Anyone had a VBAC over 40?

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I am 17 wks pg with DC2.
I was 40 in November.
DS was em cs as he was undiagnosed footling breech.
Hospital policy for VBAC is immobile and monitored. They do not offer el cs in lieu of VBAC (fine by me). I woudl just really prefer a more active birth.

Seeing consultant on Wednesday - help me find the words and arguments to discuss my preference for active birth with him please.

I am in the same boat apart from a couple of things one being age so can't help there.

I am hoping for a VBAC as my 2nd was brow and needed a EMCS. 1st was natural with a failed 3rd stage.

The policy here is arrive asap, so monitor can be attatched for duration so unable to move around. Also they don't have underwater monitor so waterbirth not an option :(
Very frustrating and annoying but I plan on putting on my birth plan that I do want to be as mobile as possible.

Bump

I'm not sure it helps as obviously policy must differ area to area and I didn't have the VBAC in the end.

DD was an Emergency CS as she went into distress - following inducement and epidural for my blood pressure - but as I'd progessed to fully dilated by then it was obvious my body could birth and no-one could see any reason I'd need another CS. Consultant decided I should go for a natural birth with DS at the age of 41 and discharged me back to midwives; midwife offered me home birth (I'm in right-on Brighton). Only requirement was that I had to talk to her supervisor to ensure that I fully understood and accepted all the risks of not going into hospital and being constantly monitored. On the other hand, no really convincing risks, given my history.

In the end DS was breech and I had an elective CS.

From my experience it may not be the consultant you have to convince; I'm not sure that previous breech makes another more likely (you probably know more) so he may not want to see you again, the VBAC chat is a bit of a formality. With either consultant or midwife best tack may be to get them to talk through why they think you need monitoring and decide whether it is important to you and what alternatives are. Must be possible to do half hourly, rather than constant etc.. Also have a look on the internet, I think there's a lot of research into the value or otherwise of constant monitoring.

Best of luck - but you already know whatever you plan liklihood is something else will happen anyway!

Can't advise based on age. I was 36 when I had VBAC. It was actually against my wishes - I'd booked ELCS but DD2 had no intention of hanging around. My hospital's protocol was also immobile and monitored. However, they don't (obviously) tie you to the bed so when I wanted to move, I did. I simply took the monitor off. The midwife was happy with that but obviously all this depends on your circumstances and why you need to be monitored. They might be able to refuse you a water birth/midwife-led unit etc but when it comes down to it, what happens in the delivery room is your choice. Good luck

Hi - I was 38 when I had my VBAC - could you see if they have wireless monitors - and as above you don't have to be monitored - they can't make you - do they have a VBAC clinic as that may be more useful than dicussing with consultant -

• personally I was ok with being monitered although was hoping for wireless but it wasn't working...
  In the early stages I had lots of loo visits -so monitor had to come off.... also the monitor had quite a long wire so could move more than I expected