Hoping for VBAC in birthing centre - can anyone give me some advice/info?

[MissM]

Am due in two weeks and hoping for a VBAC, ideally in a birthing pool. The birthing centre at the hospital (UCH) will let me try if I want to, with the warning that they won't continuously monitor me. That is fine by me as I don't want to be continuously monitored, but I feel like I need to be more informed about all the risks/advantages/disadvantages etc. Has anyone done it? Could really do with speaking to people who have had the experience, either in a birthing unit or labour ward so I have some idea of what might happen.

My C-section was due to a breech baby and early membrane rupture by the way, so I'm not considered high risk or in automatic need of a 2nd section.

Hi MissM. There is a thread on here somewhere (probably in Childbirth) about imminent vbac'ers that may be useful to you.

Also, check out the yahoo vbac group. I am a member, and it is full of loads of lovely ladies who have vbac'ed themselves, as well as having a number of doula's and midwives.

You are really lucky to have a Birthing Centre to go to! Should be so much more relaxed than the hospital!

Good luck!

Thanks feedme - have found it and will check in.

do a search on here for

continous monitoring and VBAC

loads of really good stuff about it

I had a VBAC, the c-section was an emergency failure to progress (hate that term!) he was too high up and was a larger baby 8lb 12oz. Anyway the 2nd was born 6 years later normally. I was told I was high risk etc but really wanted to avoid another c-section, my waters broke and there was meconium in the water and from then on it was continuous monitoring (hate that term as well!!) ?which I was REALLY against. I eventually pushed him out despite the monitoring and lying on my back, had 2nd degree tear, I was really glad I had pushed this one out, but whether they took me in for another c-section was touch and go a few times, protesting helped!
I?m now on to baby 3 and really had hoped for a water birth this time as well, I am having this baby at a regular hospital (fearing lack of pain relief at a birthing unit!) but will discuss with consultant nearer the due date re; continuous monitoring, apparently if you can get the consultant to ?agree? with not being continuously monitored and get it written in your notes then this helps your wishes when you arrive in labour??
Hope that helps??
Good luck!

I saw consultant yesterday and thought that I wanted a c/section. He offered me that choice but advised me that it would be better to go for a VBAC. I was dead against VBAC but when it came to making a date I could not do it. So at the moment I am hoping for a VBAC.

I had a section last time after failing to progress. After a long labour I got to around 7cm.

They did give me that drug that makes you contract more, aslo the ruptured my membranes.

I read last night on a site that it could be more difficult for someone who has had this drug to have a vbac.

Any advice would be welcome as I have had a massive change of heart.

Hi MissM,

I just wanted to say that my sister had a VBAC last year - only 20 months after the first and everything went really smoothly, she only had gas and air. No problems whatsoever.

So good luck, hope everything goes really well.

Beeper, how about setting date for elective CSec at 41weeks? Would give you a good chance of spontaneous labour and you may be fed up and happy for CSec by then LOL or you could cancel it if feeling confident about labour. Also avoids having to push out an enormous 42 weeker with potential induction problems.

I really don't want to be continuously monitored as I really have a fear of not being able to move around during labour. To be honest the thought of having to lie still on a bed for hours in pain is worse to me than having another c-section. The birthing centre have agreed to take me but I am anxious and although determined to do it just don't know what to expect. Am seeing the obstetrician on Monday though, so will bear your advice in mind sinat and see what they say. Don't know anyone who has had a VBAC in a birthing centre so do wonder if I'm doing the right thing.

MissM, of COURSE you're doing the right thing! I'm not very good at remembering where I hear/read things, but in my research I have come across stats that say about how doctors are happy to quite negative vbac stats but they tend to omit the stats showing that sections are equally as risky. What I'm saying is, HCP's often tend to put a negative spin on things that they don't want. If you're having a healthy pg then why should you be any different to any other mum, section or not? Birthing Centre will be fantastic! You'll do great and you'll feel so fantastic afterwards!

whats a vbac ??

Rachee - a VBAC is a 'vaginal birth after a caesarean'. Some hospitals aren't keen on it, or let you do it but continuously monitor you so you can't move around during labour. Some people also choose to have a c-section second time round - their choice obviously but I'd like to go for a VBAC if I can.

Thanks for being so positive feedme. I've also been doing some more reading, and what I didn;t realise is that having a c-section is actually statistically more risky than having a natural birth. They don't tell you that now do they! Am feeling a bit better about it today after reading up, prepared to give it a darn good try.

Beeper - so you had synto drip with your last one then? i think that whoever put that info about it affecting VBAC had their head on upside down - Having had synto previously has no impact on whether you can VBAC this time (may have been part of the reason you ended up with C/S though - me too!) the correct info is that Synto is not recommended if you are having a VBAC as it can hyperstimulate your uterus and increase your risk of rupture even if you don't have a scar
TBH beeper you are a perfect candidate for VBAC, you dilated,just too slowly for the hospital's liking and you had no problems that could pop up again. just be aware that you may labour more gently this time so keep the hell out of hospital for as long as you can!

What's a synto drip? I need to be up on all this jargon!

Syntocinon MissM, given to speed up contractions, but with the flipside that unless they're absolutely sure on that baby is in a good position it can make things very much worse - Beeper might have had a baby who needed to turn around and was taking a long time about it and putting up synto and breaking her waters could have meant that her baby was in a bad position and unable to turn with waters gone and contractions too strong - That's what happened to me in the end with DS1, except he was breech, but he still got his bottom stuck diagonally across my pelvis because he was on his way round from my right side to my left when my waters were broken and Synto put up. It's what's called the cascade of interventions and a prime cause of CS in first timers.

Thanks. Doesn't sound like much fun. How come we tend to get more information about this kind of thing from other mums rather than the hospital? Would be so helpful if they explained all this stuff to us!

That's the troublr MissM - I've been watching a debate on another of my groups (midwifery one) about how disinterested some women are about anything that happens to them in labour and how frustrating they find it - but i think HCP's can have a lot to answer for, by presenting interventions as the next logical step, When as some of the midwives said, most of them can do it on their own, it's the time limits and institutionalised policies that prevent it. I agree with both points of view on that -I'm still surrounded by friends and aquaintances having babies and sometimes you just feel like slapping them, they are so sure that whatever is done is vital and that it isn't their responsibility to even think for one moment what the consequences could be, and then afterwards surprise surprise, they are grateful to the medics for inducing them, breaking their waters before they were in active labour, immobilising them with an epidural,continually monitoring then deciding that they were slow to progress and yanking or cutting baby out, thus saving them from their own bodies which quite obviously were unable to give birth to their 6.5 pound baby independently . How many times have you heard that kind of story, and the women concerned have no interest in coming on to groups like this and finding out why and just drift on to the next baby convinced that their bodies can't do it -so it happens again, and again....
Can't you just tell that the above is one of my major bees in bonnet

Well I saw the obstetrician yesterday and she is now saying I CAN'T have a VBAC in the birthing centre but need to be on the labour ward. At 20 weeks they said they could see no problem as long as the centre accepted me - which they did, after explaining the risks. So now I'm completely torn again. One thing I did find out is that the labour ward don't strap you to a bed the minute you go into labour, which is the impression I got and what I was scared of, they just monitor you continuously in the last stage. But even then... I just wish I could get some consistent answers and feel secure in my decision. I don't blame the hospital really - the midwives are so stretched. It's the system!

I'd check with the birthing centre MissM -the obs is trying to override them methinks - another tack is to shout very loudly to everyone concerned 'I've changed my mind, I want a homebirth, so get me a midwife' very underhand, but you'll probably find their attitude a bit more accomodating if they think they've 'persuaded' you to accept the birthing centre again as a compromise

Yes, I do need to check again, and to speak to the consultant midwife again. The obs I spoke to was an SHO - my community midwife today said that perhaps she was quite junior (she was definitely younger than me) and so erring on the side of caution. I'm going to keep questioning though.