Any March mamas preparing for VBAC/HBAC/UBAC?

[aran]

Hi March mamas! I am doing a lot of reading and learning and working through issues surrounding the c/s of my ds to prepare as best I can for VBAC this time. Here's what I am doing differently to help ensure the best chance at VBAC:

* Using a midwife at a freestanding birth center rather than an OB at a hospital
* Using a chiropractor trained in the Webster technique
* Trying to exercise more throughout this pregnancy (I was a workaholic for pregnancy 1, and almost *never* exercised)
* Reading about risks from many different sources so I can feel completely at ease in an out-of-hospital birth
* Planning to take *real* childbirth classes - not just the "be a good patient" classes offered by the hospital, like I did last time

What other things are people doing to prepare for VBAC/HBAC/UBAC? If anyone wants to chat about family pressure to hospital birth or other worries/issues, that would be great, too

[MamaCAS]

HBAC? UBAC?
I am pretty ignorant of most of the acroynyms so please enlighten me...

I am trying for a VBAC. I intend to get more exercise than last time too. I didn't know that could help in the effort but that is just more motivation.

Cynthia

[aran]

HBAC = home birth after caesarean
UBAC = unassisted birth after caesarean

I guess both are just other forms of VBAC. I have been reading the ICAN yahoo list a lot lately, so I just took the abbreviations for granted. (Just in case... ICAN = International Caesarean Awareness Network).

For me I think exercise might help because I suspect ds was malpositioned, and I am thinking if I move around more - especially at the end - there will be a better chance of dc2 being in a more ideal position for birth than was ds.

I will probably hire a doula, too, if there isn't a support person (like a mw trainee) available at the birth center.

[Llyra]

I'm still considering my options. I've been searching for a place to VBAC since I started TTC almost a year ago.

I am a lousy candidate for a VBAC, and I'm finding it hard to find a midwife to take me on. I have a heart condition and a nasty obstetrical history. I don't meet ACOG guidelines for VBAC, so even the supportive OBs are giving me a hard time. HBAC is illegal in NJ, and I won't find someone willing to do it anyway because I need it to be covered by insurance. I'm pretty poor. I don't have the courage for UC, so I'm kinda up a creek right now.

Hoping the right midwife or gentle OB comes along.

Sometimes, too, I think the heck with it let's just do another section.

Now that I'm actually PG, I gotta step up the decision-making process a bit, but I want to savor my BFP for a few days before I get involved in the details.

[aran]

Sorry that you'd like a VBAC but that it looks like an uphill battle, Llyra. You do have a while to test out some mw/OBs and see if you can find one willing to support you in this decision. May I ask why you don't meet ACOG guidelines? I just re-read the guidelines, and it would exclude people without a "clinically adequate pelvis" and includes *only* people with one single low transverse incision. Those exclusions apply to lots of moms who probably could successfully VBAC, I think! My sis had a VBA2C in 1992, and when she recently switched to a new gyn, he said "How did THAT happen?!" as if it weren't possible.

[ccemama]

I am going for my 2nd HBAC. I have an amazing midwife who specializes in HBAC.
I am so sorry Llyra! I hope you find someone great.

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by aran

Sorry that you'd like a VBAC but that it looks like an uphill battle, Llyra. You do have a while to test out some mw/OBs and see if you can find one willing to support you in this decision. May I ask why you don't meet ACOG guidelines? I just re-read the guidelines, and it would exclude people without a "clinically adequate pelvis" and includes *only* people with one single low transverse incision. Those exclusions apply to lots of moms who probably could successfully VBAC, I think! My sis had a VBA2C in 1992, and when she recently switched to a new gyn, he said "How did THAT happen?!" as if it weren't possible.

One of the specifications is no other uterine scars or previous rupture. I don't meet that-- I have extensive uterine scarring from a D&C I had after my son was born (for infected retained tissue.) It's not the kind of scarring that will increase the risk of rupture, but the OBs I've talked to won't listen to that. Also, the guidelines assume an otherwise healthy mother; I have a heart arrhythmia that is seriously aggravated by late pregnancy; hospitals and docs take one look at my pulse rate and blood pressure, and immediately slap the "high-risk" label on me.

It's a tough situation all-around. I'm gonna try to find someone, though

[tika]

DD was a c/s for failed induction at 39 weeks.

I'm planning an HBAC this time around.

I love the ICAN list.

I am going to make this happen.

[nznats]

UBAC here, my partner doesnt want a UP he is very paranoid but I am planning a UBAC whether he likes it or not, he isnt the one doing all the work lol. Not feeling very apprehensive about my choice but not sure my partner realises I am fully serious

[cinnamonamon]

i'm probably going for an hba2c... we'll see what sort of fuss dh makes. luckily i know there is a good midwife who will do them around here.

[pinuchkin]

VBAC here too. Have done lots of reading and research the past 17 months since DD, and think I understand most of the reasons behind the c/s ... unfortunately the primary one was that the hospital required I go in immediately after prelabor SROM for antibiotics for GBS, and when I hadn't dilated more than 3-1/2 cm 15 hrs later (after only 7 hrs of ctx and after every stupid intervention known to man) c/s was given as the only option (hospital had a ridiculous 18 hr post-ROM limit).

DH & I had an uncomfortable conversation about it today. He said he's 100% against homebirth. I told him that I'm very interested in birth centers. He's very pro-intervention, very scared about the medical aspects of birthing. He also doesn't understand at all why the C/S was traumatic for me. I've been trying to explain (A) being numb from my chin down for a day, (B) being separated from my DD for an hour after her birth, (C) being in MAJOR pain for 2 weeks after her birth, (D) having terrible post-antibiotics problems for SIX MONTHS after her birth due to the crazy amounts of penicillin they pushed ... He said, "but aren't you happy about her BIRTH?" I'm trying so hard to get him to understand that for me, HER birth was the highlight of my life, but MY birth was one of the greatest physical & emotional traumas I've suffered. He thinks I'm falling prey to a bunch of hoo-doo about spiritualizing birth. : Why he can't understand (why I can't properly explain) that I just want my body & the babe's body to do what we should/could do without rules not based on good science ... argh.

[aran]

pinuchkin - My DH was a little bit like that initially, too. But I've been feeding him info... research-based info published in scientific journals, because it seems like a reputable information source to him... and he has really come around. If your DH wants evidence regarding interventions, and why many of them are counterproductive, and contrary to the scientific evidence in the open literature, then get your hands on this book: Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities by Henci Goer. It includes summaries of all the relevant literature through its publication date in the mid 1990s, and shows that interventions used by OBs have overwhelmingly been shown to cause as many or more problems than they solve. G/L

[cinnamonamon]

Originally Posted by pinuchkin

Why he can't understand (why I can't properly explain) that I just want my body & the babe's body to do what we should/could do without rules not based on good science ... argh.

Ahhh.... but it isn't good science! Research on the VBAC board a bit, and you will find studies about how much safer vbac is vs. repeat c/s -- and a vbac in most hospitals is almost impossible -- unless you are comfortable with fighting with medical personnel while in labor...

With ds 2 I told my dh that I couldn't stand the thought of being forced to be helpless again. It's abuse -- plain and simple. Your body CAN do it, and you need him to back you up (or at least let you decide).

[lotusdebi]

pinuchkin,
Do you have an ICAN group near you?
http://www.ican-online.org
I know the ICAN communities have helped a lot of people heal (emotionally) from their cesaereans, and maybe they can help your husband understand better why it was so traumatic for you.

[Bennifer]

Hi all, I am also planning a VBAC. I'd love to HBAC but none of the midwives around here are doing it since we had a baby die during a HBAC a little while ago in my town. So....that leaves me feeling confused as to what to do. I'm scared to go to the hospital, thinking they'll do all they can to do a repeat c/s. Ds was malpositioned, went into fetal distress...etc, etc but he really was FINE! Ughh. I just found out yesterday that I am pregnant and now feel a little overwhelmed as to how to start planning this and making sure I do everything in my power to make it happen.

[secretlypregnant]

Originally Posted by Bennifer

Hi all, I am also planning a VBAC. I'd love to HBAC but none of the midwives around here are doing it since we had a baby die during a HBAC a little while ago in my town. So....that leaves me feeling confused as to what to do. I'm scared to go to the hospital, thinking they'll do all they can to do a repeat c/s. Ds was malpositioned, went into fetal distress...etc, etc but he really was FINE! Ughh. I just found out yesterday that I am pregnant and now feel a little overwhelmed as to how to start planning this and making sure I do everything in my power to make it happen.

Maybe you could hire one of the midwives to act as a monitrice and labor with you at home until birth is emminent--then go to the hospital (with her as your doula). Then you can just avoid all those early/active labor interventions altogether. I know people where I live who have had successful VBACs and VBA2Cs this way.

I have had 1 VBAC and 1 HBAC already. I think we will plan another HBAC this time, too.

[cinnamonamon]

Bennifer -- that does sound like a sad sit. The midwife I was hoping to use is nervous about doing a vba2c as she had one that ended in rupture (mom was at the hospital by the time the actual rupture occurred, but it still made an impression). I'm planning to send her the study that just came out on vba2c being just as safe as vbac... but that wont help you -- good luck

[Bennifer]

I have some news...I talked to a prospective doula today and apparently I was misinformed...the midwives ARE doing HBACs here and also at the birthcenter. It is great news but also not so great b/c it means I really have to decide where the best place is for me...I know home is probably the best chance I have of having my VBAC but at this point I'm not comfortable with it. But in the past it has appealed to me, when I was reading up more on pro-HBAC info. It would take a LOT of convincing of dh but it's possible. My hospital choices are slim pickings! The one that the doula recommended does abortions there, and being extremely pro-life I cannot ethically give any of my money to a hospital that kills babies. That may seem a bit extreme to some but it is an issue that is very important to me. That hospital is the one that has a midwifery group. The hospital I could birth at and that my current OB works with would be fine...and he is very pro-VBAC but his partners aren't, and all the hospital regulations,....ughh. Why does it have to be so hard?