To vbac or not to vbac

[brushlaptop]

First baby was c section due to being in breech position. Never planned to have a c section but had a positive experience. I'm not deciding on whether to vbac or not. Primary concern is recovery time whilst looking after my 1st who will be 22 months then. Does anyone have any positive/negative experiences of vbac?

I am *now deciding not I'm not deciding!

I had a VBAC after a breech c-section too!

Unfortunately after about 15 hours of labour, the vbac failed (I wasn't dilating at all), even got some oxytocin to try speed it up and ended up with an epidural too.

Monitoring was very close during the entire labour, baby was getting slightly distressed towards the end and it was obvious that things were not progressing so I ended up with another section. I am glad I attempted it though and I don't regret it. It''s just a shame I had 15 hours of labour before the section and I was totally wrecked, that's the risk you take isn't it!

I also had a 2 year old at home so I made the most of my situation and was lucky enough to get a private room in the hospital for 5 nights. It was vital for me to get that time to recover before going home to the family, I'd recommend that if you can.

@MaraScottie thank you very much for that, yes I guess that is the risk. I suppose with a natural birth it can go so many ways, but with a c section you know what you will get 🤷‍♀️ good to know that you didn't regret it xx

Just to point out, at that stage I wasn't sure if I was going to go on and have a third child, and it was the idea of 3 sections that urged me to try the VBAC. My consultant wasn't pushing me either way, and was pretty realistic about the fairly good chance the VBAC would have failed anyway - he just said 'sure give it a shot!

I don't think there's a wrong answer here, depending on your circumstances, but it is a fact that recovery from a vaginal birth is often faster. Best of luck and congratulations :)

I went for a vbac and ended up with a section. Same issue both times ( waters had gone but cervix wasn't dilating) and broadly similar experiences in that I was completely exhausted after such a long time of stop start contractions. Recovery hard. Still gutted that I didn't get my vbac but that's just a weird thing I have about wanting to experience a vaginal birth. Ive heard a planned section is easier to recover from and can be a positive experience. Good luck!

I had an emergency c-section with my first as she was undiagnosed breech (discovered whilst I was in labour). I went on and had a VBAC two years later and although being a long labour, it was completely straight forward.
I am now pregnant again and planning another VBAC if possible (waiting to find out if my low-lying placenta has moved!). I'm really keen to have another VBAC as for me there was no comparison with the recovery. I found the recovery from a c-section really tough and would like to avoid going through that again if I can!

My experience of section was dreadful and some complications that followed only made it worse, spent weeks in pain and took ages to get back to normal. VBAC was really straightforward, quick labour and we went home the same day.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences :) think I will go for the vbac, I could end up with another section but will give it a go for a shorter recovery! Does it really hurt? Did you have an epidural?

@brushlaptop I had a successful vbac with my third baby. In fact it was the quickest and easiest birth of them all. I didn't have time for any pain relief and my active labour lasted less than half an hour. Like you I had a c section due to baby being breech. I did have a vaginal birth with my first, so had a higher chance at a successful vbac.. I think as long as you're okay with the fact that you could end up with another csection, it will be ok. Some people will regret not going straight for the csection in case the vbac fails. I had prepared myself with that possibility. In my case I would have regretted not trying.

@brushlaptop when are you due op I'm trying to make this decision too. Think I'm swaying for a VBAC but praying it won't be traumatic

I tried vbac after an emergency c section.
I ended up with a c section, but I'm glad I gave vbac a go.

Successful VBAC on second child. Recovery from normal delivery definitely made things easier post natal for me. Labour was long and slow but good overall.

Had an EMCS due to breech baby. Didn't hesitate with 2nd child to have a scheduled section. No way I'd VBAC due to risk of haemorrhage.

Had a successful VBAC and epidural was key to keeping calm and knowing I could go to csection if things went bad.

I had a CS first time for failure to progress at 7cm. DS was too big to exit and they told DP I wasn’t big enough to get a baby out the normal way when they were dragging DS out the sunroof, it was a tight fit!

I booked a CS for dd, got the date of 39+1, had an unplanned vbac at 38+2. It was a long labour with 2 hours of pushing but unassisted and straight forward. Recovery was really easy, even though I had an episiotomy and stitches. In the middle of pushing I would have happily swapped for a CS though!

I had a VBAC after my first which was an emergency. Was such a much better experience and I still can't believe I drove at one week. The issue for me was a retained placenta with number two which is common after a section but no one ever said and I didn't read it anywhere. Then it nearly went badly wrong with the next one. Age gap was 28 months and 22 months.

I had an emergency section as DD was back to back and got stuck. When she was 22 months I opted for a planned section with DS as the hospital couldn't offer continuous fetal heart monitoring underwater and I didn't want to vbac out of water.

Glad I did, DS was massive and we still had delayed cord clamping in the operating theatre.

My close friend went for a vbac and suffered a placental abruption and previous scar rupture. We nearly lost her and her child suffered a hypoxic brain injury. This is not a story to scare, more being informed of both sides of the coin, albeit hers was a very rare combination of events. I think it is good to give it a go if you really want to but dont hesitate to go for the c-section either.

Meant to say my recovery from the planned section was so much faster than from the crash section. Plus I haemorrhaged badly with the emergency section which made things harder.

Good experience of VBAC here. #1 was EMCS (waters broke, nothing happened, got pessary, nothing happened, got hammered with syntocin then my cervix eventually got going after many hours but the baby swerved to dodge the exit and that was that). Section was fine and pretty uneventful though not being able to drive is a bollix and I worried about adhesions though all was fine.

After a lot of thought, had a go at VBAC for the second one. I knew I only wanted two children so that wasn't a factor but I decided to give it a go. I went past my due date again but this time was officially old (40 years and a little bit) so docs were keen for me not to go too far for so had a sweep, nothing happened, got a Foley cath and ARM, nothing happened, got syntocin again and after the baby had thrown more headbutts at my cervix than an Old Firm bar fight, over the course of hours and hours, the bastarding thing grudgingly relented, millimetre by millimetre. When it finally dilated enough, 8lb 6oz of pent up angry baby bolted for the outside world, resulting in a tear though not 3rd degree, and the midwife did a beautiful job of sticking me back together. Healed quickly too (C section healed uneventfully too but I could still kind of feel it over a year later...had completely forgotten about my VBAC sutures a month after the birth). Monitoring was excellent both times, I had faith that they would have picked up uterine scar rupture really quickly during the second labour if it had happened. Didn't need a urinary catheter with the VBAC so that was a plus, and home the next day ( would have been same day if I'd really wanted). Both were good birth experiences really.

Surely the risk of haemorrhage is higher with a section @Susannahmoody ?

I see that your first will be rising 2 by then. Another argument for VBAC; mine was 3 and a bit and I thought jeez imagine if she was 2 and I'd had a section and was having to hoik her about into the carseat and whatnot.

@powershowerforanhour mines gunna be 16months old and this type thing really concerns me about c section lifting in car, cot, high chair, bath! I think I need to go for a VBAC and hope for the best

I had an emergency section with DS1 and an elective with DS2. Recovered from both fine although much more quickly after the elective.

I think it's one of those things where there isn't a right answer to be honest, there are pros and cons to both options.

I found this quite useful when I was weighing up my options:

www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/gtg_45.pdf

There is a risk/benefit comparison table on page 10 which I found helpful.

Thanks @Sunshinegirl82 will read now