Thursday, February 28, 2008

Vaginal Birth After Cesarean? (VBAC)

Having our fourth child in an area where we had never had a child before was a VERY "eye opening" experience for us. Every hospital we contacted seemed bent on dissuading us from a VBAC and equally bent on doing everything they could to protect, not mother or child, but physician and hospital from liability if we insisted on VBAC.

Of general note was insistence on constant monitoring, extreme restriction of freedom during labor, and attaching a monitor to the head of the fetus during labor. Yep, you read right, they wanted to insert a wire through the birth canal, forcibly break the water, and stick a probe on our child's head. After two absolutely successful, VBAC's in other regions, every hospital, doctor, and even midwife we spoke with was prepared, indeed determined to treat us as though we were an inexperienced danger to their wallets. Assanine.

If you have previously given birth by Cesarean, and are now considering a VBAC, please visit this site: http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/50ways_VBAC.asp Understand that you have rights that doctors are bound to respect, but sadly, in many cases will fail to inform you of.

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