so hard coming in. There are so many times where you were like, “It’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen.” But look at what patience and time did for you, and making choices like getting an epidural and getting some rest. Your body was able to rest and get the rest it needed to progress and the relaxation that it needed. A lot of people say that you can’t have a VBAC without an epidural. Some people say that you have to have a VBAC with an epidural. It just is dependent on that person and that situation. You make the decisions that are best for you. It looks like you nailed it. Taylor: Yes. Thank you so much for having me on here. I still. Thank you so much, Meagan.Meagan: Oh, thank you. Okay, I can’t wait for everyone to hear your story. ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan’s bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands