Successful VBAC Encouragement Needed

I was never given the option to have a C-section with my son. I know many times it depends on why you had to have the first two. I had a C-section with the birth of the second baby (of twins) and when I had my son they didn't want to do a C-section unless it became an issue. Never had any concerns and It worked out perfectly fine. I do think you may want to have a medical professional present incase of an emergency but again it all depends on why you have had to have the first one.

I have an idea!!! How about using the midwife IN THE HOSPITAL!!! I have seen it on T.V. A LOT so it is possible, and then if anything goes wrong, or if she needs some additional assistance, you are already where you need to be for that. I LOVE my idea, not that I thought of it, but you know what I mean! Anyways, good luck and congratulations!!!!

First of all congrats on your pregnancy. I wish you luck in will keep you in my prayers for whatever you decide. I have never had a csection. I have come close 2 out of the 5 times.
I know everyone has different thoughts. I am amazed at how people react differently. I feel having a baby at the hospital is the BEST and SAFEST way. Too many things can happen. I dont really dont understand why people feel upset when they have a csection vs v**. As long as the baby is safe and healthy thats all that matters. I would be devasted to go 9 mos and something happen to me or the baby because of a choice I made. Other people could easliy be affected. I have 5 healthy kids 4 out of 5 had the cord tightly wrapped aroung their neck and came out purple. I never considered a home birth and still wouldn't. But again these are just my thoughts. You have a husband and kids to think about. BUT it is your choice and it sounds like your mind id made up so i will keep you in my thoughts.:)

Hi J.,
My advice is to follow your instincts. I just had a failed vbac. I labored at home for as long as I could and my gut said I want to go in the hospital and just be on the monitor. My OB was very supportive of a vbac as long as I didn't have any inducement and held off on the epidural until 6 cm. I went in the hospital at 3cm, labored hard contractions every 1 - 2 min for 15 hours and made it to 4 and the baby never came down (THANK GOD!!!). My Ob gave me the option of 2 more hours or c-section. We decided, gut instinct, to do the c-section. When my ob opened me up he said "Oh my God" you almost ruptured!! I was bulging out of the scar area. Later the nurse in recovery told me I was soooo lucky. I followed my gut! Follow yours. My angel is my life and can't believe looking back how stubborn I was being to risk his and my life (my poor husband) because I wanted to have a vaginal birth. I am sad I will neer have one. But I am blessed to have and be able to have children.
Good luck:)

I had planned on having a homebirth with my daughter. Complications arose and after four hours of pushing my daughter started showing signs of distress and I was transferred to the hospital and ended up having a c-section. I am definitely planning on doing a VBAC with my next baby, so I completely support your decision. I am sure that your midwife has experience with VBACs and if there is any danger to the baby she will make sure that you get to the hospital. It is hard to deal with people that are not supportive of your choices. You really have to go for the birth experience that you want for your baby. I hope and pray that you get to have the VBAC successfully and have the home birth that you want. It is encouraging for me to know that there are other women out there that have been through c-sections and are going for the VBAC. Please update everyone with how it goes!
Blessings to you & your family,
C.

Hi J.,
Good for you!!! There is still so much fear and misinformation around VBAC's. If you have the support of your husband and your midwife, have done your research (ie. you know that your incisions are in the right place to minimize risk etc) then a home VBAC should be a beautiful and empowering experience for you. I am on a yahoo group that is incredibly supportive of this type of thing - if you want to email me personally I will tell you which one. It would be a great place for you to get more support, and be in touch with women who have done HVBACs.

On a personal note, I'm a little jealous - I was planning a homebirth for my first child but she was breech and we did everything we could to turn her. We found an OB who would allow us to try a vaginal breech delivery (very rare these days) but it didn't work in the end and I had to have a Cesarean. Turns out I have a uterine anomaly that won't allow me to have a VBAC (both the OB and our midwife were supportive of them). I'm so bummed.

There are risks and benefits to all kinds of birth. Sounds like you're choosing what feels right for you. And remember - trust your baby. He or she will let you know where they need to be born :)

Best of luck,
A.

Hi J.,

I would do your research and then present it to the doctors or the midwife. Anyone can put anything on the internet for viewing without being a reliable source. If they still think you should do the c-section then listen to them. They really have your child's best interest and yours in mind when they speak to you about the birth plan. If you ultimately want to try for the VB then I guess go for it. Child birth is tricky as it is and if you decide on the home birth make sure if there are complications and you need to get to a hospital in an emergency they have that available. You are right it, it is up to you and your husband how you guys will deliver.
Good luck and I hope you find the right birthing process that works for you.

J.

J. - first, congratulations on your upcoming child. I had my first child nine months ago, and had to have an emergency C-section, so I was deeply disappointed at not being able to deliver my little girl "naturally". I felt really cheated that I didn't get to fully experience birth, and sometimes, I still do. I'd like to have another and I really want to try to experience VBAC, too, so I understand where you are coming from. All that being said, I think that it is imperative that you pursue having your VBAC in the hospital. You can insist that you be allowed to try to deliver your child this way - it is YOUR body! Keep researching and find a midwife that will go to the hospital with you. Ultimately, the goal is to recieve a healthy, happy baby into your family and while you may not always like the route you took, the end result is going to be that you have your child in your arms. So...keep your eye on the end result and meanwhile enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. Good Luck.

I agree with Angela. The midwife is in over her head and you need to be in a hospital. I am a doctor, have performed deliveries in hospitals and at homes (when in medical school) and I have seen the risk involved. Please do not put yourself in a situation you will regret in the future because of a bad outcome. Have your baby in a hospital with the midwife and as much of a homelike setting as possible, but with immediate back up surgical skill available. When the medical community and hospitals refuse to do something (like VBAC after more than one c-section) it is usually for very good reason. If you still insist on trying a home birth, consult with several midwives and physicians. I bet you will not find another one willing to take on such risk. Also, I have seen during c-sections the thin uterine wall after c-sections and multiple pregnancies - with one woman on her 4th pregnancy, we could see the baby moving through the paper thin wall. If she had attempted vaginal delivery, she would have certainly ruptured her uterus. If no hospital will support a VBAC attempt, realize that any way you deliver a healthy baby is the best way, surgical or not, and the recovery from a vaginal delivery is not necessarily easier. Also, if you had your first c-section due to failure to progress, you will likely have a hard time with attempted labor and successful VBAC. If you have never gone through labor without pain medication, realize the home birth situation will be exceptionally difficult. Please do what is safest for you and your baby. An emergency c-section needs to be performed within 7minutes. An ambulance would not even get to your house that fast.

Any midwife who would condone a home VBAC should have her license revoked. That is just unsafe. I am a big fan of VBAC's, but they need to be done in a facility that can deal with an emergency quickly. 10 minutes can mean the difference between life and death for mother and child. Try going to a hospital that has a residency program. That way, there are always doctors in the hospital with the ability to manage complications. They may be willing to go further in helping you with a vaginal delivery than a hospital with no residents that stay in the hospital. A good one is Cedars-Sinai.

Traditionally, once you have a c-section, doctors make it almost mandatory that that will be your birthing method for every delivery afterward. When I had my son, the labor was difficult, he was 2-weeks overdue, and there were problems in geting active labor to start. Fortunately, when every other medical professional around was pushing for a C-section, there was one doctor who took the reins in his own hand, and forced active labor by breaking my water, and administering labor inducing meds.
I applaud you for trying to work towards a natural delivery. And I, personally found much comfort in the care and advice I recieved from the midwife who advised me through my own pregnancy. My only advice would be, if you would like to have a natural home delivery, have a back up plan. You may need to go to a hospital, if things are not progressing well, and you'll want it to be a place of your & your husbands choice. I am telling you this because my best friend planned for a home delivery, but as labor progressed, she needed to go to a hospital. She was having trouble giving birth, mainly because her baby was almost 10 lbs.!!!

I wish you all the luck, and congratulate you on your choice!!

Hi J.,

I have also had 2 c-sections & I now have my 3rd scheduled in January. My first c-section was an emergency, my second was a failed VBAC attempt, and my hospital will also not consider trying another VBAC. From my understanding, (from listening to a medical radio program) the reason hospitals are squeamish about VBAC's is the complications (mostly uterine rupture) are so serious that the death of the mother and the baby can be a result. It is actually pretty rare for a woman to have a uterine rupture, but your chances go up with every c-section you have. My mother-in-law had 3 c-sections & had a small tear in her uterus with her fourth baby, but luckily she had a planned c-section, so she did not have to worry too much about the giant tear she could have made by going through labor & pushing. Anyway, because it is so rare to have a uterine rupture, most doctors don't have experience dealing with this emergency, so the risk of the loss of life is much higher if it did occur. Since c-sections are so common nowadays, most doctors doing them have had plenty of experience dealing with the complications that could arise during one, so that's why they are considered safer than VBACS.
For me, I really wanted to try the VBAC with my second son, but his heart rate kept dropping during every contraction (which is the same complication that resulted in my first son's emergency c-section after 32 hours of labor), so I gave up at 4 cm & went for the c-section. With the baby that I'm carrying now, I am actually thrilled to be having another c-section. My second one went very smoothly since it wasn't an emergency yet, and I feel comfortable knowing what to expect. I also love the fact that I will not have to go through the ridiculous pain of labor, or going to the hospital in the middle of the night, and from the graphic details of a vaginal birth that I've gotten from my friends, it honestly doesn't sound that much better. Sometimes they need episiotimies, sometimes they just tear, most of them have pain using the toilet & need to take sitz baths, sometimes they have trouble keeping their urine in after birth, sometimes they feel all stretched out, and through all their pain & discomfort, they don't get to take Vicoden like I do. So I feel, (like I'm sure most women with vaginal births do) that as long as the result is my beautiful baby, I don't care how he got into the world. I'll just be happy that he's here!

C. : )

As a Licensed Midwife who does Home VBACs, it is *not* "over my head" to do VBACs and those of you who think so 1. don't know me 2. don't know my experience 3. don't know the writer's history 4. don't understand how informed consent works.

If you want an HBA2C (Home Birth After 2 Cesareans) and you have an *experienced* midwife and have done your research and accept the out-of-hospital risks (and benefits!) for you AND your child, then you are set to have a far more wonderful experience than you would in the hospital BECAUSE I know of NO hospital that allows VBA2C in all of my area (S. CA). It would be an incredibly rare doc nowadays to allow a VBAmC (after multiple cesareans) and CNMs are certainly not permitted to manage VBAmCs, either. As far as I can tell, your *only* VBAC chance is a homebirth.

I've been assisting women for 25 years now and VBACs were the norm until a couple of years ago. The fear you hear in these women's voices is recent and induced by the docs (including the one who wrote in) who crave surgery and the ease and cash it provides. Go to ICAN's website to see the REAL risk of uterine rupture versus DEATH from a scheduled cesarean, you scaremongers, then come talk to me about where J. should be terrified to give birth.

(Sorry, a bit perturbed at the moment. I know it comes from y'all's ignorance and brainwashing... not your true research and information gathering.)

Over all these years, I've assisted women with 1, 2, 3 and even 4 cesareans have VBACs... I've helped women with Classical (up and down incisions) have VBACs - unheard of now! But, when you work on the Mexican border and women walk in pushing, there isn't time to say, "Oops, can't take you, honey, unless you have records!" You just put gloves on and catch a baby. It wasn't dumb luck that allowed the women to have safe VBACs over and over... it is statistically in their favor. Read the research!

IT IS THE PITOCIN AND CYTOTEC AND OTHER INDUCTION AND AUGMENTATION MEDICATIONS THAT CAUSE RUPTURES! When medications are kept OFF uteri, amazingly, they don't burst! Wow! So, if you keep your pregnant uterus out of the hospital, they can't put pitocin in your veins, can they?

Again, IF you have done ALL your research and IF you are a good candidate for a homebirth and IF your midwife is qualified and IF you understand the risks and benefits of being out of a hospital including no immediate access to a cesarean surgery and IF you accept ALL responsibility for yourself and your child... the go for it.

Barb

Hey J.,
Well, I have not been there - yet. However I am mostly likely going to attempt to have a VBAC with my 2nd (due in April). I just wanted to wish you good luck. And my belief, for what it's worth, if you have found a midwife that you trust, then go for it! Just trust your own instincts and do what makes you feel comfortable and safe. If you believe in the power of prayer - PRAY about it. That the right decision will come to you! I would love to here what happens!

Sincerely,
B.

I had a VBAC, but it was induced and in a hospital. The concern is rupturing your uterus once you go into labor. I'd say you could probably do a VBAC but I would not recommend doing it with a mid-wife at home. If your doctor doesn't want to do it, find another doctor. But I strongly recommend that you have the baby in the hospital in case of uterine rupture.

I wish I could give you some words of encouragement, but I think it is too risky for you and the baby. I have had 2 sections and plan on having another baby and would like nothing more than to try a vbac, but same thing. It's not worth the risk.

Hi there, I had a c-section and went through all the same things that you are going through, including wanting a home birth. I read all the statistics, etc. My doctor finally talked me out of it. I had a planned c-section the next time, and it was wonderful. Last month I met someone who had a VBAC and had the uterine rupture. Through her tears she was telling me how her baby died because of that decision, he would have had been otherwise completly heathy. That story, for me, made me so happy I did not make the attempt, no matter what the statistics. :-) But I know how you feel, I am so agianst elective c-sections.

If you really want to try for the VBAC, please find a midwife that works at a hospital. That way if any of those complications arise, you will be somewhere where they can help you. I know there is a midwife group that works at UCLA medical center and there are probably others at big hospitals (I think Kaiser even has them).

Hello J.,

I say to go for it! I had a c-section with my first 18 yrs ago today and then had 2 successful v-bac's after. I had one 4 yrs later and the 2nd 7 yrs right after that. I did not have any complications and it was so much better than having the c-section. The recovery time was quicker and easier than having the c-section. I'm not sure what your complications were that caused you to have the c-section but I'm sure that is a consideration. My first one was that the baby was in distress from having the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and it was not that my body could not have done a natural birth. I hope this helps you and good luck to you and your family.

G.

One thing I know for sure is the Universe (or Spirit or God, whatever you call your higher power) will NEVER give you and idea that you are incapable of achieving. Once you make a decision, the Universe will bend over backwards to see that you get everything that is in your best interest. Just make a decision, stick to it and "In the moment that one commits oneself, providence moves too".
If you need anything, I am here for you.

B.
www.HeyYouGetReal.com

I had a midwife and Doula, best experience EVER. But I gave birth in a hospital. My sister did the home birth, I was a litle chicken being my first baby. But since it's your third I would trust the midwife and go for it.
Best of Luck.

I believe anything's possible if you put your mind to it. I've never had a c-section but I'm behind you 100%! You're in my thoughts. :) ~m