VBAC, WBAC and monitoring

[DomesticG0ddess]

Just wondering what stories people have about successful VBACs and also whether anyone has had a water birth after having a c-section last time? My midwife mentioned constant monitoring, and I didn't pursue it as am only 13+4, but the idea of being confined to the bed for the whole time is horrifying, and not going to work for me! I went to a yoga class today and the lady running it is a doula and said there is no reason why I can't have a water birth if it is a normal healthy pregnancy, though the midwife stated "no water birth" during her brief chat about VBAC.

I can't actually imagine it all happening naturally as it is (only based on lack of experience as had emergency c-section 3 years ago), and am willing to give it a go, but feel like it is starting out as a medical procedure in the first place, rather than a natural birth.

Well I am due imminently with DC3, and planning to attempt VBA2C, and as I have declined CFM, can go to Midwifery Led Unit of hospital, and will be able to use the pool if I wish (and no-one else has beaten me to it).

So it is possible, depending on hospital/consultant etc. Will let you know soon if I actually manage it.

I don't think CFM in itself automatically means being stuck on a bed. In fact my consultant in last pg went and got a set of leads and demonstrated that it didn't. Like you, however, I wanted to start from a presumption of normality - but the choice was left to me - consultant and midwifery team all supportive.

hello domestic i kinda want to follow your thread as i want answers too. i am exactly the same as you 13+4 i think as its my first scan tomorrow. i was also given an appointment at the hospital for a 2 hour talk about labour choices. they will answer all my questions. not sure if this is standard at all hospitals but i would ask if i were you. i have the leaflet here, it doesnt say anything about water births (which i also want). it says its reccomended baby is monitored all the time and you will have a cannula in back of your hand. this is what i had last time and had to stay on bed, but this leaflet says we can be mobile and its reccomended that we are too. i cant see how though if we are srapped to machines. see if you can get 1 of these appointments espesially if you are anything like me and is terrified about it but dont want c-section as 3yr old needs me too.

Thanks. The care here for VBACs has been passed onto midwives, rather than consultants, and I am the first VBAC that my midwife has experienced! So I am guessing that she will be erring on the side of caution in everything she advises? I have not been offered an app about labour choices, but I will bring this up at my 16 week app. pinchme what happened at your last birth? I have a 3 year old too.

mazzy, have just been reading your thread about students, will be very interested to hear your outcome and of course I hope it goes really well. How did they react to you refusing CFM? I have heard of people compromising where they are monitored for 20 mins out of every hour or something like that.

Enjoy your scan pinchme, let me know your due date - mine is 22 Oct.

I had a VBAC almost 9 months ago. I was flatly denied a water birth or access to the MW led section and told it would be CFM from the onset of established labour. In the end I went overdue and had to be induced by breaking my waters at 40+8. The MW disappeared to "finish off the previous lady" and have her tea break, and left me in the care of her student, a lovely girl who criticised CFM and said she preferred to watch the mother for natural signs of progression or otherwise.

Anyway, labour started literally minutes after my waters were broken and I walked around the room and bounced on the ball. The student was happy to let me do my own thing for about an hour but when it was obvious things were progressing quickly said it was time to have the monitor attached so I was asked to sit on the bed. They arranged the bed so I was sitting up and actually quite comfortable. My birth was very straightforward and I found the whole monitoring process not intrusive in the slightest, and actually really liked hearing the constant heartbeat. My whole labour was just under 4 and a half hours.

CFM wouldn't have been my choice either and I too was horrified at the thought of being strapped down. I considered going for an elective section because it appeared I was going to have a very medicalised birth anyway and not the blissful, water based birth I ideally wanted. It was fine though. I did my yoga breathing and managed with entonox and TENS and it felt actually pretty close to the birth I'd wanted.

I know exactly what you mean about not being able to visualise giving birth naturally. I remember watching the MWs closing the window, switching off my fan and putting nappies in the cot and it suddenly hit me that DD was actually going to be born in that room, very soon, and I wasn't going to be whisked off to theatre.

I went for a Vbac with DS2. I was on a monitor but had long wires so could walk around the bed, and bounce on a birthing ball. Could also disconnect to go to the toilet/have a break every now and then. It was monitoring, but not intrusive.

I then had a mobile epidural, and was monitored all through.

In fact I am glad 100% I had the monitoring, as without it DS2 would have died or been seriously brain damaged. His heart rate plummeted very suddenly, and never recovered - if it werent for being on the monitor at that exact moment he wouldnt have been rushed for a section. (In fact my friend wasnt monitored and that exact sitaution happened and her poor boy died the next day)

Not wishing to scare anyone, but to me monitoring has a place. My first DS was a section, because he got in trouble too.

Good luck

hello,
my 16 week dd was born vbac water birth in hospital and it was bloody brilliant!

I spoke to my consultant who said that asthe monitor was remote that he did not see any problem with a water birth.

after a long traumatic birth ending in cs with my son this was a great experience that left me on a real high.

all they do is strap a band round your belly - it is a little uncomfortable but you forget that once you are in the water - the releif was so good I did not even need gas and air and laboured for just four hours, the pool keep me very relaxed and allowed me to focus. meanwhile the mw does all the monitoring away from you so there is no beeping. because the machine is remote we did find i was a little restricted as some positions meant the signal did not carry, but i soon got very comfy - i did not have to get ou the pool to give birth as some people say you will will a vbac. and dd was born in the water and straight nto my arms

i'm sure not every experience was like mine but if you can get one, do so. a water birth after the trauma of a section was a great thing for me and very empowering, making me aware I could do it by myself and that i was just unlucky with my last birth.

sorry to waffle, but yes water vbac is possible and a wonderful experience, the consultant was always on hand but (very wisely) just left things to me and my mw making it cozy and personal for me and dh.

hope this helps

just read smokin aces and must admit i liked the reassurance of being mnitored too

I had a failed VBAC 6 or so months ago. Hospital protocol was CFM etc, but after I declined it they agreed I could go to the MLU and have a WBAC. So far so good!

It didn't work out because DD2 suffered quite serious decellerations and I ended up with a CS. This was picked up because in the second stage the MW used a hand-held monitor to check on the baby after each contraction. So no CFM does not mean no monitoring (I didn't want no monitoring at all) and I felt my labour was pretty safe. Plus I gave it the best shot possible by being upright, relaxed, mobile etc.

Interesting points of view about monitoring. As I've had two sections I went to my consultant meeting presuming I would have no option re a VBAC, but the tide is really changing.

I didn't actually have to "refuse" monitoring - basically I was given 2 sets of options - midwifery led care with no CFM (but regular doppler monitoring and other obs)and possibility of water birth; or obstetric led care with or without CFM but in ultimately a more medicalised environment. As it is the MLU is 2 minutes across the corridor from the Delivery suite so, I find that quite reassuring.

I think maybe it depends on the monitoring equipment available?

I went to a VBAC information session at my local hospital (Frimley Park) and the midwife doing the talk said that they had recently got 2 wireless monitors (telemetry) and if you got one of those, and a pool was available, then a waterbirth was possible with a VBAC.

She also said that no-one could force you to do anything (cfm / canula / etc) and if you feel strongly about something you need to make sure that's what you ask for.

I'm going for a VBAC with DC2 hopefully and don't feel too strongly about the monitoring (by all accounts the wires are long so you aren't stuck on a bed and I'm not aiming for a waterbirth) but really, really don't want a canula inserted because I found that deeply unpleasant last time - especially after the op as it made it even more difficult to push yourself up into a sitting position!

Anyway. I am rambling.......

I just thought I'd chip in about canulae. I see tallbirduk hated hers. I've never laboured so might change my mind about one in during labour but have had my fair share of canulae and have barely noticed it in me. (once I completely forgot it was there and gave it such a smack as I waved my hand around - oops!) Having a canula doesn't mean being attached to a bag. It's just there so stuff can go in quickly if necessary.

Not that they can't get a canula in super quick when they really want to...

I had a VBAC with CFM and it was fine - I was actually put on a very low level synto drip as my waters had gone the day before and labour hadn't kicked in properly - but I was able to walk around, bounce on my ball etc.

It was really not a big deal - even though I ended up with a clip on DD's head - but as I'd just had a shot of pethidine, I was having a lie down anyway!

Good luck - my VBAC was a great experience

I got to speak to the consultant midwife who said I could have a WBAC if I wanted to as long as I understood all the risks, etc. y community midwife had said 'they won't let you' so it's definitely worth asking You can also insist on intermittent monitoring too if that's what you want/is appropriate (sorry I haven't read other posts if said already).

In the end I laboured at home not realising that the intermittent pre-labour I thought I was having was actually the real thing and once my waters went and I went in for initial monitoring, DD was in distress and wheeched out with ventouse and forceps as I was fully dilated. SOunds awful but was actually brilliant and 400% better than my emcs.

Thanks for your comments, really interesting and useful. It makes me feel very emotional reading them. Ultimately I just want to baby to come out healthy obviously, but I would like the process to at least start out as naturally as possible. I guess I just need to find out what equipment is available. Anyone birthed in Southampton by any chance??? I was in London for DS, so I don't know what it is like in Southampton (it was the hospital on that One Born Every Minute programme).

That's the point though Shaz- my consultant claimed that I could bleed out too quickly for a cannula to be sited and so I would need one during labour. I did agree to this because I thought it was minimally instrusive and wouldn't stop me being in the pool. It seemed to be something I could accept which ought not to negatively impact on my VBAC attempt.

In the event noone thought to put one in during the 3 minutes I was in labour at the hospital before it became clear things weren't right (I had arrived fully dilated). They did stick one in right away when the doctors arrived though!

I found the canula really uncomfortable even without it being attached to anything.

I don't know whether it's just where it was but I found it meant I couldn't bend my right wrist backwards because it made it dig in, which meant that I couldn't use my right hand to push myself up - something that was a bit of a pain post-op and I could imagine being the same during labour.

Can they site it somewhere else perhaps?

Are you left handed? I had mine put in my left hand because I'm right handed. I do take the point about pushing yourself up, I'd forgotten how difficult that was with the canula! I seem to remember being able to do it with my right hand and left elbow. Or maybe keep the bed guard up and push with your forearm.

Thanks Peppa, would be really interested to hear how you get on, hope it goes well! Yes, I think I will definitely need to ask them more about the constant monitoring, and whether someone will actually be with me all the time - if not, then they would just be periodically checking anyway. I couldn't do it at home, I want to be in hospital as it's about 25 miles away. I wonder if perhaps I should get a doula again, I met one the other day as she runs the yoga class I started going to.

Oh yes keep us posted!

I too would prefer someone in with me instead of CM. I think that would be a valid question to ask.

I had DS3 with water VBAC 3 weeks ago and it was amazing. DS2 was highly medicalised VBAC and I just followed the 'rules' i.e. CFM and 30 mins only to push him out or the threat of ironmongery (no pressure then!!). Ended up with clip on his head cos HB was decelerating (knotted cord).

Consultant said no to waterbirth for DS3 but went to see consultant MW and she was v. supportive. Pool was amazing for pain relief and managed on G&A and he was out in 3 hours. No canular and MW monitored me every 20 mins with normal monitor - was honestly treated with such respect like it was a completely normal birth. Loved it and so glad to finish off my labours on a high. It was 'risky' I know but got reassurances from consulatnt MW that would get cat. 1 section if anything sounded dodgy so could be withing theatre in minutes and that there would be enough surgeons to do the job.

I had 2 very high risk vbacs but were only monitored once I started pushing.

I had a VBAC in Nov. I asked for regular doppler monitoring - with my first pregnancy I was stuck on a monitor and wasn't able to be mobile at all. This time I also opted out of any pain relief apart from gas and air. I wanted a VBAC water birth but by the time they'd filled the pool it was too late..why won't they allow you to have a waterbirth? I would push for it if that's what you want as they are still able to monitor you quite easily.

I had my waters broken but was taken to theatre for an assisited labour. I am actually featuring in Mother and Baby magazine next month talking about my VBAC.