A question for those of you who have had a vbac: how were your subsequent births?

[franke]

Just interested really. I had a straightforward vbac 3 years ago. First birth was cs after a long labour about 2 years before that. After my vbac I just assumed that I was back on course and any subsequent births would be 'normal'. I'm now pg again and starting to think about how it's all going to go. Would like to hear stories of birth after vbac. Anyone?

I had a VBA2C and 21 months later had another, it was great amazing etc . Completely natural birth with me delivering on my knees by bed, no cfm here.

I did go very overdue as it is unwise to be induced due to added pressure on the scar.

I wish that I were younger and less tired, I would have more, but I'm not so we are stopping now

Good Luck with your next vbac, your body has proved you can birth.

Thanks Boogalooblue. My, you must be a determined lady!

I thought I was too old and tired to go for another, and now here I am doing it all again

Well you've still got a scar on your uterus so I'm afraid that the women I know of find that they still have to fight for what they want.

Anecdotally they're no less scared and apprehensive the next time but do have a stronger sense of faith in their bodies.

I haven't had a birth after VBAC myself as we have too many other issues to finalise first, However I am getting desperate as I am now closer to 41 than 40 but I plan a HWBAC next time!

vbac in hosp first time round but for second vbac i went for hbac, consultants none too impressed though. i didn't realise it would be a big deal as i'd already had one vbac but when i did the hosp tour and asked about the pool i was told vbaccers couldn't use it, had to have cfm etc etc yawn. so stayed home instead it was great. i wasn't remotely worried about scar rupture either but was very uptight about ending up with em c section again so some ghosts are not laid to rest. it was all fab though and had great hb in the end

Have to agree that the worry over having a section is definitely still with you .

I was terrified that my last birth would end in a section, the relief when she was finally born was amazing - I definitely ended on a high .

Yep and the constant battle with the meds never goes away

Oh dear, it never occured to me I'd have to do battle with the meds again. Not that it was so bad last time - a doctor whom I'd never met before took one look at my notes and 'strongly advised' me to have another cs. It was quite amusing to see her visibly shrink before me as I 'discussed' the subject quite rigorously with her! After that it was plain sailing - no cfm, water birth if I wanted it etc etc. I found that the attitude of the midwives was completely different to that of the litigation conscious meds. (I'm in Germany by the way)

Well done morocco on your hbac

Franke - You don't have to battle with the meds if you don't want to - If you're fit and well, just don't go to the consultant - I'm on my 3 rd HBAC in january and each time the consultant has made appointments for me and each time I've called them up and respectfully declined on the grounds that i have nothing I need to see them for as I will only be going near the hospital if i need to transfer
What are they gonna do? have the police drag you to an appointment?
You will have to still go through all the midwives meeting stuff, If you plan a homebirth (even if you don't really want one) they should come to your house, much easier to deal with than in clinic with a reg just down the corridor.
Lisa X

Thanks jamila. I'm in Germany and the system is slightly different here - it's actually quite easy to avoid the medical bigwigs and stick with your midwife of choice throughout pregnancy. So I'm not too worried really but I had just forgotten that women who have had a cs are seen as walking cs scars waiting to rupture from then on. They're not big on homebirth over here and I'm not bothered enough to make an issue out of it. Although if I didn't happen to make it to the hospital on time......

I take it from your post that you've had 3 straightforward births since your cs - that's really impressive and very heartening.

I've had 2 good births since my C/S Franke - the 3rd is yet to come,but they've got easier each time so no real worries for this one either! It would probably have been very different howevr if I'd been in hospital with the clock ticking and people hovering wanting to do VE's etc - DS2 turned out to have been brow presenting , but being able to move around and not having my waters broken meant I could turn him to a good position(didn't know that was what i was doing, but after practically hanging from the ceiling, everything seemed to get moving )and DD was a very long labour(or a very short one if I'd not noticed the very early CTX) 16 hours with about 5 painful contractions ,3 to start with and 2 to finish with -the rest of the time I felt a total fraud,just relaxing and waiting! If this one's somewhere in between I won't mind too much
Lisa X