VBAC class in hospital tomorrow - what questions to ask

[MelanieWiggles]

Hi all. DC 2 due in eight weeks and I am hoping for a VBAC after EMCS last time round for fetal distress. Hospital is holding a VBAC class tomorrow and I have compiled a few questions I will be looking for answers to. If anyone could suggest any other potential questions I'd be grateful!

So far I have:

• At what point in labour should I come into hospital?
• How long overdue will I be allowed to go ?
• What are the indications in labour which would make them wish to move to c-section ?
• How long will they allow me to labour for before c-section is recommended ?
• Do they ever induce in this hospital ?
• If so, how (prostaglandins, syntocin, ARM) ?
• Do they ever use syntocin to speed up labour in a VBAC birth ? (I believe this is what caused DS to go into distress the last time)
• Will canulas / fetal monitoring be a requirement ?
• What are their views on use of pain relief / epidural in a VBAC birth ? (Have read it can mask pain of uterine rupture - although have also read that this is rubbish)
• What interventions raise the risk of rupture and by how much ?
• Am I better off going straight for an ELCS ?!

Would welcome your views!

Can you labour in water?i tried for a vbac (ended up with a c section). My hospital allow water births even for vbac...most don't but worth asking if you're allowed in the pool.

If you are going to have CFM, does the hospital have any wireless (I think they might be called telemetric) monitors? I had one of these and it made a world of difference, but the hospital was not keen on volunteering them! If you are serious about your last question you could ask about the VBAC success rate at your hospital (if it's 1% then the answer is probably yes ).

I'm surprised no one has told you off yet for using the words "allow" and "requirement" - seriously though, it's worth remembering that although the hospital can recommend things such as CFM (possibly very strongly recommend!), they can't force you to do anything. I agreed to a cannula and CFM because I wasn't strongly averse to either and also had pre-eclampsia, so was very high risk, but there are lots of people around on MN who have refused them.

Thanks everyone. I was expecting somebody to tell me off for coming across as so compliant ! Am going along this morning to see what the hospital's position is on most of the key points and intend taking these away and chewing over them before having a "negotiation" with my consultant next week. Appreciate the pointers though, would never have thought to ask about the water option in particular.