Need to hear some great hospital Vbac stories!

[Marnica]

Hi ladies,

I intended to have my son at a Birth Center in the water. In my case it was everything that could have gone wrong did and I wont bore you with the details, but I ended up at the hospital with a C-section. It was really a horrible experience. Now I find myself pregnant (12 weeks) again after 2 back to back miscarriages. The birth Center will not do Vbac (even though the hospital is right scross the street - so stupid!) so my options are going for a vabac at a hospital (it would be a different hospital than last time with different midwives) or at home. I have thought many hours about this and as much as I want to believe that i could go for a HBAC, Im not sure that it is the right choice for me for a variety of reasons. I haven't ruled it out totally and may set up an appointment with homebirth midwife to at least talk to her about it. I need to pick a provider however and have decided to go with the midwives at the hospital - at least for now. I know I can always change my mind.

Anyway I also have this idea in my head that if I step foot in a hospital my dreams of a Vbac will go down the toilet and I will end up with another c-section. I need to hear from all you ladies who have had positive hospital vbacs - I need to hear it is possible!! 

[~Amy~]

I had a wonderful hospital VBAC. VBAC is the norm here, though so it may very well depend on your care provider and the hospital's staff as to how things go at your hospital. Mine was great. The nurses were wonderful, the doctor was caring and very skilled. I was pretty much stuck in bed due to the monitors, but those were because I was being induced, not because I was a VBAC. If I hadn't been induced, I would have been free to move around, use the tub, shower, etc.

[LisaSedai]

Congrats on your pregnancy! I too was afraid hospital = repeat c/section so I when I got pregnant with my second child I first went to a midwife. In my state, midwives aren't legal to deliver at home (and there aren't any who deliver in hospitals either!) so I was driving 90 minutes to another state where a midwife allowed women to birth in her home (and she had a tub for water births!) I was leery and a little afraid of the unknown but I feared getting cut worse. I also was going to an OB to get the basic prenatal labs and U/S, and the medication for keeping my diabetes under control.

Unfortunately I developed a group B strep urinary tract infection. After alot of consulting with Dr Google and reflection I reluctantly decided it would be safer for the baby if I delivered in a hospital where I could get the antibiotics during labor- and since I had to go on insulin (sometimes the baby's blood sugar will drop and you can't check the baby with your regular blood glucose machine)

The OB I was going to was... scornful? disapproving? of med-free childbirth and she would "allow" trial of labor for VBAC only if the baby was under 8.5 pounds. My first baby's U/S day before birth said he weighed over 9 lbs and he turned out to be only 7 pounds 14 ounces so I had no doubt baby # 2 would turn out to be over this limit. So I started looking for another OB. I was a member of the national ICAN b/c the MW required her VBAC pts to join but I went to the My Tribe section here on Mothering and asked about who was a good Dr and was directed to the Atlanta ICAN site. I found out about the Dr many of the ICAN ladies go to via the reviews section and made an appointment (I was 34 weeks pregnant at the time.)

I got the hypnobabies home study course and hired a doula because I wanted to avoid getting an epidural.

The hospital was used to getting the Doctor's VBAC patients so they really didn't give me any hassles. My water broke before I went into labor. I went in to the triage and was only there long enough for them to do the test on the fluids to make sure they were amniotic. I refused cervical checks by the nurses. I got to the hospital about 2 in the afternoon and wasn't checked until the Dr came in, and I was a 7/8 cm. Most hospitals policies say VBAC's have to be on the fetal monitor continuously. I asked the nurse if I could shower before I had to be hooked up and she said "sure" so I had a nice long hot shower. Some hospitals have wireless fetal monitoring - you can walk around with it and even shower or get in the tub. This hospital had the kind where you are wired to the machine at the bedside, but I still was able to get on the rocking chair or walk around the bed. At one point my doula suggested I get up and go to the bathroom so we unhooked it and I labored on the commode awhile.

Having a doula was great, she really helped me concentrate and helped me through the contractions. She helped remind the Doctor of stuff in my birthplan when I was not able to think coherently. ( I wanted delayed cord clamping and didn't want them yanking on the placenta to get it out) I had wanted to do mother-directed pushing but the doctor felt the baby's heart rate was too fast so I had to do the count to ten pushing instead. I think I pushed for an hour, hour and a half and she was born. Even though it was in a hospital it was so much better than my C/S.

I think the most important thing is to get a provider that DOES VBACs not just give them lip service while planning all the while to steer you into a RCS. Getting a doula ( a good one) really helps too. Do all you can to stay low risk while you're pregnant- get chiro if you need it, be mindful of positions that can sometimes help babies not be breech or posterior.

Good luck, HTH

[kltroy]

Here's a link to my hospital VBAC story from 3 years ago:  http://www.mothering.com/community/t/919493/claire-marie-vbac-birth-story-and-pictures-long

It was a really nice birth and proof that even when the details don't end up exactly as you might have planned, the birth can still be perfect.  Congrats on your pregnancy!  You'll do great!

[phaedra13]

This is not my story, but a friend's story and it's a great one. I think it will really help you. http://bloomingtonbirth.org/blog/2011/06/20/my-vbac-story/