Leaning towards wanting a VBAC-my story
My main reasons for wanting one are not to have to stay in the hospital and recover from surgery while I'm trying to bond with my newborn. My last birth experience wasn't awful or anything. I was mostly scared not knowing what to expect and had no determination to do it naturally once I was on pitocin. I dilated quite well on my own (I went in a 4cm) but I was told my contractions weren't strong enough on their own, he wasn't descending. They kept turning up the pitocin (can the nurse do that without doctors instructions? just curious....it felt like she randomly turned it up but there were clear instructions to do it every half hour or something) I requested an epi pretty quickly it felt like...even though they said the contractions weren't strong enough it HURTTTTTT. It scared me how much it hurt. I wasn't relaxed at all. The epi felt wonderful but shortly after the contractions were effecting baby's heartrate. They halted labor with a shot in my arm (forget the name of it) and then labor never resumed. I stayed overnight and we all decided a c-section would be fine in the morning. I was okay with all of this...I still am. They didn't keep DS away from me and never tied me down. He nursed right away and everything was great except for getting thrush (probably antibiotics) and just having to sleep in the hospital or 4 days. Sucked. I would love to just go home the next day and not have to deal with staples and pain meds. So I would love to have a VBAC, but I don't want to go through labor and a c/s again. I'm sure this is a common concern. I have more research to do. Although they labeled it "failure to progress" I've also been told "he didn't fit" so not sure if "fitting" is a common repeat issue?
Thanks for listening. I look forward to reading more posts about this big decision.
Re: Leaning towards wanting a VBAC-my story
Oy that sounds like it must have been frustrating. How did they determine that your natural contractions weren't strong enough?
There have been studies done on women who had a primary cesarean for failure to progress or cephalopelvic disproportion ("baby didn't fit") and they have found that most of them are able to have VBACs just fine--over 60%. When you remember that the overall vaginal delivery rate in the US for everyone is only 68%, I think those odds sound pretty good! So neither FTP nor CPD should automatically disqualify you from a VBAC.
Unfortunately everyone who tries a VBAC has to face the risk that they will labor and still need a c/s. There are no guarantees of a vaginal delivery. You have to weigh the benefits of trying for a VBAC with the risk that it won't work out and you will end up with another c/s, and decide if that is a risk you are willing to take. It's a personal decision and only you can decide what is the right choice.
GL!
Welcome! I wanted to comment on your question about nurses being allowed to increase pitocin, I'm pretty sure they can. Nurses manage labors and they don't go to doctors for everything. I believe there is protocol for what is acceptable for increasing pitocin.
The whole risk of trying for a VBAC only to end up w/ a c/s is a common one. Iris is right. You have to just go in knowing your options and what may happen and decide whether the risk of laboring only to end up with a c/s is worth it to you. It's a tough call.
It sounds like your first birth was a fairly high intervention one. If you do want to try for a vbac, you may want to consider finding a practitioner who is vbac friendly and lower on the intervention scale.
GL with your decision and your pregnancy.
Thank you for your replies...
Iris-I would like to know why my contractions weren't strong enough as well. I sat there looking at the graph thingy and the lines were off the chart but the nurse told me that it wasn't an indicator of how strong they were...to which my silent reply was, Well then WTF is it measuring? She also told me that I wasn't in active labor (despite the pain telling me otherwise) and that she would know when that happened. I can only guess that because the contractions were strengthening but he wasn't descending they decided the contractions weren't doing their job well enough? He never got to the lower stations.
Marge-I do feel like the birth was high intervention...more so by the hospital or really, the nurse I had. My OB office was the first to bring up whether or not I am interested in a VBAC and have so far said they support me either way. Of course, some of the criteria probably has yet to be met but I'm glad they are supportive so far.