VBACs, revisited

Last night, I spent a wonderful evening with a group of women from my mother’s church. Together, we call ourselves “Secret Sisters,” and we get together every other month to exchange gifts (kind of like a recurring Secret Santa sorta thing) and spend time in fellowship.

I let slip that I won a PPA award for a story I wrote last year about vaginal birth after cesarean, and I learned that two women in my company delivered babies via VBAC. Another had a daughter who spend 30 hours in labor attempting a VBAC but ultimately delivered via cesarean.

Why am I telling you this? Because two women out of a group of 15 delivered healthy babies safely via VBAC, proving (in my opinion) that the practice is much more common than some would have you believe. In fact, the Mayo Clinic estimates that 60 to 80 percent of women who attempt VBACs are successful.

My biggest problem with the VBAC issue (which you can read all about by clicking the link above) is that so many doctors tell women that VBACs are impossible. Moms who would like to have vaginal births following a c-section and who would likly be good candidates to do so are told that VBACs are impossible or extremely dangerous.

And it’s just not true. It is true that there are few doctors in Tulsa who will perform a VBAC, but it’s not because the procedure is extradordinarily complicated or dangerous.

If you’ve delivered via cesarean and are pregnant again, it’s worth seeking out a doctor who performs VBACs and finding out if you’re a good candidate.

And if you want to do some research, here are some links I hope will help (the Mayo Clinic link above is also a good one):
VBAC.com
ICAN: International Cesarean Awareness Network
Childbirth.org