"Support for imminent VBACers" thread?

[pendulum]

Hi there,
I am 38 weeks today and planning a VBAC after my el CS for breech.

I haven't spent much time on the ante natal threads because I couldn't keep up with them! But now I am on mat leave and due date is approaching I would love to chat to anyone else hoping for a VBAC in the near future.

Is there anyone else out there, or another thread I can join? (Am just heading to docs to check baby position but will log in again later!)

Thanks
p xx

is there anyway that if you go over 38 weeks, you could have daily monitoring , or even be kept in until you deliver or have a c.s , to give yourself the most chance of a VBA2C? ultimately it is your decision, but not one to be taken lightly, and i agree that you should get some stats and do research of your own.. you might be being told worst case scenario only...

She did say that if I decide not to have a cs there will be extra and more regular monitoring, she had to look into it herself to see what to do, normally people with these results have a CS or are induced, but with me being a VBA2C on top of the results it makes it a lot harder.

I do believe she'll do her best for me though, which is important, unlike my consultant with DS, I trust her and she said she is my consultant, not my boss, it is my pregnancy and I am in charge, she is there to guide me and help make sure me and the baby are ok, which reassured me. I don't think she was too impressed with my prev cons when I explained how I felt 'forced' into my last cs and that I wasn't given the option of VBAC.

well, it sounds like you are going to get the best help then, and if you trust her, that is great, beacsue whatever happens, you are not going to have the same feeling of loss of control, regret and being forced into something....

Definitely, I know if I do have a CS (which is looking more and more likely) that it will have been 'taken away from me' by the course of nature rather than some stuffy consultant.

I also know that I'd be mroe likely to get my CS as I ask to have it to try an dease the pain of it for me. She knows about my previous birth trauma and PND so said that it's important I'm happy with whatever decision ends up being made.

VS - I hope you get your VBAC

As you may know I was desperate for a VBAC after an em c/s first time round, and ended up with an el c/s with DS in the end, at 10days overdue, for a number of reasons I won't bore you with, suffice to say nature definitely conspired against my VBAC plans

However I just wanted to say it makes a HUGE difference afterwards knowing that YOU made the decision & that all other options had been exhausted, so if you do end up with another c/s (and hopefully you won't) hopefully it will be the same for you. DS is now almost 8wks & it really doesn't matter to me any more (and I never thought I'd say that when I was pregnant) - yes I'll mourn the loss of experience I'll never have (DS is my last) but I feel WAY better about the whole thing than I would have predicted.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for you though

I remember your birth announcement Besty and I honestly think in that situation I could cope, having to have a CS is different to being advised IMO.

I'm really confused about it now, it would be so easy to just say 'Ok, book me in' (and I'd get to see baby sooner ) but something inside me is saying, 'Don't, just don't'. I'm starting to feel really selfish about it all now though, DP is petrified that our baby will die, as the few minutes he was in with me and the cons he heard her mutter about stillbirth, his mum just doesn't seem to get it(why would she, she had two natural births!), and obviously is worried about both me and her first grnadchild and has said to me that surely I should just have a CS if it's 'safer' etc

I'm beginning to feel really selfish

there are risks with every single birth. the risk of stillbirth might well be greater due to your condition, and you need to make sure the information you have been given is correct. if the risk is 1 :500 it is a different proposition to 1 : 10. Very hard situation to be in, but you are absolutely not selfish for wanting to give birth vaginally, absolutely not. you are not going into this blind to the risks, you are taking it all on board. hence it is such a hard decision

If only I was seeing my cons sooner than the 15th, if I even see her personally then. I'm going to ask for exact statistics on the extra risks regarding my doppler results.

VS you aren't being selfish, as the wise Lulu says there are risks with every birth, people just tend to focus on the VBAC risks & conveniently forget about all the other risks...

You need to understand the risks specific to your circumstances to make the right decision for yo. I think only those who are aiming (or have aimed) for a VBAC understand the "need" for it, but we are not completely bloody stupid, it isn't VBAC at any cost . I know I tried everything to get my VBAC, but in the end I ran out of options without risking myself and/or the safe delivery of my DS, when it reached a level of risk I wasn't prepared to take it was game over.

BTW I found at the two hospital appts I had that by doing my homework, sticking to my guns & asking difficult questions I ended up seeing the consultant anyway, as the registrar couldn't answer my qu in one instance & wouldn't agree to a water birth at the other appt (the consultant did)

TBH, I would have thought, after the way I was treated by my cons once she realised just how emotionally important it was to me and that I did know what I was talking about wrt risks etc, that she would be perfectly happy to tell me what she knows.

As I said to DP earlier, emotionally, there is no choice, emotionally my heart says hold out for the VBAC, but I'm not stupid, and if I can see all the risks and increases etc in a proepr format, i.e. stats and figures then I can make a logical and rational decision, rather than one that is purely emotional.

(He has also said if we get those stats and look at it proeprly then he is happy to stand by my to go full-term rather than wants me to have a CS, which he did previously)

VS, I've had my eye off the ball, why do they want to CS at 38wks?

Hope you are well

any other vbacers out there?

Hi -I am 39 weeks and going for an HBAC. I had a terrrible experience with my first labour. After hoping for a homebirth, at 41 weeks my waters broke butI never went into natural labour. After two days I was induced and then discovered DS was back to back. Then followed an excrutiating 18 hours of very painful regular contractions, terrible midwifery (the worst bit) an epidural that did not work and complete failure to progress. I was 4 cm at my first internal and 4cm at my last internal! By that point I was more than happy to have a c-section.
This time I have changed hospitals and am with a decent one, have excellent community midwives who specialise in homebirth and a hospital happy for me to have an HBAC.
The only problem is I am really really nervous about a VBAC generally now it has come to it, and have mixed feelings about my HBAC. It is lucky my hospital won't consider elective section without medical reason, otherwise I think I would just bolt for the door and have have one.
Keep thinking something terrible is going to happen/I won't be able to cope with pain/ it will go on for days and I'll be too exhausted to push etc. To top it all the head is not engaged at all so babe keeps changing position and making me panic about another posterior experience which was hell.
Any advice or tips from anyone about managing my anxiety , managing VBAC, managing HBAC gratefully received.

hi there
do you have a doula ? a doula can be worth her weight in gold when you are anxious about a birth, especially after a bad first birth.

my DD was OP, and born OP and she was VBAC. long latent phase ( 15 hours ) very painful, but only 3 1/4 hours established labour, with gas and air, and pethidine and no tearing.

being upright, mobile and active for as long as i could manage was helpful, and it is for any labour.

your first birth might have gone the way it did partly due to position of the baby, the fear and the lack of care .. those things can stall or stop a labour. it sounds like your care this time is so much better !

are you scared about the same thing happenng again? can you put your finger on what it is that is making you so anxious?

if you know the baby is OP you can manage your labour differently, not lying on your back, using a birth ball. leaning over the back of the bed or sofa, keeping the weight off your back.. you will be able to eat and drink at home which can boost your energy which can help keep things going

Thanks lula.Luckily midwives are so brill it is like having doula. One has just been in fact and says the head is not engaged and babe is in LOT position. She said to bounce on the birthing ball to encourage him to come down and lots of upright and leaning forward action pre labour to help with position.
You are so right that the odds were not in my favour for a good labour last time and this time they are. Not only will I know so much more about what is happening but I will have much better care.
I think what is making me really anxious is the added home VBAC risk on top of normal labour risks. I know the risk is small but I have an irrational fear that something will go really badly wrong and I won't be able to get to hospital in time. Having said that I don't want to go to hospital either as it was so awful last time.
Also worried about going overdue and being induced or not. Can't bear the thought of being induced especially with a vbac.

Thanks for your advice about what to do if he is OP in labour. Shame noone told me that when i was in labour last time flat on my back strapped to a machine.

Hi Taichimum, your feelings are normal! Most, if not all, VBACers tend to have these wobbles in the last few weeks!

Enjoy the last few weeks of pg!!!

irrational fears are irrational, but still need addressing.. if your biggest fear is rupture and not getting to the hospital in time, then you need to talk through these fears with teh MW......

of course, being in hospital for a VBAC won;t prevent a rupture...

there are risks , but if you have talked it through , the medical staff are being supportive and there is no reason why labour would go the same way again, then why not?

DaisyMoo and Kittywise have both had HBACs, and found it very positive

tut tut Klaw

Basically, I have low blood flow from my placenta, I have all the numbers and things from my doppler readings if they'd mean anything to you but I won't bother yet just incase!

The cons says that with this condition the risk of still birth increases after 38 weeks and apparently because of these results I am at higher risk of either pre-elcampsia or IUGR, but I havent seen her since, I have seen other doctors and midwives who are all skirting around the issue of delivery once they see the 'THE PATIENT HAS EXPRESSED HER WISHES FOR A VBAC WHICH I DO NOT THINK WILL BE SUCCESSFUL AND HAVE ADVISED EHR AGAINST BUT WE WILL CONTNUE TO SUPPORT HER IN THE WAY SHE WANTS' message that she scrawled across my notes Now all they say is 'so...we'll see you in two weeks...method of delivery will be discussed at 38weeks...' and let me leave.

So far, baby is growing perfectly fine, my blood pressure is stable at around 110/60, so definitely not high!

Also, the cons thinks it is something that is likely to have happened in both my previous pregnancies (ie I'm crap at making placentas!) which is why I ahd abruption at 32 weeks with DD, but DS was born at 39weeks by el cs and weighed 8lb 7.5oz, with absolutely no problems, so chances are this baby could be the same, just that this time round they have results from tests that werent done with DS to say the risk is higher.

I'm 31 weeks now though, and touchwood, there have been no real problems so if it all carries on smoothly like this I shouldnt have too much pressure against my VBAC.

Taichimum, are the hospital willing to induce you after a previous CS?

VS, I don't know enough about your kind of situation to offer any other words of wisdom other than my usual firm beleif in trusting your gut instincts. DS is fine and, as you say, may have had the same results if they'd tested like this time, or not....

If it was me, I'd be wanting more of an expectant management approach once I got to 38 weeks or so, so that placental function was checked regularly and a decision made to wait, or elCS, based on the findings.. rather than automatic elCS, iyswim?

It's a toughie, as none of us would risk our baby or our own health, but then most VBACers don't intend to risk our baby or health by blindly following protocols either...

Stay strong, listen to baby and your body, I'm sure you'll make the right decisions for you. And you have us to talk options over with.

Thats basically what I've said klaw, I wont have a cs unless they can prove there is a problem, I have scans every two weeks and bloods etc so I know everything is fine atm.

Hi VS - I think it was you who gave me a link to the Green-top Guideline and I used it very successfully in a consultant appointment recently, so thank you. Am I right in thinking you'll be going to the JR? I also had that doppler scan that you mention and luckily the results were okay. I'm planning a HBA2C and I'm 32 wks at the moment.

Yes, I'm at the JR too, due the 9th April, are you at silver star now then? Or the normal consultants?

Normal consultants (I think... ). Only had to go up to Silver Star to do the doppler scan. Had fab fab appointment with Mr Impey himself and he was talking about substantial increase in UR risk after more than 1 CS. I mentioned the green-top guideline, he didn't believe me, I took it out, he read it and then confessed he was feeling red-faced about the fact that he didn't know the increase wasn't significant at all. He agreed that I had a much better chance of having a VBAC if I stayed at home , he agreed the risk was very tiny and wished me luck. They want to see me at 36wks just to check baby position but my cmw is even happy to go ahead with the hb even if baby is breech (even more !)