Does anyone have experience of having a HBAC?

[Touslesfromages]

I'm 36 weeks pregnant with my second and looking to see if anyone has any advice or experience of having a VBAC at home.

My first was born by ELCS at 36 weeks due to growth issues and also because she was breech. I hated the c-section and being in hospital afterwards, so I'm really keen to avoid the experience again if I can. However, so far my consultant has been really unsupportive of the idea of a HBAC. This puts me in the awkward position of feeling uneasy about all my options for labour.

I know that ultimately the choice is mine, and my previous c-section was almost exactly 7 years ago so I'm not too worried about the risk of scar rupture, but it just feels a bit scary going against the advice of the doctors. If anyone has any advice or is willing to share their experiences of giving birth at home after a c-section I'd really appreciate it!

I haven’t had a HBAC but I did have a successful home birth with my first baby just yesterday!! 😂 so very fresh in my mind.

I’d say a lot depends on the service in your area, I was under joint consultant/midwife care because of existing medical conditions but the nhs home birth team in my area is very well established and functions fairly independently to the general system of community midwives. Is there a specific Homebirth midwife you could talk to?

As my pregnancy progressed the option of a home birth outside of guidance was always discussed eg. When I had a test for GD or when discussing what would happen if baby went overdue. It was really helpful to be able to talk this through with the midwives who actually attend the births and have lots of experience about home births in different scenarios.

I would say though that I received less monitoring than expected, I didn’t mind as there hadn’t been any indicators of distress and my pregnancy was low risk. The second part of my labour progressed really quickly for a first birth and there was quite a race for the midwives to get here! I think baby’s heartbeat was only listened to twice before he was out as it was just me and DH for most of it.

In the run up to things I was told that at home a normal amount of monitoring was every 15 minutes to start with and every 5 minutes during the pushing stage. Which if I was doing a HBAC would probably have felt more important for my peace of mind.

Wow, congratulations @PinkPlantCase and thank you for taking the time to reply! That sounds like a wonderful first birth experience, I hope you and baby are both doing well

I haven't heard of a specific homebirth midwife team, but that's certainly something I can look into, thank you. It's frustrating as I think both the midwives and consultants assume I'll have another ELCS because I've had one in the past, so I've really had to stamp my feet a bit to get heard!

Thankfully, I saw the midwife today who was much more supportive than the consultant and has agreed to come round and do a home birth assessment next week. Although, baby seems very firmly breech (just like his big sister was), which might throw a bit of a spanner in the works if he doesn't turn soon!

Ooh good luck with this, I never even considered HBAC as an option tbh! My consultants seem very wary of even letting me try VBAC and keep asking if I don't just want another section!

@JewelGarden how long ago was your first section? It's so frustrating that women's options aren't fully explained to them and it's just assumed that having one c-section means you will have any subsequent babies the same way. I've done a lot of research about the different birth options and all of the risks/benefits so I'm quite comfortable with the idea of a HBAC. But when I had my booking appointment and first call with the consultant I had the same experience as you. Definitely look into your options and the risks if HBAC is something you'd like to consider!

Hope your Homebirth assessment goes well and that bub does turn! Glad you managed to get through to a midwife to talk things over x

@Touslesfromages it's a tricky one isn't it. I really want a VBAC due in October but consultant has said she really wouldn't advise they like the gap to be minimum 24 months since a section and I will only be 15months past mine so scar rupture risk is much higher and I only got to 4cm after 26 hours so I'm trying to just tell myself the chance of a successful VBAC is low so I would rather go for a planned section and be calm and controlled than risk a VBAC and it end like the last one when I will have another baby at home to look after

I had an elcs due to unstable lie. Baby would engage then flip breech at 40+ weeks and would love an hbac next time. I did have a vaginal induced birth with ventouse 2.5 years before.

I did a meet the matron for some advice and she said I was fine for an hbac next time. Also I was meant to have a homebirth and they said they would accept me again but to be mindful of how far away the hospital is in case of transfer. I'm feeling uneasy too but I guess if you and baby are low risk otherwise and the midwives feel comfortable then on balance it's ok.

Look up chilled mama, she has compiled all the evidence on risks for hbac which can help you feel informed.

Any midwives on here may have more advice hopefully x