Looking for resources & encouragement about HBAC

[nova22]

I've had (in this order) three natural hospital births, one homebirth, and one emergency c-section at 33 weeks.

I'm 12 weeks pregnant right now and have been seeing my homebirth midwife for prenatal care. Lately I've been feeling very anxious about whether or not I'm making the best decision. I am pretty sure I know that most people here will tell me that I am but I could really use some good resources, especially books that address *H*BAC and not just *V*BAC. I read one book (I forgot the title, unfortunately) that I really didn't like, because it was geared towards hospital births and the people who had c-sections all had their surgery after laboring first and then "failing to progress." I don't know that it makes a difference, but I did not labor before my c-section - my water broke but there were no contractions. It probably doesn't matter overall but I would like to be able to relate to what I'm reading.

...and of course I'd also love to hear from anyone who has had an HBAC or even planned an HBAC and ended up with another c-section. Actually, I'd be particularly interested in hearing from people who have had to transfer because I'd like to know what risks I might face so I can better prepare for them.

[Beccadoula]

My understanding is that the riskiest part of having a VBAC is the fact of Pitocin. By having a home birth you're side stepping a huge part of the risk of rupture...I believe, someone correct me if I"m wrong. Pictocin can cause hypercontractions that put mom and baby at risk with a previous scar.

I have attended a few HBAC's with our local midwife...all beautiful...all peaceful and without any problems. What you might want to do is ask the midwife for referals...people that have had hbacs with her and can encourage you!

I wish I knew of a book that directly addresses this. Sorry.

[HeatherB]

Yes, Becca is right - the risk of rupture in an unmedicated/augmented/induced VBAC (i.e., an HBAC) is very low - and similar to that of a non-VBAC! Being at home means you won't have any of those issues, and you can labor on your own schedule and at baby's pace.

I've had one c/s, 2 HBACs, and am pg and planning our 3rd HBAC. I have heard that this book is very good: http://www.amazon.com/Vaginal-Birth-.../dp/0897891201
..but I haven't read it. I should really get it to add to my library!

You might also enjoy some of the reading at http://www.ican-online.org/ and http://www.vbac.com/. I wish I had more book recommendations - but I didn't read much in terms of actual books. We were quite convinced and I found lots of birth stories here.

[womenswisdom]

I had a great HBAC 2 1/2 years ago and would definitely do it all again. AFAIK there aren't any books specifically about hbac, but you can certainly take the information you find about vbac and put it together with the info about homebirth. ICAN recently did a web conference about hbac that you might be able to find the transcript for on their website. I'd also pop over to the vbac forum on here for more mama who have had an hbac.