Home Birth VBAC?

[lilimama]

I had an unplanned C-Section 6 weeks ago.

In the Netherlands, I am required to go to hospital for any subsequent births due to risk of rupture, which I understand is very low but very serious, if it occurs.

I feel very sad that I will never be able to have the home water birth which I so badly wanted.

What happens in Britain? Can a woman try for a home birth VBAC?

I am trying to come to terms with my birth experience but the truth is that I feel angry, sad and cheated out of an experience which I could have had, under different circumstances.....

but that is another post....

I would like to know if it is common, or possible, in Britain, for a woman to labour at home (VBAC) and if things are going well, to stay at home for the delivery.

If not, do people take their birth pool to the hospital and deliver in water there, VBAC? and is it possible to not have the baby washed and scrubbed and poked at and dressed under such conditions?

These questions kept me awake during the night and I would love to hear other's experiences and wisdoms.

Many thanks

Hi lilimama - sorry to hear that you are upset by your birth experience. But congratulations on the birth of your baby!

There are some posters on mumsnet who have had home VBACs, or attempted a home VBAC, they may see this thread if you keep it bumped up!

I live in Belgium and I don't think it's possible to have a home vbac here.

If you want to start a thread specifically about your birth experience, then do so, you may get some good advice.

Sorry to hear about your experiences at your first birth six weeks ago. Something very similar happened to me.

I'm in the UK and am currently looking into the possibility of an HBAC. My mw has said that they will do HBAC's and she has done them before and is not overly worried about it but that the hospital will always advise me to give birth in hospital because of the risk of scar rupture. They will do home births and also waterbirths if that is what you really want. However, they will want you to meet with a senior mw to discuss all the implications of this decision. Hope that makes sense.

I had a VBAC, and although i delivered in hospital, I stayed at home until my contractions were 3 minutes apart. that made a big difference to me. If i had known then what i know now, i would have booked a homebirth !

women can and do have home VBACs, water is great for VBAC as it supports the uterus

hospitals do have birth pools, but might have one or two, some wil allow you to bring your own pool.. however, not all hospitals are keen on waterbirth for VBAC as they prefer to monitor constantly.

baby does not have be washed and poked and dressed as soon as he / she is born, regardless of mode of delivery

if money was no object and i was in your shoes, i would have a private midwife and a homebirth in a birth pool!

are there private midwives in the netherlands?

I am sorry that this is still playing on your mind. have you been 'debriefed' by anyoen?

Hi there

Thanks for your helpful messages.

I did have a private midwife (an avid Ina May follower) and water birth specialist and unfortunately I feel that this is/was the problem.

I'm still working through the experience so nothing I say is hard and fast but I'm currently feeling like it's exactly this avid attidute, and both my and her huge and total investment in our ideology ( I was naive and perhaps she was just thoroughly expectant) that avoided the possibility that there was a real threat to natural birth at the point where I had been in established labour for more than 24 hours at home, no pain relief except the water, and my body was running out of energy to contract sufficiently. My waters were not broken, as when I asked her she communicated extreme reluctance and said that she didn't believe in breaking waters as it is an intervention and she avoids any interventions at any cost. We then went to the hospital, where my waters were broken and I was given an oxytocin drip and the staff asked her why she hadn't broken my waters. She admitted to me later that she regretted that she hadn't and didn't really know why she didn't try this befor deciding on the hospital, knowing that we would have the oxytocin.

I am left feeling that her ideology for all lightness and 'head' and not much real work/coaching/intelligent choice etc.

I would hesitate to request such a 'far out' approach again, as I felt all it boiled down to was an ungrounded and somewhat immature approach to a potentially life threatening situation which has (perhaps at least partially) contributed to, however much I try to look at it differently, in severe depression and trauma.

And yet, I'm still wanting to do it again, at home, because I worry about what the hospital environment will do to my contractions, having experienced a stalled labour first time around.

It's a little early to be thinking about doing it again anyway. Perhaps it's just part of the healing process to think that it might be possible again, hence the research.

It seems that no midwife, independent or not will support a home birth after CSection in the NLands. the one I had, said she would absolutley not support a home VBAC as the very small risk is so absolutely dangerous and she's a radical as they get over here.

However, I could keep looking.....perhaps I'll find one.

Or perhaps I'll do it alone, in my own way and time. Ha! There's a thought.

Lili, I have had a second baby since my em cs. It was a hospital VBAC and very healing in its own way. I wouldn't rule this out if I were you. Im now expecting dc3 and am now tentatively dipping my toe in the water regarding an HBAC.

wow. it sounds like you have really been giving this some serious thought and attention.

i think there must be some middle ground between the birth you and your MW were contemplating and the one you ended up having

it is good she has talked honestly with you about not breaking your waters at home, and regretting that... i can understand from an Ina May perspective, why she did not, but going to hospital is a much bigger intervention.

no two labours and births are the same

even if you had a planned c.section next time, it would be a totally different experience to the one you had this time.

keep talking and thinking about it, we are all here to listen x

Sorry, got to go and can't type much at the moment but just wanted to let you know that I'm currently planning a homebirth after 2 CS and my NHS midwives are supportive, so it's definitely possible in the UK. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with your first birth. Here I am, blaming the breaking of my waters for my first CS. DD1 was a big baby and she wasn't in the best position when they broke my waters so she was then lacking the cushioning she needed to rotate and descend and that's why I think I failed to progress. So I can understand why your mw might have been reluctant to break your waters, but I can also understand why you feel this may have helped in your case.

Hi had two VBACs
Was encouraged to do so by the experience of a friend who had VBAC water birth at home
That was about twelve years ago
hopefully it can still be done
good luck, congratulations on being a mum

I'm planning a home VBAC later on this year.

I'm sorry you had a horrid experience. Is there any chance of a midwifery unit as an alternative for future pregnancies. Ironically in the UK (well in my area) I am allowed to have a homebirth, but the midwifery unit won't accept because I'm too high risk How nuts is that?

I am 41 weeks and mean't to be having a planned HBAC with pool, if the babe shows up in the next week. However, I have sympathetic and experienced home birth midwives and agreeable hospital and am in London near hospital. I am not sure this would be an option for women in more remote parts of the UK.

I know one person who had a water birth VBAC in the UK and even had a second VBAC at home in the US (I'm originally from the states) last year. Another friend in the UK had a water birth VBAC at home.

My IM delivers a lot of VBACers at home. It helps if you have support from the hospital consultant for your choice, and those that will support you do exist, although it's also fair to say you are likely meet some naysayers along the way. But they also can't STOP you from making that choice as well from a legal point of you - if you're dependent on NHS services to send midwives, they may not agree to it, I guess, in principle. So you might need to rely on another private midwife.

I know what you mean about the ideologies getting in the way - my IM is fab but I have had other friends who have had less positive experiences, in the sense that they did feel like like the ideology got in the way. But this can be avoided by interviewing a couple of them and then deciding who you're most comfortable with.

I remember your birth thread when you were just going into labour at XMAS time. I really hope you feel better soon.

Wow really interesting and helpful posts. Thankyou.
I need to try to find out what the groups are in Holland, the associations and whatnot, who can point me in the direction of midwives who might be interested in helping me. The standard reply when I enquire about HBAC here is that you absolutely have to go to hospital. I"m currenly researching what the "have to" means. Am I legally obliged? Surely not.... it's the midwives who have a law to follow then, presumably. And a further presumption is that the law somehow prohibits HBAC in midwifery here in NL. The shame is that because midwifery falls into two camps here in NL, medical indication, which means that you must go to a hospital for all your check ups and be under the care of a gynae/obs incl birth and which also means that you cannot give birth in the birthing centres attached to hospitals but in the hospital birthing rooms themselves, which are always hideous and the last place on earth to inspire a natural birth, god help us. The other camp is midwifery care but if you've had a CS you are not seen by the midwives.
Being the subborn person I am, I am sure there must be a way around this. Presumably law in UK does not prohibit VBAC/HBAC, in midwifery. Does anyone know about this in other countries?
many thanks ladies.

p.S My radical midwife's reason for not supporting me HBAc next time is that she can be "sued by everyone" if something goes wrong. I guess that can only happen if what she does is against the law....?