How recent is very recent? My son will be about 18 months old when I deliver.
The birthing climate has changed WRT VBAC. There was a study published in JAMA in 2002. Google vaginal birth after cesarean safety and it will bring up a lot of links.
The study’s not universally accepted but it did lead to a change in protocol for a lot of hcp’s. It’s definitely harder to get a VBAC than it was prior to that study.
Benanuel, that’s a register site. Could you summarize?
Argh, that I don’t know. One other thing to consider - was your labor induced with your son? People are kind of nervous inducing VBACs these days.
It was, kind of. I mean, I was in labour, but they wanted it to go faster. Everything the whole time was about things going too slow for them. What is the big deal? They kept assuring me that the baby wasn’t in any trouble, they just wanted everything faster.
This may help :
Birthing Centers Three are in TX, maybe one can help you to find something close to home.
Doula article . A further link is at the bottom.
Article about C-sections are winning over VBAC.
All links and articles are from *Mothering * Magazine’s site. They are a little to majorly slanted towards, but not limited to: immunizations, anti-circumcision, pro-Breast feeding until 25, pro-organic cotton clothing, pro-organic foods, no TV/candy/videos/computer for kids, and a few other things. I like them for their perspective, as they are a nice balance over Working Mother which is slanted towards a high powered fabulous job and fabulous Uber-kinder programs.
(Mothering seems to have a pretty fair message board too. I’ve been lurky there for a couple of days and they seem to be well run and a good, abby normal bunch, like us.)
I’ll shut up now.
If you were in labour already, you weren’t induced. They probably gave you pitocin to hurry things along - very common, so I’m told. :mad:
How long did they let you push with your son?
I’m feeling guilt. I keep thinking of all of these things… I had thought so much about how I wanted Shae to be born. I wasn’t going to do the drugs, I was going to start nursing him right away, I wasn’t going to let them induce or do a c-section unless it was totally necessary, and I just utterly failed. I didn’t even see him until he was 6 hours old! 
Right now, I feel utterly shitty for reasons I can’t even go into here. I can’t even start my own kid’s life right. Is there a crying smilie??
I don’t know, corvidae, I was not cognisomethingfuckingcan’tthinkrightnow for most of it.
Oh, sorry – basically it talks about how a number of the DC area hospitals are have to frantically expand their maternity wards as more women are staying longer due to more of them wanting c-sections and some of the reasons for the increasing numbers of c-sections. It does mention that some doctors/hospitals will refuse VBAC as a result of the higher costs of malpractice insurance “making doctors more cautious about advocating vaginal delivery.”
You didn’t fail at all. Once hospital wheels start turning, they’re almost impossible to stop. You brought a beautiful little boy into the world and I bet you’re the best mom. And Shae just loves you to pieces, I’m absolutely sure.
What the hell kind of place doesn’t let you see your kid for 6 hours after birth?! What you might want to consider, if you can afford it, is a doula. It is so important to have good support in the hospital, and the doula is to coach, and to inform and to advocate!!! While I understand that everyone is getting sued if the kid is born with a monobrow, and safety is paramount, there’s got to be a happy medium somewhere.
Well, I’m about to have my second kid, this time by a scheduled c-section. Here in California, VBACs are most indeed popular and well-supported—as long as you’re at a large hospital that is prepared for emergencies. Several of my friends have done it. In the past couple of years, however, the medical powers that be have become a lot more nervous about it, and my local (smaller) hospital is no longer enthused about VBACs.
The situation where I live is this: VBACs are cheaper, easier, and usually go well. But there is (IIRC) an approximately 1/150 chance for the old scar to rupture, and they aren’t very good at all at predicting when that will happen. When the scar ruptures, you have a serious emergency, and the baby has to be delivered by c-section right away. My hospital is not set up to do this; there simply are not enough staff or (for example) anesthesiologists. So, while they will not force me to have a c-section should I come into the hospital in labor, they much prefer that I schedule a c-section.
I am not considered a good risk for a VBAC anyhow. Last time I spent 24 hours in labor, got to 9cm, and the baby never descended. She was turned over and weighed over 10lbs.–never got past my pelvic bone. (I do not feel at all that I was rushed, although it was a Friday night; in fact, he waited a very long time considering the circumstances. I do feel that the ability to have a c-section probably saved my life–100 years ago, I would have just died. She was stuck.) I am now 30 weeks along, and a bit bigger than last time. I produce enormous babies, apparently.
So I’m not so much bitter about this as I am happy that I get to go in awake and alert, 10 days before my due date. This time the baby won’t be in trouble from sheer exhaustion, and we might get to see each other right away, instead of her being purple and taken to get oxygen, and me being utterly exhausted and shaking and so on.
Neither do I feel that bad about the recovery. It’s better than the tear my friend had from her vagina to her rectum, and I was surprised at how fast I got better last time (no, not that fast). It’s worth it to me when I think of how badly it could have gone.
I know you feel differently, and I’m sorry things went so badly last time, and I hope you can find a big hospital that will take you. But I would encourage you to try not to feel guilty about having a c-section last time. **A birth that results in a living, healthy baby and a living, recovering mother is a successful birth. ** Your kid will not have awful consequences from this unless you let it rip at you and get through to him. Birth is a weird and individual thing, and has a way of taking you along for the ride without letting you hold the reins. Good luck!
4x Mom/Midwifery Student here:
Cessandra, I totally understand how you feel about a “bad birth.”
When I was pregnant with my 1st, I was totally granola crunchy about it. Midwife,vitamins, yoga,organic foods, you name it. De rigeur in Berkeley. I even tried to get my insurance to cover a home birth. Well…
2.5 weeks postdates=induction=epidural. The pain was unnatural. It was to the point where I wasn’t even making a sound. The midwife(who was equally granola) suggested I get pain killers. To add insult to injury, the stupid epidural didn’t “take.” My right leg was numb, nothing else. No pain relief at all. I felt like a total failure. Everything I had done for the past 9mo. was for nothing.
Total Bulls**t.
As genie said before, there is no such thing as a bad birth. If you and the baby are OK it was a successful birth no matter how the baby was born. Don’t beat yourself up about it. I’ve had epidurals with all of my kids. I wish I could have gone totally natural but circumstance dictated procedure. As long as my kids are fine, I’m fine.
Here’s hoping for a safe delivery and a happy and healthy mommy and baby!
Take care,
G
You can have successful VBAC, but there are some real risks.
Why you had the first Cesearian needs to be considered. Your current pregnancy needs to be evaluated.
The big risk is a ruptured uterus. While this can happen during vaginal delivery in women that have never had a Cesearian, it is more likely during VBAC. Doesn’t mean it will happen, just that the risk is higher. A ruptured uterus is a life-threatening emergency. It is very, very dangerous.
For that reason, how well your uterus has healed from the first C-section must be carefully evaluated. The longer it has been the stronger the scar. 18 months may not be enough time - a couple of years is preferred.
You need to consult with a doctor with experience in VBAC who can give you an honest evaluation.
Cessandra
I defend medical malpractice cases…a great many of them are what we call “bad baby” cases. Although a VBAC can be done (by a doctor in a hospital) there is a reason doctors don’t want to do a VBAC on you.
As mentioned, you are most certainly more prone to uterine rupture due to the previous scarring. Moreover, women with previous C-sections are more prone to fun things like placenta accreta (where the placenta actually grows IN to the uterus)which can endanger both you and the baby. There was a reason you had a C-section in the first place and I’m betting it was fetal distress. The doctor most likely was looking at the fetal monitor strips and seeing some ominous signs…you may have felt fine, but the maybe may have been having late decelerations or a rising baseline or something nonreassuring.
After seeing many of these cases, I would beg you to at least have it done in a hospital with a doctor where they can monitor you and your baby. However, an elective C-section is actually not too bad. The doctor has more time and can do a better job making the incision as it’s not an emergency.
Better safe than sorry.
I agree completely. I was in labor for 13 hours before my C-Section, and pushed sans drugs for two hours. When they finally did a C-Section, my baby’s face had huge black bruises from being jammed over and over into my pelvic bones. He just had a big ol’ head and my pelvis was too small to accomodate him.
I would strongly suggest that you find out exactly WHY you had to have a C-Section the first time. My doctor told me that it would be up to me if I wanted to try a VBAC if I got pregnant again, but that when she was performing the surgery, she got a look inside, so to speak, and the opening is just too narrow for a big baby.
And to Infectious Lass , trust me, I would much rather have had an episiotomy than not be able to walk for a week, not be able to sit up in bed by myself, have a huge purple scar across my body, and not be able to carry my baby around by myself for weeks after his birth. My “strecthed out vagina” would have been back to normal within weeks, but think about how long it takes your body to repair your abdominal muscles, which are severed during the surgery.
Sorry, I may get pitted for this, but frankly this is a subject I feel very strongly about.
JUST BECAUSE YOU FELT YOU DIDN’T NEED A C-SECTION IS NOT A REASON FOR NOT GETTING ONE IF YOUR DOCTOR RECOMMENDS IT WHILE YOU ARE IN LABOR. YOUR BABY COULD HAVE BEEN OXYGEN DEPRIVED AND COULD HAVE ENDED UP WITH CEREBRAL PALSY OR WORSE AND YOU ARE UPSET BECAUSE IT TOOK A WEEK FOR YOU TO WALK (BTW, patients with a C-section are encouraged to walk as soon as possible afterwords). GO GET A MEDICAL TEXTBOOK AND READ ABOUT FETAL DISTRESS…GO READ ABOUT HYPOXIA AND ISCHEMIA…GO READ ABOUT FETAL MONITOR STRIPS AND REALIZE THERE WAS PROBABLY A VERY GOOD REASON FOR YOU TO HAVE HAD YOUR BABY C-SECTION. GET OVER IT, YOU ARE NOT A DOCTOR AND YOU SHOLD THANK YOUR DOCTOR THAT YOU HAVE A HEALTHY BABY.
And to people who are saying, well I or my friend had a baby just fine vaginally after a c-section, DO YOU KNOW CESSADRA’S medical history? Do you? No?! Then perhaps it’s not best to suggest she should have one vaginally (if you’re not suggesting this and only sharing, fine, that’s different).
I used to work in IT for an HMO. One of the things we did was have an emmense system dedicated to figuring out the statistical best chances of treatment options. There is a lot of technology and a lot of data driving these decisions. Since HMOs are very cost aware, and since c-sections are more costly, I’m guessing your HMOs system is telling them that VBAC has enough risk that they want the additional cost. That should be telling you something right there.
I understand that you are trying to help, but if that is true then the doctor lied to me repeatedly both during and after, and I trust his decision even less.
I just wanted to hold my son when he was born. Instead, because of hospital policy regarding c-sections, he spent the first six hours of his life in a nursery. The exact thing that I was trying to avoid.
AGAIN, IF THAT WAS THE CASE, THEN MY DOCTOR WAS LYING. DO YOU THINK I DIDN’T ASK? I’VE ALREADY STATED THAT MY BABY WAS NOT IN TROUBLE. MY DOCTOR PROBABLY HAD A FREAKIN’ GOLF GAME.
The doctors and midwives who are rerfusing me don’t know my history, either. They tell me no when I call to make an appointment!