Birth Plan (as per the midwife & registrar)

[LuckySalem]

Ok so I've been told it's my choice but please can someone explain whether my choice is going to endanger my LO.

Had a rough birth with DD - planned HB turned into a ECS and I'm pretty sure I then had PND after (although unconfirmed)

So this time I wanted either HB or a hospital birth with as much time as home before as possible and no interference unless medically needed with quick discharge.

When I mentioned this to MW I got told I couldnt have that as it was dangerous. Apparently I have to:

Go into hospital as soon as labour starts.

Constant monitoring (on a bed as they have no monitors that I can walk about wearing)

Regular Checks on my "work" as my progression needs to be quite quick

Check out won't be arranged till I've spent at least 6 hours on the ward where baby can be checked.

This is all because of my scar. Basically DD was presenting with the wrong part of her head and she wasn't coping with the contractions (I'd been pushing for 45 mins before this was noticed and we went to hospital)
We had no complications after.

So by insisting that I do it my way what risk am I REALLY posing to my unborn?

They are saying this simply because you want to go for a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarian)? Or is there something else in the mix?

What will the age gap between your dcs be?

There's a lot of useful info on the Homebirth reference site.

Yeh its just cos I want a VBAC (I wanted a HB VBAC but that was a no lol)
There are no complications with the pregnancy other than measuring big which I did with DD but she came out at 6lbs 2oz (they dont seem to realise that I'm fat )

Gap should be 2.2 (ish)

Thanks for the link will look when DD in bed and I can concentrate

you can push for whatever birth you want and you can be advised by doctors and MWs what, in their opinion, is best

however, going into hospital as soon as labour starts will result in you ending up being sent home as you won't be admitted not in established labour

yes, regular or in fact constant monitoring is often advised for a VBAC, but there are signs of impending problems other than changes to the foetal heart rate

being at home, relaxed and moving around, listning to your body and working with it, will IMO and IME be a lot more conducive to a VBAC

progression is often timed for a VBAC, e.g 6 hours to get to fully dilated or 1 hour to push .. BUT you can ask that as long as baby is ok and oyu are ok, time constraints are not rigidly adhered to
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there is nothing that i can see from your proposed birth plan that would be dangerous, as long as you changed your plan should things not be going well, and i would speak to the supervisor of midwives re your lack of support for a VBAC and see a differnt midwife

www.aims.org is a great site for help with this sort of thing

yes, you have a scar on your uterus which carries some extra risk, but not a ridicolous risk and not one that warrants this rigid approach

lucky ask to see the head midwife or a consultant who is sympathetic to VBACs. All these procedures are based on recommendations from risk analysis of scar rupture, but IMO probably predispose you to another CS. They will be able to look over your notes from the last birth and decide whether the complications are likely to happen again or were potentially a one-off.

My community midwife referred me to see the consultant midwife at 36 weeks when I expressed concern at a highly medicalised birth, and she was ace. (see my thread here). So I'm hopefully looking forward to a nice intervention-free waterbirth with this LO, if it cooperates and initiates labour anytime soon!!! (40+3 and waiting.....)

Good luck.

Call the hospital when labour starts to see when you should go in.

For the monitoring - they must have some mobile monitors - check with another mw. If the don't then some monitoring for a while to see how things are.

Say you want to be mobile & upright.

6 hrs isn't long & you'll be home soon!

Good luck

Grrr - just wrote a huge msg and it neva posted. Will try again.

Lulu - Thank you for your info. I'm quite happy to change my birth plan should the need arise but I just wanted to make sure that what I wanted to do wasn't dangerous and pigheaded.
What are the other signs just so I can tell them if they start questioning me.
Thanks for the link - will look at that one too when DD is in bed.

hobnob - that's my problem. I feel that if I am made to lie on a bed all the time i'll end up with more pain relief than last time (only G&A) and probably another CS (same as with the timing on the actual birth - I was full dialated within 6 hrs last time so will prob be less this time but don't want that worry)

mybox - My problem with the 6 hours is prob from my experience with DD. Left DD out of reach while I had a cathetar and drip and didn't come when buzzed./

you need more than mumsnet to make an informed decision although lulumama (amongst others) knows her stuff. I read up (www.vbac.com has some good links and info) and decided to stay at home as long as possible, then go to hosp and refuse cfm and laboured on my side where I felt comfy. It's really up to you what you do - apart from things like using their facilities such as pool which they can say no to. It won't be worded that way, but there is nothing you 'have' to do. i had a successful vbac - hour and a half in hospital before birth - and went on to have hbac with the next one. There are risks but also benefits to each decision you take eg refusing cfm means they have to monitor you with handheld more often and actually look at the results. There is no need to enter into a fight with the hosp over your wishes, read up, decide what you want to do and then tell them. repeat as required
highly recommed a doula btw