VBA3C - Video

This mama almost stopped having babies because she couldn't bear the thought of another cesarean. This video made me cry. A lot. You can do it.

VBAC Video: This Woman's Work

"... a three year journey that took this couple from their unexpected hospital cesarean birth to birthing their second baby at home in water - condensed into a mere 6-minute video. You, the viewer, become a witness to their very heartfelt, personal sacrifice and transformation."

I first saw this on The Beginning of Motherhood

Summary of Articles for November and December

Each month I'd like to post the links to all of my articles that were published. Since I didn't do this for November I'll include both November and December in this summary of articles. If you like any of my articles, please share the links with your friends. I'd also love some feedback in the comments if you have something you'd like to say about what I've written.


For your reading pleasure and in no particular order, here they are:

My Water Childbirth Experience


Breastfeeding While Pregnant


Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) 


Using Pregnancy Calendars


Finding the Right Breastfeeding Support


Considering Home Childbirth?


Sorting Through Childbirth Information


What Are Doulas and What Do They Do?


Ectopic Pregnancy Signs and Symptoms


Considering Natural and Epidural Childbirth


The Role of a Postpartum Doula


Adjusting to Life With a Breastfeeding Infant


Breast Pumps: Different Options for Different Situations


Thinking About Stopping Breastfeeding?


Ways to Support Prenatal Development

Articles About Breastfeeding and VBAC

Here are my four latest articles published on Pampers:

Breastfeeding While Pregnant - My personal struggle with this, and what I learned.

Thinking About Stopping Breastfeeding? - Common breastfeeding pitfalls and how I got through them.

Breast Pumps: Different Options for Different Situations - Personal observations about breast pumps.

Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) - The beautiful option that many aren't aware of.

Cesarean and VBAC Resources and Links

I've got a few links to share on the topic of c-sections and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).  I'm not going to comment much, because I'd like you to read them and decide what you think.  Please feel free to post your opinions or questions in the comments below.  Here goes:

• Prepare Mothers and Fathers for Cesarean Birth: Should cesarean education be a part of all prenatal education?
• Unnecessary C-sections on the Rise
• Rate of C-sections in the US is 'Undeniably High,' Doctor Says
• Cesarean Rates in Women of Size:  Are heavier women more likely to have a c-section?
• Special Scars - Special Women:  For women who have had a cesarean.  The creator also has a facebook page and Yahoo group for the same purpose.
• Labor Deemed Good for Women
• VBAC or Repeat C-section:  I found this through Jill on The Unnecesarean.  She said it's her favorite resource on the topic.
• A Woman's Guide to VBAC: Putting Uterine Rupture Into Perspective:  Comparing the risk of uterine rupture alongside other potential birth risks.
• A Woman's Guide to VBAC: Navigating the NIH Consensus Recommendations
• VBAC After 2 Cesareans: Distorted Risk Perception: Are doctors making this out to be more dangerous than it actually is?
• Bill Gates and Robot Cesareans: Are c-sections routine enough to be performed by robots?
• Every Bit as Magical:  The "natural c-section".  Can cesarean birth rival vaginal birth and be just as beautiful?  Should we try to make it that way?

VBAC With Inverted T Incision

Last year I blogged about an emergency cesarean for face presentation, which resulted with an inverted T-incision.  Even after such an intense experience, the mother was determined not to let her cesarean scar keep her from giving birth vaginally in the future.  She went on to have a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) with a planned home birth and a support team that spanned the globe.  You can read her two amazing birth stories here:

Doula Momma: My Birth Stories: C-Section and VBAC

Cesarean vs. VBAC Video

One mother's journey through 2 c-sections and a Home Birth After 2 Cesareans (HBA2C)

What are some of the differences you notice?

Cesarean vs. VBAC:  A Dramatic Difference from Alexandra Orchard on Vimeo.

ACOG Issues Less Restrictive VBAC Guidelines

This has just been released by ACOG this week. It's far from perfect, but definitely a step in the right direction!

This is huge. Very important information for women and their care givers regarding vaginal birth after cesarean. Due to copyright issues I'm not including any direct quotes from the article. Please read the article here:

Ob-Gyns Issue Less Restrictive VBAC Guidelines

For information on the impact of the new guidelines, click here.

The Dangers of C-section and Benefits of VBAC

I've recently come across quite a few articles and blog posts about c-sections and VBAC's, and I want to share them with you.

Dangerous delivery shows peril of multiple C-sections - This article may be a bit shocking, but I appreciate the candor about the risks of multiple c-sections. The old adage that "once a c-section, always a c-section" is not necessarily true, although many doctors and women still act like it is. The truth is that the more c-sections a woman has the more dangerous it is for her, and vaginal birth after a cesarean can be a viable option.

"The case points out a fundamental truth about surgical delivery: a first cesarean for most women leads to a cesarean with every pregnancy. And while a first section is quick, easy to perform, and rarely complicated, each repeat surgery carries greater risk."

Does Electronic Fetal Monitoring Increase the Rate of Unnecessary Cesareans? - This blog post on The Unnecesarean outlines something that I've read about in other books and articles: Electronic Fetal Monitoring is unreliable and leads to unnecessary c-sections. You know those belts and monitors that are strapped on a laboring woman in the hospital? One of those is the EFM monitor, and that's the culprit we're talking about. If you haven't heard about this risk before please, PLEASE read this post.

"There are numerous reasons that one of three U.S. births now is by cesarean, but Dr. Alex Friedman blames some on an imprecise monitor strapped to laboring women. Too often, he has sliced open a mother’s abdomen fearing the worst, only to pull out a pink, screaming bundle."

"'Everyone knows it’s a bad test,' said Friedman of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 'You haven’t done the patient a big service by doing an unnecessary surgery.'”

A Doula’s Journey to Vaginal Birth after Three C-Sections - This is a really cool post written by a doula who had a successful VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) after 3 prior c-sections. She tells her story, her journey, and how she came to experience what she has supported other women in experiencing in her years as a doula. It's a really beautiful story

Dr. Poppy Daniels Surprise VBAC - Dr. Poppy Daniels had scheduled her third c-section and ended up with a surprise VBAC on the same day her surgery was scheduled to happen! I love her perspective as a doctor who is supportive and trusting of women's bodies to birth babies without intervention. She also explains her journey and how she came to have a beautiful surprise vaginal birth.

International Cesarean Awareness Network - For more than just anecdotal evidence, go here for VBAC information and support. ICAN has local support groups everywhere to help women meet and support each other.

VBAC Articles

Enjoy Birth blog shared these great articles about VBAC, and I thought I'd pass them along.

Rebirth of the Midwife

A Change of Delivery

Enjoy!

State of Florida to Ban VBAC in Birth Centers

"On Wednesday, March 24th, the State of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration will move to permanently ban Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (VBAC) in Florida birth centers."

Please click below to read the full story and to sign a petition asking lawmakers to allow VBAC to remain a legal option in Florida birth centers.

State of Florida to Ban VBAC in Birth Centers

Joy Szabo: Don’t Roll Over and Take it

Remember this mom who traveled hundreds of miles to have a VBAC after her local hospital banned them?

ICAN interviewed Joy Szabo about her choices and her feelings, and she shares some very good advice.

Joy Szabo: Don’t Roll Over and Take it

Family Fights for the Birth They Want

After having a successful vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) at her local hospital a few years ago, Joy Szabo was denied the option of having another VBAC at the very same hospital.

Due to an erroneous interpretation of ACOG guidelines, the hospital changed its policy on VBAC births, and no longer allows them.

"After they lost that fight, Szabo and her husband, Jeff, made an unusual decision. About three weeks before her due date, Szabo moved nearly six hours away from their home in Page, Arizona, to Phoenix to give birth at a hospital that does permit women to have VBACs.

"In the end, the Szabos got the birth they wanted. On December 5, their son Marcus Anthony was born in Phoenix via an uncomplicated vaginal delivery, weighing seven pounds and 13 ounces.

"'It was such an easy birth,' Szabo says. 'I was in the pains of labor for about four or five hours, then I pushed once, and he popped out.'

"The Szabos' story has a happy ending, but it shows that with the rising C-section rate -- now one in three babies is born via Caesarean -- women who want vaginal births sometimes have to fight to get them." (italics added)

What can women do to help ensure that they are given their rights? This article gives some good advice about asking questions, being specific and keeping open communication with your care givers:

Mom fights, gets the delivery she wants

I love this story, because it shows what we can do when we know our rights and insist on them. It also shows that hospital policy is not always what's best for mothers and babies. This woman avoided an unnecessary c-section, and even though it meant temporarily moving her family 6 hours away from their home, she got the birth she wanted. The local hospital refused to let her have a VBAC because of a policy change, even though she had already had a successful VBAC in that same hospital just a few years earlier. I think more women should know their rights, and I'm really glad this story is getting nationwide coverage.

Click here to read more about the rights of Childbearing Women

Birthing Again: A VBAC Experience

"My first baby was born by cesarean section. My husband and I worked with the same midwives for both births and had desired a natural childbirth with the first. In the first case, I believe that the intervention of surgery was wise. The baby clearly had distress in labor and was born, full term, at only five pounds.

"When my second baby was conceived, we again longed for a natural childbirth. Despite discouragement from doctors and medical advertisements, I was able to birth vaginally this second child. Three conditions especially undergirded this birth: supportive assistants, a pregnancy of heart and body, and an active birth."

Birthing Again: A VBAC Experience is a wonderful article written by Melissa Aberle-Grasse for Mothering Magazine about her VBAC Birth Experience. Please click on the link to read the article in its entirety and learn how Melissa prepared for and followed through with her plans for a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean.

Vaginal Birth a Safe Option After Multiple C-Sections

“'This was the first large study of VBAC in which certain outcomes, such as uterine rupture, were studied prospectively,' notes Landon, who serves as vice chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the Ohio State University Medical Center.

"'The study has confirmed that the majority of women with multiple prior cesarean deliveries undergoing trial of labor can expect to achieve a successful vaginal birth,' says Landon, whose findings were published recently in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

"The benefits of VBAC include a faster recovery time and avoidance of the operative risks of cesarean section, which is a major operation.

"'Beyond these obvious benefits, there seems to be a component that is not completely tangible,' notes Landon. 'It goes along with the experience of vaginal childbirth, which certain women value, and there is probably not a price that you could put on that for a certain subgroup of women.'

"Landon advises that women should carefully research the topic of VBAC, looking for a physician who is willing to share data in an unbiased manner, who supports the concept of VBAC provided that a woman is an appropriate candidate, and who is willing to evaluate each case individually."

Click here for the full article

Amazing VBAC Success Story

This amazing woman has posted her VBAC birth story on her blog. Please take the time to read through it. It's a bit long, but definitely worth reading.

VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) is becoming less and less available for women than it was in the past. In the 1980's VBAC's were encouraged and doctors did what they could to help women achieve them. Today, with cesarean sections becoming increasingly common and convenient (for the doctors and hospitals, not for the mothers) women are finding that they have to advocate for themselves if they really want to birth vaginally after a c-section.

This woman knew what she wanted. She did her research and prepared herself as well as she could for a successful VBAC. She knew what she needed to do, and she knew her legal rights. In her amazing birth story she describes in detail how she and her husband had to fight for what they wanted, and they were wonderfully successful. She birthed her second baby vaginally, after 38 hours of labor, and the mother and baby are both doing exceptionally well.

Make sure you read all the way to the end. I really like the feelings she expresses in the last few paragraphs.

TV Show "The Doctors" Hosts Discussions on Childbirth With Ricki Lake & Abby Epstein

I happened to be flipping through TV channels one afternoon and noticed a show called The Doctors on one of my local stations. It drew my interest because the description said they would have Ricki Lake on the show. It was already about 20 minutes into the episode, but it immediately caught my attention because they were discussing VBAC's (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) and went on to discuss other childbirth issues as well.

The show features a panel of doctors who weigh in on various health topics. I'd like to share with you the specific childbirth topics that they covered in this particular episode:

Your Best Birth
Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein spoke about their documentary film The Business of Being Born
and their new book Your Best Birth. I've blogged about both of these in previous posts. I've seen the film twice and love it, and I'm anxious to get a copy of the book to read.

and their new book “Becoming a mother is an amazing rite of passage,” Ricki says. “What a gift … it’s also an opportunity for women to be empowered and to be transformed in a positive way. Birth is a natural process, and it doesn’t have to be scary or an emergency situation waiting to happen.”

For information about The Business of Being Born airing on Showtime, click here.

For information about entering to win a copy of the book Your Best Birth, click here.

Are Home Births Safe?
Ricki and Dr. Lisa went head-to-head in a debate about the safety of home birth. It was a really interesting discussion.

You can watch the debate in 2 sections: Part I and Part II

VBAC - Vaginal Birth After Cesarean
"Is it safe to have a vaginal birth after a C-section (VBAC)?
Jillian is 6-months pregnant with her second child. Her first birth was a C-section because her daughter was breach, but she’d like to deliver her second baby vaginally.

Dr. Lisa says the risk Jillian faces is uterine rupture, which is a serious risk. Although the chances of that happening are one percent, most hospitals will not perform a VBAC for fear of uterine rupture. Dr. Lisa narrates an animation of a typical C-section."

Natural Birth
"Pain management during labor:
• Dulas, or birth coaches, can help reduce pain
• Immersion in water can decrease pain
• Pain management techniques
• Pre-natal classes
• Acupuncture
• Breathing techniques"

Click here for a complete synopsis of the episode