Anyone planning an HBAC?

[Katielady]

I'm considering it over here. DS was born via c-section and I am determined to have a VBAC. I'm a little scared of home birth, but it's starting to feel like the best option.

Anyone else?

p.s. I still can't believe I'm pregnant, just got the BFP a few days ago! :jammin

[green_momma2007]

I may opt for the HBAC, I'll have to talk it over with my midwife first though.

[Nate'sMama]

Why do you feel like it's the best option? Very curious.
I would love a homebirth but after a cesarean birth it scares me out of my tree!

[green_momma2007]

NatesMama, in south florida where I live there are NO hospitals that will allow you a VBAC, so I am choosing a birth center. And I do not believe there is much difference safety wise between a birth center and home, so that is why I may consider having a HBAC.

[Nate'sMama]

How horrible that they simply won't allow it. It's touch and go with hospitals here. Some do some don't, some pretend they do then won't. Very frustrating.

I agree that a birth center is much like a homebirth. My last babe was labored at a birth center and then we were off to the hospital just across the road for a cesarean birth. I loved my birth center experience. I'll have to ask on my tribe boards how common HBAC's are. I think I remember seeing some posts about women having trouble finding OB that would back up an HBAC.

Hmmm now I'm thinking about it....

[Katielady]

Why do you feel like it's the best option? Very curious.
I would love a homebirth but after a cesarean birth it scares me out of my tree!

It scares me too, but I feel like a hospital birth is going to end up as another c-section. VBACs in NY state are pretty dismal right now.

I've met with a midwife at a midwifery practice that delivers at a local hospital, and she gave me a rather grim rundown. First their consulting OB has to approve me for a "VBAC trial" -- basically he will examine my pelvis and look at my records from the last birth, and decide based on statistics whether he feels I have a better than 50/50 chance of a successful VBAC. She says the fact that my baby didn't descend past -3 station will likely be a red flag for them, meaning they might not approve me. If that hospital rejects me, I could go to a hospital in Connecticut with a different group of midwives. I'd have to drive 45 minutes or so one way for all my appointments, not to mention the birth, and I'd still be in a hospital, not a birth center. (There are no free standing birth centers in my state any more. :gloomy: ). If I went to either of those hospitals, I'd be under strict protocols for my birth. For one thing, they require constant monitoring of the baby. I remember HATING getting put on the monitor for my first labor, they told me I could move around but in reality they would lose the signal if I did, so I was flat on my back for 15 minutes every hour. If I had to do that constantly I don't know if I could manage without an epidural, and we all know what epidurals can lead to.

I'm still looking into birthing with the midwifes at the closer hospital. I really like the midwife I've met with, and she's even the leader of our local ICAN chapter. But I have to say, the whole vibe I'm getting from her and the other midwives is not very optimistic. I spoke with one of her colleagues on the phone, and she was very sweet, but she'd say things like, "Well, they do get worried about failure to descend. But honey, you definitely deserve a chance to TRY." She meant well, but to me it came off really patronizing. To me it sounds like, "We'll let you labor for a while so you feel like you did something, but we're probably going to have to cut you open."

Meanwhile, the HB midwife I spoke with on the phone agrees with me that my c-section was probably not necessary, and that I can probably birth my baby. She just sounded so tough and kickass. I don't want someone patting my hand and calling me dearie, I want someone fighting like hell to help me have a normal birth.

Luckily it's still early, so I have time to investigate both options. :)

[Nate'sMama]

I've heard the patronizing thing before too...At my 6 week post partum I asked my midwife about the hospital and VBAC. She gave me an answer that I can't remember verbatim, but all I heard was good luck with that! She said something like of course you can try to have a VBAC at the hospital - it happens all the time. I left there feeling very unsupported and suspicious of her claims that it could happen. I just didn't believe her.

The Birth Center where I labored is not free standing in that it is fiscally connected to the hospital but not physically connected. I have risked out of birthing there again. The Hospital will not allow the birth center to do VBAC. So I can't go there again unless I work with the same midwives but in the hospital. The same hospital that made me have a section in the first place!

I have an appt this time a round with an OB, strange I know. She is a sole practitioner (a complete rarity, I was lucky to get an appt!) who is very supportive of natural births and of VBAC. So we'll see how my first appt with her goes. There are also 2 midwife practices at local hospitals that support VBAC. I feel like thihs OB is going to be my best shot at getting what I want.

Now back to HBAC. I feel like in a parallel universe I would have all my babies at home. I think the section scared my DH more than it did me. He was a mess -he thought he was going to lose both of us. It all happened very quickly! I don't think I could put him through an HBAC. Then there's me with all the questions and regrets about my last birth. I keep thinking well what if I hadn't been near the hospital?? Well maybe if I hadn't been near a hospital I wouldn't have had a section! Or maybe something terrible would've happened. DS is perfect BTW!

I think it's wonderful that you are so smart and brave!

We both have plenty of time to investigate, dearie:wink

[Katielady]

Then there's me with all the questions and regrets about my last birth. I keep thinking well what if I hadn't been near the hospital?? Well maybe if I hadn't been near a hospital I wouldn't have had a section! Or maybe something terrible would've happened. DS is perfect BTW!

I think it's wonderful that you are so smart and brave!

We both have plenty of time to investigate, dearie:wink

:lol

I go round and round on that same train of thought too-- it's such a maddening chicken and egg problem. Did the hospital cause an unneccesary c-section, or save me and my son via the c-section? Am I a victim of our out-of-control medical system, or I am someone who would have died in childbirth 100 years ago?

I'm inclined to think that if I had had a home birth with an experienced midwife, that she could have worked the baby down and helped me get him out. But who knows.

The good thing is I'm right near a hospital (like walking distance), so I figure if things go south they could get me there pretty fast.

[rachelsmama]

I'm pretty confident that an HBAC is the best option for me (ask me again when I'm 9 months pregnant, we'll see how I feel then). Compared to some of the hospitals I hear about the one here is allright, but it's still a big, chaotic institution where I can't relax. I couldn't relax before things went bad last time, and now I have a traumatic experience in there too. I feel really comfortable about a homebirth for so many reasons.

[APmom2Libby]

ME ME!

I'm having a HBAC.

My first was a c-section a little over 2 years ago and the hospital experience was HORRIBLE.

I think hospitals really set you up to fail. Even if you have the best midwife in the world, ultimately, you are in the care of the nurses, and from my own experience, I will NEVER put myself in the care of strangers again. IMO, most of them just want to do the least amount possible to keep you happy and don;t care how your birth experience is. They are on their own agenda. I had ONE nurse out of about 40 that was kind, compassionate and supportive. I spent the rest of my time in the hospital battling the nurses to let me be a mother to my child.

So, yes, DEFINATELY a HBAC for me.

[kristenok18]

Oh, I wish I could!!! I was supposed to have a hb with ds, but I ended up trasnporting and had a c/s. I desperately want a vbac, but I'm too afraid to try a hb again. It was so devastating the first time to have everything go so wrong. I wish I felt more confident about my own body doing what it's supposed to do! I've found some great drs who have said they would support a vbac...hopefully that'll still be the case in 9mo!!

[txtarheel]

I'm considering my options at this point. Sadly because I'm also a Type 1 diabetic, my choices are limited. Any midwife practice that delivers at a hospital won't take me and will hand me off to an OB practice. I had to work hard to get my OB to let me go to 40 weeks before an induction last time around. Since I'm definitely not going for an induction this time, I don't want to have to fight those battles.

I've got a meeting soon with a hb CNM in the area that is willing to take me on. I've got some real questions to ask, but provided I like the answers, I think an hbac is the way to go for me.

[mary3mama]

If I were to have another child, it would be another homebirth.

I've had 1 c/s, 1 hospital VBAC, 1 homebirth. It's totally doable! At this point I'd do an unassised birth before ever going near a hospital (barring something extraordinary, of course...)