My pregnancy and birthing history starts with my first daughter. She was born by Cesarean section because she was in the breech position. I was only 19 and pretty clueless that I could have done anything to change her from being breech. The OB I was seeing was pretty cut and dry that if the baby was breech, it was a definite Cesarean.

So when I became pregnant for the second time, two and a half years later, I was determined that I wasn't going to have to have another Cesarean. I decided to see the midwives. When I was 34 weeks with my second daughter, I discovered she was breech just like my first. I was devastated. I was prepared to hear the same thing as before: Since she's breech, you have to have another Cesarean. I didn't hear that, though. Instead, she gave me some tilting exercises to do to encourage her to turn. I did them faithfully everyday, and two weeks later, she had turned head down. She stayed that way until I delivered her five days before my due date after 20 hours of labor. And it was a completely, 100-percent natural birth I might add!

My third pregnancy was quite the shocker. We planned to have our kids three years apart. I nursed my second daughter, and when she was two weeks from turning 1 year old, I found out I was pregnant. I figured I got pregnant when she was about 10 months old. (So don't let anyone tell you nursing keeps you from getting pregnant!)

At first I was upset and thinking I was not ready to do this again, but after a couple months, we started getting excited. At 20 weeks, we found out by ultrasound that we were having a boy! Yeah! We were thrilled after two girls.

My pregnancy went really smoothly until the very last four weeks when I started developing high blood pressure. So I was in the clinic every three days for non-stress tests. He was never breech though! I thought, Yeah one that is doing what they're suppose to!

Since both of my girls were born early, I thought for sure he would be too. Days passed, and I thought I would never have him. I went to see my midwife two days after my due date, and she decided to strip my membranes to see if that would start my labor. She said if it didn't start to come back two days later, and she would strip them again. Nothing happened. I was getting really bummed and tired of being pregnant.

The next night, my husband, the girls and I went out to eat. While we were there, I started having some really mild pains about every 15 minutes. They stayed that way until I got ready for bed, and they never got stronger, so I figured it was just false labor. So I went to bed and the next morning around 6, I woke up having the same kind of pains every 10 minutes. I was trying to think back to my daughter's birth to decide if it was the real thing. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. I was too excited thinking this could be it.

I got up and got showered and dressed. By that time, they were coming about every five to seven minutes and getting a little stronger. The girls woke up around 8:30 a.m. We got them dressed and got our bags packed and drove one block to my parents' house. Around 9:30 a.m., the pains were coming every five minutes and getting more painful. So my husband and I got in the minivan and drove about 5 miles to the hospital.

When I got there, they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and checked me, and I was 4 centimeters dilated. The nurse asked jokingly, Would you like to stay or go home?! My husband and I both said at the same time STAY! So they put me in my labor and delivery room. One hour later, my midwife checked me, and I was 5 centimeters. So I called my mom and told her to come to the hospital. The girls stayed with Grandpa. My midwife broke my water, which immediately made me dilated to 6. I decided to try the epidural this time. So I received my epidural and two hours later, she checked me, and I was at 9 centimeters. The epidural was starting to wear off, so I could feel some pain in my back during the contractions.

A half an hour later, I could feel the contractions and the back pain intensely followed by the urge to push. She checked me, and all I had was a little lip left in my cervix, but I couldn't wait. I had to push. So she put her fingers on my cervix, and while I pushed once, she pulled the lip back. My epidural was completely worn off. My back hurt really badly and that was because she discovered he was posterior. She had me turn on my left side and push through about five contractions. After that, he turned face down and about five more contractions later, I watched his head come out of my body in the mirror they had set up for me to see. One more little push and the rest of his body slipped out, and they put him on my belly!

So at 3:01 p.m., our first son was born, and he was beautiful. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. I thought, Yes, I did it again! It was amazing, just like the last time!

I encourage any woman to try to have a VBAC because it is such a wonderful experience to see and feel your baby come out of your body and into the world!