Here is a list compiled by the professionals at International Cesarean Awareness Network Inc. © You will find relief when you read the detailed guide below every woman panning to experience a VBAC should!
Educating yourself usually begins with reading good pregnancy and Vaginal Birth After Cesarean books. “The VBAC Companion” by Diana Korte, and “Open Season” by Nancy Wainer Cohen come highly recommended.
Focus on good nutrition and exercise. Make a daily checklist to ensure you are getting essential nutrients. Engage in daily exercise such as swim, walking, yoga, prenatal fitness classes- whatever feels good. Elizabeth Holman teaches at Lover’s Lane Birth Center & offers an amazing yoga class.
Register for VBAC, refresher or another quality, independent childbirth class series. Even though you may have taken classes in a previous pregnancy, an evening out together with your partner will help to prepare you both, promoting discussion, giving you ideas on coping with labor and bringing a focus to this baby and its birth.
Click here for childbirth class schedules!
Find a caregiver/hospital who ALREADY provide the options you want. Find someone who believes in VBACs, has a VBAC success rate over 75% and a cesarean rate that is lower than the community average. Consider having a midwife as your primary caregiver. Midwives have a very low rate of cesarean birth. If you are unsure about anything, get a second opinion. Trust your inner strength and knowledge.
Hire a doula/labor assistant/support person. It is worth every penny to be reassured during labor by someone who believes birth is a natural function. This person will have supportive non-medical skills to help you through labor for the birth you want. This person will assist you from your first contractions at home right through postpartum. A labor assistant, or doula, takes the pressure off fathers and family members so that the whole family can be supported.
Click here for Doula services specializing in HBAC!
Write a birth plan. Discuss everything that is important to you with your care provider, putting it all into your birth plan. Make 3 extra copies to be put in your chart. Know your hospital’s VBAC policies and negotiate well before the birth for anything different. Having a birth plan cannot guarantee that your wishes will be followed. Working with a careprovider who believes in birth is easier than fighting one who does not. No amount of demanding or asking nicely will get you the birth you want.
Many cesareans are done due to posterior or asynclitic presentation. **Avoid reclining positions prenatally.** This means keep off the couch and keep your knees lower than your hips.
Read Val el Halta’s “Posterior Presentation – A Pain in the Back” article and “Understanding and Teaching Optimal Fetal Positioning” by Jean Sutton and Pauline Scott.
Work on leftover negative emotions (guilt, disappointment, anger) from previous cesarean birth(s).
Two wonderful books for this are Lynn Madsen’s “Rebounding From Childbirth”, and “Ended Beginnings” by Claudia Panuthos.
Enlist the support of family and friends. Remember that according to medical studies VBAC is usually safer for both you and your baby than a repeat cesarean. Don’t be afraid to let your family know how much you need their unconditional emotional support.
Having a VBAC is worth it! You can do it. Not everything is within our control — however, it is within all of us to prepare ourselves as best we can to maximize the chance of VBAC.
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