Do you love birth stories? I sure do. I can't get enough of them, especially natural birth stories. I read this birth story just now and Wow! I loved it. It is a story of a HBAC breech birth! It's ironic that breech births are automatic c-sections in the hospital, and so therefore women who do not want that have to birth at home, with or without a skilled attendent. Doctors simply don't know how to deliver breech babies anymore, or are unwilling to learn. They are trained in doing surgery, not in supporting a birth.
This myth that breech babies cannot be born vaginally is very ingrained into our minds these days. I myself had my first c-section because my twins were both breech. That might have been the best option for me anyway, but I honestly didn't realize breech babies could be born safely by a vaginal delivery until I did some reading and spoke with people. I know a woman had had a double footling breech 30 years ago in the same hospital Audrey was born. I love her story. I think it's sad though that a woman going to that hospital today would not be given that option. Where are our options going?
Another area where options are diminishing is in VBAC. There are so few providers in the Chicago area that offer VBAC, and even less that truly support it. There are two doctors in the entire Chicago metro area (population in the millions) that will offer a VBA2C. One is in the city of Chicago and one is in Hoffman Estates, neither which are close to me. However, I am grateful there is at least that. Some states have next to no VBAC options at all. And nation wide, a breech baby means a c-section, usually at 39 weeks.
So anyway, I think it's sad that women's choices are so limited in terms of birthing options today. Often the only place a woman can have an opportunity to give birth, instead of being told she needs automatic cesarean surgery, is her home. And almost all the time, those births are safe and satisfying.
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What an interesting blog you have here. I am excited to read all about the things you learn and experience as a doula, especially since I am going to deliver again in a few months. I am hoping to do it w/o medication this time, so we'll see! Anyway, I have been meaning to tell you that one of my friends from Provo just had a baby 3 or so weeks ago and successfully had a VBAC. She found out, long after the fact, that the doctor who delivered her first baby had a reputation for jumping the gun early. She was given 12 hours of labor and 1 hour of pushing before told she needed a c-section because she wasn't progressing. However, she changed doctors this time around, finding someone who would try to support her in the VBAC. He even stayed in the hospital when he was no long on-call to make sure she got the support she needed for the VBAC. She pushed for 2 hours or so and was totally successful. She felt really lucky she had found her new doctor that helped her with her desire to do a VBAC, so there are certainly those doctors out there if you can find them.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I had to have a cesarean with my daughter. She was frank breech, they did a version, and then things didn't look 'right' so I had a cesarean after 4 hours of labor. She ended up being in a NICU for a week because she was a lot earlier than they thought.
ReplyDeleteIf there was one thing I wish women would know more about, it is VBAC. I am training to be a doula, and then in a few yrs going to a midwifery school to become a CPM (home birth midwife). I want women to have the options that I didn't have at my daughter's birth.