I've been a part of a conservative VBAC online group since February of 2008, when we found out we were pregnant with our daughter. My VBAC journey started the moment they were wheeling me back to the operating room for my cesarean birth with my son. Even then, I already had it in my mind that I would have a vaginal birth after a cesarean. Thankfully, and with all praise to God, I delivered a healthy 6 lb 1 ounce baby girl at 41 weeks and 2 days gestated. I did it VAGINALLY. It was a hospital VBAC, with many interventions but I went into labor on my own and pushed her out in 2 1/2 hours. I had a caring and 100% supportive team of doctors, as well as a L&D nurse who had had a VBAC herself!
I will ALWAYS encourage anyone who has had a previous cesarean to try for a vaginal birth. The odds are in your favor that you WILL deliver vaginally, given there are no new medical indications that prevent you and that you have a 100% supportive care provider and environment. Interview many doctors. If they say "how big are your babies?" when you ask them what your chance is for a vaginal delivery, RUN RUN RUN! If they won't tell you their c section rate because it is unfair to their practice RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN OUT THE DOOR! If they say you are high risk because you've had a c section RUUUUUUUN!! If after 3 visits or 20 visits, their support is waning at prenatal office appointments, RUN! If the doctor is going to monitor your baby continually and with the monitor screwed into the babies head, RUN!! It is NEVER too late to change care providers, or your place of delivery. (Those were actual things that I ran from when I was looking into my VBAC doctor. The one I chose came into the room, told me she was sorry for my long wait but that she knew there was a lot I needed to talk to her about and she wanted to make time for me. I told her I was VBAC and what did she think my odds were for a vaginal delivery? She said 90%. I breathed a HUGE mongous sigh of relief! I had found my doctor! She high-fived me the morning after I delivered vaginally! That's the kind of doc YOU want.
I understand there is a time and a place for cesarean birth. What I CANNOT understand and which baffles and annoys me is that the c section rate in the US is now a whopping 33%. It's 60% if the woman is carrying multiples. That is foolish and sickening to me.
Women who have never had a cesarean birth cannot BEGIN to imagine what it like to have a cesarean. Those who try are making a mockery of themselves. Even if the cesarean was done for no good reason other than the hospitals time limit was up, it is important for these women to have another chance for a vaginal birth. Birth is a ritual and a rite of passage, and it needs to be honored. Women should be able to use their bodies to birth regardless of scars on their uterus. Vaginal birth is beyond healing to a woman who has been told her body can't be used to birth her babies.
I've been keeping an unofficial tally of those women on my VBAC online group that have had previous cesareans and how they deliver their next baby. It's my own personal research project. Between 2008 and 2010 I kept an informal list of those moms who told us how they delivered. Out of 26 mamas, 18 delivered vaginally and only 8 went through a repeat c. That's a 70% success rate. Out of those 18 mamas who've delivered vaginally, 6 of those were home births.
Here's a list of what I've found:
Successful VBAC
VBA4C, LOPU uknown
VBAC, after 40 weeks gestated
UBAC at home non intentional
HWBA4C
VBAC
HBAC
VBAC
HBAMC
VBAC, drug free
VBAC
HWBAC
VBAC
VBAC
VBAC
VBAC, 25 MINUTES OF PUSHING
HWBAC 3 hour labor
HWBA2C 15 minutes pushing
VBAC 11 hours of labor
CBAC (cesarean birth after cesarean)
CBAC, length of pregnancy unknown
CBA3C, 42 weeks tilted uterus
ERCAC, 40 weeks, low fluid
CBA6C, 48 hours of labor
CBAC, went into labor on own, got to 10, baby was footling breech
CBA2C
CBA2C but other vaginal births
CBAC after trial of labor induction
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