What do you think of this VBAC info page?

[minkajane]

This is the VBAC info page for a local hospital network, which includes the only (so called) birth center in our area, which is physically attached to the hospital (I don't know if there's a separate L&D for that hospital). This page actually seems fairly straightforward. It lists complication rates for both repeat C/S and VBAC without seeming to skew it either way and also gives success estimates. I don't know how accurate these numbers are or how many VBACs this network actually sees every year, but based on this page, they seem surprisingly amenable to the concept. They don't even flat-out refuse after two C/S like most places do.

[dlm194]

I didn't think it was bad. I liked the table they had which showed that there are risks either way. I didn't feel like I can away with that thinking "VBAC puts babies' lives in danger!" It admits that the mortality rates are similar and that each birth choice can have complications. Even the 67% success rate is not all that bad when you consider that any birth is only a 69% chance of a vaginal birth with our 31% c-section rate. The only thing I take issue with is the 1.5% chance of a uterine rupture in a VBA2C attempt. It's still under 1% according to Landon (but it's still much better than many older studies show)

[ShwarmaQueen]

I think it sounds fairly reasonable.

[minkajane]

Originally Posted by dlm194

I didn't think it was bad. I liked the table they had which showed that there are risks either way.

The table was my favorite part too. I also liked all the hard numbers they gave. A lot of other pages say vague things like "Your uterus might rupture" or "You may end up with a C-section anyway" or "Your baby might get an infection."

One thing that surprised me was the number of babies that got infections with vaginal versus C-section - there were zero for the C/S babies. That seems like an awful lot of babies to have no infections. I would think there would be at least a few C-sections due to an infection after prolonged rupture of membranes or something.

ETA: This is not the network I had chosen as my transfer hospital (planning UC for future babies) because there's one closer that's certified baby friendly. But that one has a really bad VBAC rate, as in one or two a year according to one of the nurses I talked to, and uses tons of Cytotec (may not be able to escape that - it's all but universal around here). I may have to consider going a bit farther away if this hospital group has a better VBAC rate.

[GoestoShow]

.

Edited by GoestoShow - 1/3/11 at 12:18pm

[PinkBunch]

Mandy--I like that the hospital is providing very encouraging information regarding VBAC!!! I see you are in Franklin. I'm in the area as well--where is your transfer hospital? I know that one of the networks here has a ban but the other one--well, my OB for sure--is VBAC friendly.

And Cytotec for a VBAC??? That's just a bad idea....and not universal at all here from what I know. My OB will do manual dilation (Foley) then AROM and resort to pit as a last resort in very controlled doses.

Feel free to PM me to chat more about your situation!

[minkajane]

Southview is my backup. I didn't mean that they use Cytotec on VBACs, just that it's used almost exclusively for inductions around here. Of course, this is word-of-mouth from the nurses. I'd go for a C-section in a heartbeat over having someone give me Cytotec. The risk of rupture is astronomical!

[PinkBunch]

All of the KMC hospitals have a defacto ban on VBACs. A friend of mine transferred care in late pregnancy to deliver at MVH and had a successful VBAC with one of the OBs in the practice I go to. I think MVH's c/s rate probably is high because they see so many complicated cases there; there are a good number of VBAC-friendly OBs. But that's probably a bit far for you since in the case of a transfer you may be emergent. For the record, though, the KMC hospitals are "baby friendly" but I don't have a lot of faith in that--they readmitted a friend of mine for pp complications and refused her a mother-baby room during H1N1. A mom NURSING a 5 day old baby!

And I've been induced twice--once at each hospital with 2 different OBs--but with Cervadil, not Cytotec, so that's interesting.

Is the hospital you posted south of you? I think I remember someone on another board posting about a N. Cicny hospital that's very, very birth friendly...