Smooth Delivery: Makenzie’s Story

When Maken­zie and Bradley Holt­mey­er pre­pared to wel­come their third child ear­li­er this year, life was a lot dif­fer­ent — and busier — from when they wel­comed their first child three years ago.

Their three-year-old daugh­ter, Mered­ith, arrived via a nat­ur­al deliv­ery. Their sec­ond daugh­ter, 20-month-old Char­lotte, was deliv­ered via a C‑section. Antic­i­pat­ing a C‑section with her son, Lin­coln, Holt­mey­er wor­ried recov­ery would be much more dif­fi­cult with a new­born and two tod­dlers at home.

So, Holtmeyer’s obste­tri­cian, Dr. Katy Wand, pre­sent­ed a dif­fer­ent option for her. In Decem­ber 2020, VBAC, or vagi­nal birth after cesare­an, was rein­stat­ed local­ly, allow­ing women who pre­vi­ous­ly had a C‑section to have a vagi­nal birth. Holt­mey­er knew VBAC was the best deci­sion for her. 

“My sec­ond preg­nan­cy end­ed in a C‑section due to a breech baby. I was blessed to still have day­care for my first, so I was able to rest dur­ing the day. The recov­ery was quick and easy with no com­pli­ca­tions,” she explained. ​“Due to COVID and day­care lim­i­ta­tions, I became a stay-at-home mom about halfway through this preg­nan­cy. Tak­ing care of three chil­dren after a C‑section would have been much more dif­fi­cult and would have like­ly made recov­ery much longer.”

C‑sections, in gen­er­al, come with more com­pli­ca­tions, more pain, and more post­par­tum recov­ery time. VBAC is an ide­al option for women like Holt­mey­er, Dr. Wand noted.“There are many ben­e­fits to VBAC. In gen­er­al, VBAC is con­sid­ered safer than repeat cesare­an sec­tion under many cir­cum­stances and avoids the risks of sur­gi­cal com­pli­ca­tions,” she explained. ​“Women who deliv­er by VBAC have a quick­er recov­ery, short­er hos­pi­tal stay, less pain, less bleed­ing, and a low­er risk of infection.”

Going into the deliv­ery, Holt­mey­er felt well pre­pared and con­fi­dent in her deci­sion. She cred­it­ed Dr. Wand, and the time Dr. Wand spent with her, which allowed her to feel com­fort­able with VBAC.“

I was induced at 40 weeks, and my expe­ri­ence was won­der­ful. Dr. Wand was upfront and thor­ough­ly explained any risks asso­ci­at­ed with the VBAC pri­or to my deci­sion. She lis­tened to any con­cerns I had and answered any ques­tions in-depth and with hon­esty,” Holt­mey­er shared. ​“We were blessed to have every­thing go smooth­ly, so the deliv­ery was very sim­i­lar to my first nat­ur­al deliv­ery. My recov­ery was as expect­ed and much eas­i­er than the major surgery of a C‑section.”

As the Holt­mey­ers set­tle in as a fam­i­ly of five, they couldn’t be hap­pi­er and are grate­ful to have Dr. Wand as their physician.

“Dr. Wand has been a great fit for my fam­i­ly and me,” Holt­mey­er shared. ​“Dr. Wand’s care for me and our babies has been won­der­ful, and it has def­i­nite­ly been a bless­ing to have her as my OB/GYN.”