How does VBAC differ from a regular birth?

[w3w3]

Just a question for everyone who's had a VBAC - what can I expect? My caesarian 3 weeks ago was due to the baby facing sideways when I was 10cm and wouldn't come out. Feeling a bit emotional as we were planning for a large family and this was my first and went completely wrong.

1. Does being VBAC automatically make you high risk? Do you need constant monitoring?
2. Can you have a water birth?
3. Will it be quicker than first labour?
4. How long does the NHS recommend to wait from the caesarian before getting pregnant again to be considered for a VBAC?
5. How did your personal experience go? Anything else I should know?

Thank you

I can't answer all your questions as I had 6 years between my babies but I tried for a vbac. They treated it as a normal labour other than more monitoring of the babies heartbeat using a ctg during labour. For this reason I wasn't allowed a water birth.

Maybe ask for a birth debrief with a maternity consultant and ask them all these questions there as they will want to help you

I've not had a VBAC, but I am hoping to have one in the upcoming weeks.

• VBAC makes it a higher risk labour. You may be consultant led rather than midwife led (I was going to be consultant led anyway). They recommended delivery on labour ward rather than midwife led unit or homebirth due to the (very small) risk of uterine rupture. But that is still your choice! It is recommended to have continuous monitoring, due to the uterine rupture risk and not all women present with classic symptoms (so the first sign may be distress on the monitor)
• I am allowed to have a water birth with portable monitoring
• since you got to 10cm I imagine your second delivery would be quicker? Anyone who doesn't actively labour, the VBAC is comparable to a first labour (so my midwife tells me)
• I was recommended to wait 12-18 months before trying for my second, but I couldn't find anything officially. I was happy to wait this long. I had read (somewhere) that a gap of around 3 years gives you the best chance of VBAC rather than larger or smaller age gaps. This may be negligible, though!

Hope that helps. P.S. I felt very emotional about my first birth for a long time. If you feel able to ask for a debrief, I think it does help a lot of mum's process their grief and trauma. Also, it's OK to be irritated when people say "you and baby got here safely and that's the main thing". That was parroted so much to me and I hated it, and I wish I'd given myself the grace to feel justified in grieving what had happened a bit rather then just seeing the "silver lining". Congratulations on the little one

Here for the answers as I had an EMCS recently (for the exact same reason!)

I was told two years before getting pregnant again, not sure if method of delivery makes a difference.

One thing I would say is don’t assume that second time labour will be quicker / easier. That’s the case for a lot of people I know, but I had a straight forward vaginal delivery first time around and ended up with an EMCS after a 24 hour labour second time. Obviously this is more unusual, but I wish I hadn’t just assumed it would be quicker and easier as it was more shocking then when it wasn’t.

VBAC makes you high risk. You'll usually be consultant led. You can decline constant monitoring.

You can have a water birth, though the doctors might tell you that you can't!

Your second birth is usually quicker, particularly as you got to 10cm first time.

I was told I had to wait 2 years before ttc. I, however, fell pregnant when my first was 18 months old.

My first birth was a shit show and I had an emcs at 10cm after 33 hours. Second baby I'd booked an elcs, though I went back and forth on VBAC. I booked section for 40 weeks and was warned if I went into labour beforehand, it could be really quick.

I went into labour at 38+3 and I was at 9cm within 3 hours. I was given the option for a VBAC or section. Told me if I went natural, baby would be here quickly. I could tell this would be the case as I could feel him moving down. I still opted for the section regardless but did regret it after!

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