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May 2018 Moms
callthemw
member
VBAC?
callthemw
member
Are any other May mamas attempting a VBAC this time around? If so, let's support each other! Did you know that you actually have an 80% chance of a vaginal birth this time around as opposed to the 60-70% vaginal birth rate for first time moms?
I will also add that this discussion will not tolerate shaming in other birth choices, whether VBAC, repeat c-section, or anything else. This is a personal choice and if you desire to shame, fear monger, or intimidate others on their desired birth, you may start your own discussion elsewhere.
I will also add that this discussion will not tolerate shaming in other birth choices, whether VBAC, repeat c-section, or anything else. This is a personal choice and if you desire to shame, fear monger, or intimidate others on their desired birth, you may start your own discussion elsewhere.
Re: VBAC?
There is a formula medical professionals can use to help determine how likely a VBAC might work for you. I'd ask if you aren't sure.
For me personally, I had a failed induction. I labored for 70 hours because I was hell bent on delivering vaginally and my body just wouldn't dilate past 4cm. The 4cm only being accomplished after a Foley bulb was used. I will not be trying for a VBAC.
I realized for myself, that there aren't awards given out for having a certain type of birth. All I was successful at doing by being stubborn was exhausting myself completely before I even had the newborn to finish the job. It was not my most intelligent decision in life. This time, I'm not going that route.
Additionally, I am pretty risk adverse when it comes to medical anything. My husband works in labor and delivery and has too many close calls and tragic stories that have come from attempted VBAC procedures for me to want to risk it for myself. That being said, there are many successful VBACs as well so if you (in combination with your medical professional) feel it is the right choice for you, I encourage you to try! It just ain't for this gal.
Respectfully, I would like to point out that most failure to progress diagnoses are innacurate as the well repeated "1cm per hour in active labor" is from the 1950s and has since been updated by more accurate research. I've been part of many a person with a successful vbac after a failure to progress or even cpd last time around. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can't predict how someone will labor.
The calculator can be a helpful tool but is often used inappropriately. Even a helpful tool cannot predict the future.
I totally agree there aren't any awards for how you labor or birth. I'm saddened by this line of thinking. I'm also aware that vbac or tolac is a safe choice for most people. In the grand scheme of a person's childbearing years, the more ceseareans you have put you at increased risk for placental accreta, hysterectomy, devastating hemorrhage, nicu admissions, infertility, etc. Vbac carries risks as well (namely accreta and uterine rupture) but after a successful vbac, your risk begins to decrease for these complications. So if one plans to have a medium to large family, it's an important consideration for the long term.
The other risk that is almost never mentioned is the risk to the doctor of litigation. Regardless of what the evidence shows, in court, a vbac is indefensible as opposed to a repeat cesarean. Meaning the doc will be sued. Because of this precedence, doctors would rather perform the cesarean (heck, who wouldn't!) And this colors their discussions. Lately, doctors are beginning to be sued for harm caused during ceseareans so this may actually change the current political climate...i digress.
My hope is for risks to be shared in an accurate and informed manner so people know which set of risks they are accepting. Either way there are no guarantees in life as in birth.
The choice of how we birth is a personal one and I'm glad you know what you want, the risks associated, and are pursuing it. I hope others will also be well informed and choose the path that's best for them without fear of others shaming them.
Now, I am thinking repeat cesarean. The risk is approximately 4% of something happening during a VBAC and I've had too many instances of being on the wrong side of the odds medically speaking. I also didn't realize there can be other complications other than uterine rupture during a VBAC. I am totally ok if I were to have a hysterectomy during the process, but I would hate for something to happen to my other organs. Also, I really really really don't want to end in an emergency c-section.
@motherof2monkeys may I ask why the first c-section and how you came to make your decision to VBAC the first time?
I also disagree with a lot of your response. I attribute that to us obviously coming from opposite ends of the spectrum on this topic.
Why did I want a VBAC? Well I really struggled to recover from the op and didn’t feel pain free (apart from poking the area) for 8 weeks. I couldn’t imagine coping well after a second op, a new born, a toddler and a dog. That’s reason 1. Reason 2 I wanted to know what it felt like to go through labour. I was happy to go with the flow as the chances of ending up with another ceaserean are higher with VBAC, but I felt I owed myself a chance to try. Reason 3, both VBAC and ceaserean have risks. I knew that baby #2 wasn’t going to be my last so more of a reason to go VBAC. Unlike ceaserean the more VBACs you have the better the chances next time for a straightforward labour, something that doesn’t seem to be the case with ceasereans with an increase in side effects with every one you have.
Pretty long winded but I hope that helps! Xx
Even though I'm struggling with what option to go for, deep down I truly feel like I want to do a repeat section. My first was frank breech, so I didn't have a choice in the matter. I'm not exactly feeling the need or desire to tour all birthing methods and to experience vaginal birth, but my internal struggle is that I have a feeling that a section could be an "unnecessary surgery" if all is progressing well naturally.
Like @heelsidehero, I have experienced being on the wrong side of the odds, in addition to my little guy. 4% sounds exceptionally frightening considering that I've experienced 2% odds with the first.
I'll definitely need to discuss this further with my OB.
go wrong they’ll know before you and will act swiftly.
I am going for the repeat C-section personally. My c-section was an emergency after 34+ hours of labor. I was induced do to pre eclampsia at just over 38weeks. I was dialated to a 5.5cm already when they actually started the induction. That is actually very far along for starting, turns out I was going in and out of labor for weeks before this, I was dialated to a 3cm at my first check at 34 weeks. I couldn't feel the contracts though, not until they broke my water during the induction. Then it was hell. Anyways I was stuck at a 9cm dialated and his head was at -1or0 for 6+hours. He was literally too big to desend into the birth canal. A lot of people think it's a myth that you can have a baby too big to fit, especially without gestational diabetes. Hell I even had pre eclampsia which generally causes failure to thrive. But it didn't get severe until the end. Each person's chances of a successful VBAC are quite different, mine are quite small since genetically(thanks in-laws) I will likely have another large baby. However the reason I want to follow this thread even though I am scheduling a c-section(I have no desire to go through the extreme hell I did with my son again), is that IF this child is smaller and IF my body succeeds in an early labor and delivery since I honestly couldnt tell with my son that I was having real contractions, there is a miniscule chance I could have an unintended VBAC. Lol after my last pregnancy and birth I know that nothing ever goes as planned and I am very unlucky.
Also for future reference, it's really not nice to refer to vaginal birth as "natural", it's called vaginal. To imply it's natural it to also imply that c-sections are unnatural and when it comes to saving the life of a mother and newborn via a c-section, thats kind of rude, even if it's unintended, which I don't think anyone uses it to be rude. People just arnt thinking about it, but we all should think a lil more on that considering probably everyone that will.comment on this post has had a c-section for some reason or other.
Also, thank God for science and medicine that isn’t always natural so you and your child are here, in spite of the odds being stacked against you with what nature provided. Nature is a bitch, and it’s not the be all end all of how life works. (This is coming from a hippie) We’ve already had this discussion on another thread in this group, if I remember the name of the group I’ll tag you in it, because there was a lot of great discussion without word policing within in.
And I’m not saying one way is better than the other at all, because it’s not my body, my birth, or my medical situation. If you want to change the way women feel about their birth experience instead of changing the meaning of terminology, change the frame work surrounding the education to be more inclusive of all forms. You’re still a mother. You still gave birth. However, the surgeries that gave you that experience was not “natural.”
Honestly I think people just don’t say “vaginally” as a mainstream term for that type of birth because of the Puritan/religious impact on our society and the fear of talking about our body parts using real terms. Not saying anyone here falls into that category, but vaginally is a more accurate description for the birth experience. I wouldn’t say anyone who had a cesarean had an unnatural birth.
100% agree on all this. I don't like the connotations of the word "natural" because even though it shouldn't be, it is often used to mean that something is good. Just think of the meaning of the word "unnatural" to contrast. It's such an imprecise word anyway, I think vaginal makes a lot more sense.
Vaginal birth to me encompasses any type of vaginal birth. Natural birth is a vaginal birth without interventions.
With Jay I was induced with Pitocin, delivered vaginally, without pain medication. I do not call that a natural birth.
Seems like we’re mincing words here, but I don’t think it’s right to tell someone who had a cesarean they shouldn’t be offended by the term “natural”, especially when we’re in a thread about VBACs.
I know words have specific definitions, but they also have emotional meanings, and in our world today, natural does have a positive connotation. I cried hysterically when I was rushed to the OR for my emergency csection with a baby whose heart rate was dropping after I tried for 18 hours to have a vaginal birth. It is still a sore spot in my mind. Thanks for understanding and doing it so kindly.
Side note, I cringe whenever my phone automatically capitalizes "trump" now. Eck, get off my phone!