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VBAC
JaysonandKristin
member
Literally, how far would you go?
JaysonandKristin
member
in VBAC
The only provider (within my ins) I can go to that does a VBA2C is 80 miles away, and in high traffic time periods, it could take me well over 3 hours to get there.
Granted, there are medical facilities on the way that would service us in an emergency, but is this outside the range of safe?
Take a doula and midwife with me from my hometown and deliver the baby in the back of my minivan on the side of the freeway?
Homebirth is outside of DH's comfort zone, and I respect that.
Prudence
Otis
Hank
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Literally, how far would you go?
There is an amazing VBAC doc about 60 minutes away from me. He vaginally delivers multiples, breech babies, etc. He's kind of a big deal.
If I were in a situation where I had something a little more complicated, I would travel to see him.
The thing is, if you want to go that far for appts, I think you should do it. I wouldn't consider outside of the range of safe because there are other hospitals around you. There's really not going to be anything that is unsafe unless you will ONLY go there for emergencies. But it sounds like you are more reasonable than that.
I had my VBAC last May and I'm fairly sure I delivered with the doc who pp referred to as "kind of a big deal". Ha!
Anyway, I don't know how many miles it was for me to drive there but it is one state over and it took about 45 minutes to get there in good traffic, about an hour on our worst day and potentially 1.5 to 2 hours if we had ever been stuck in rush hour (I know another woman who recently delivered with him who was at least twice as far away as I am). I have absolutely no regrets about traveling that far. He is hands down the best doc in the area for VBACs and I was able to achieve my goal of a completely natural water birth, which was amazing!
I scheduled all of my pp appointments in the early afternoon so that I could avoid rush hour and it really wasn't that bad - but I will admit that I wasn't working full time so it was easy for me to make the time to do that. My water broke at 3:30 am and we drove out there at around 5:30 am (I had a fast labor - baby was born by 8:30 am!). We totally avoided rush hour and, to be honest, despite the fact that I was have contractions ever 2 to 3 minutes, that drive out there with my DH that morning is one of the best memories I have with him. I would totally do it again and I will see the same doctor if we have a third baby.
To give you another perspective, I grew up in a small town without a hospital in ND about a 45 minute drive from the nearest hospital. My mom had 5 babies - 3 of them during massive ND blizzards that made travel nearly impossible - and she always made it to the hospital.
There are so many unknowns with birth that I would go with the best VBAC doc you can safely travel to. Plan out your "backup" options for hospitals that are closer and then hope for the best. One other thing that several people around here who deliver with my doc have mentioned is to head out to the town that he delivers in during the very early stages of labor and then check into a hotel to labor until they are ready to actually go to the hospital. If I had had a long drawn out labor that was my plan.
GL!
If you have places you could stop to along the way and are comfortable with the possibility of having to do so then I would say go for it.
Aaah, the "midwife in a man's body". With my CPD diagnosis I wish I could go to him. He is about an hour and half away from me.
I went to see Ina May when she was at the U of M last year. I'm pretty sure he was the only guy there, and the only OB. The rest were female midwives and moms.
So jealous you had that opportunity!
On a random downside note though... He won't be preforming breech deliveries anymore. The hospital and clinic will "suspend vaginal breech deliveries immediately". So heartbreaking considering his confidence in helping mothers with breech babies! There was a memo sent out to the midwives and it circulated into the yahoo ICAN group.
Whoa. That sucks.
the closest hospital facility that would accomodate a VBAC was a 4 hour drive (263 miles) I found a doctor there that i LOVED and he was 1000% supportive of my VBAC. I was apprehensive near the end as it was December and snowy, but I was successful with my VBAC and am planning to deliver there again when I get pregnant with #3 . I live far away from alot, and the hospital in my town wasn't supportive, my only option here was a RCS. And I am SO happy I was able to have my VBAC. the recovery for me was just night and day different. honestly my birth experience with DD2 was just perfect, dispite the 4 hour car ride in labor. it was well worth it for me.
good luck with your choice.