Books for VBAC

[MrsHappy]

I am aiming to have a VBAC in October. Are there any books or CDs you would recommend to help me prepare? I don't want to set unrealistic expectations (so nothing that suggests every woman should have an orgasmic birth, please! (although, hey, if you had one, well done you!)) but want to feel properly prepared and have some strategies to deal with issues that might arise.

My midwife has suggested "Birthing from Within" by Pam England. Has anyone read this? Was it helpful?

Many thanks

The AIMS booklet is really good:
www.aims.org.uk/ and then click on Publications on the left hand side and scroll down to VBAC.
Good luck

Thanks sunshinedoula. I'll check that out.

Hi- also vaginal birth after caesarean by Debbie Chippingham-Derrick et al is good, AIMS 'Am I Allowed' might come in handy if you don't want any 'high risk' restrictions put on you. I also found the natal hypnotherapy cd set useful (when I had chance with a toddler!) Hope that helps, here in Coventry we have set up a birth choices after caesarean support group as there seem to be loads of vbac mums around at the mo. I had a great second birth at home after a really crappy induced labour with section ending first time- so I truely wish you all the best! Rachel xx

Thanks Rachel. I have ordered a hypnotherapy CD set. I'm not sure about it but it will give me a chance to lounge about relaxing (when my 2 year old allows!).

It's great to hear that you managed to have a successful VBAC. I am planning a hospital birth, but know that the local hospital's protocols mean CFM, time limits on the second stage etc. So I have hired a private midwife and only plan on transferring late in labour (or if things start to go wrong, of course). Just want to be prepared too!

The VBAC Handbook by Helen Churchill and Wendy Savage - concise, informatative, only published last year, and written for the UK. So many of the great birth books are American and whilst I have nothing against Americans as a whole, their medical system is so different to ours and it can be a pain to know what's relevant and what isn't.

If you hire a doula, she will undoubtedly have a library of books that she'll lend you for free too

I found this website v helpful. It also had good links to other sites.
Sorry, have no books to recommend, do all my reading on-line these days .

FWIW, VBAC with DS3 was my best birth experience yet (and I am not unhappy about the other 2 either).

Hope you get the delivery you want .

Thank you. I have ordered the VBAC handbook. I'm hoping it will have lots of useful facts I can use to shut up my medical relatives who think I should take every intervention known to man...

Took some advice from this thread and bought some books from AIM: "Birth After Caesarean" and "Am I Allowed". I now feel totally empowered and everything seems so clear! At about 28 weeks my midwife was horrified to hear I was considering a WBAC. 3 weeks later she was still very anti and dismissive of anything other than medical intervention so brought my last consultant's appointment forward which will be a week on Thursday. I thought I'd better be fully prepared so quickly did LOADS of research, and I'm so glad I did. I now don't need his approval (although he might yet give it...?!) because if they don't agree to a VWBAC, it will be a HBAC. Simple!

Well, having done all that research I was in a fantasic frame of mind when I met the consultant, and he agreed to a waterbirth within the MLU at the local hospital.
If I hadn't done the research I know he would have bamboozled me with statistics, but I just quoted them right back at him.
Just over 3 weeks to go...

Brilliant Gingersuz.

I have a meeting with my consultant ("or someone in her team") in a couple of weeks and am pushing for the same. Am also prepared to mention HBAC, especially as I have hired a private midwife (won't be mentioning that though!). It's great to hear that you've managed to get what you want - gives me hope.