Hi all,

 

I have seen with my own eyes (although my heart and mind always believed it) that a VBAC after classical can be done!

 

A mom in our city who attended many ICAN of Edmonton chapter meetings in Canada and even attended our chapter's cesarean prevention class finally had her baby on Saturday morning - a VBAC after classical cesarean.

 

She was adamant to be given a chance to have a VBAC. She was overwhelmed by the medical guidelines (including WHO, World Health Organization, and The Farm) that a VBAcC is not recommended. She could not get a midwife because of this (out of scope), and she was lucky to find one obstetrician who actually said yes to even try. To top it off, she was overdue and had been waiting 2 months for an OB-predicted pre-term labour that never came. The classical was for her baby # 2 who came prematurely and had tachycardia during labor (heartbeat too fast). Baby #1 was a vaginal birth. She hired me as her doula and embarked on her VBAC. Finally on Friday night she went into labor and immediately transferred to the hospital.

 

She progressed so fast that the hospital staff had only two chances to tell her the risks of VBAcC:

- OB on call: "You need to know that there is an 8-10% chance of rupture"

- Nurse: "the IV is in case your uterus ruptures and bleeds and bleeds and bleeds and bleeds"

 

Total labour in hospital was 1 hour (another 1 hour at home) and pushing was 10 minutes. The baby was 7.5 lbs and there was no episiotomy. She was almost a week overdue and the baby had perfect scores. The placenta followed within 15 minutes. The uterus was intact (no hematomas, no bleeding). Within 2 hours, the mom was walking to the nursery to see the baby get a bath. She was walking!

 

The main result of the mom's prenatal research on her VBAcC: Without induction, chance of rupture can be as low as 2% or 4 in 200. With induction, as high as 12%. Therefore the goal is to have a drug-free labor. A repeat cesarean would have meant a separate uterine scar for her as the OB would have not given her a vertical cut again. He said that low transverse scars heal much faster and are at much lower risk of ever rupturing.

 

OMG - I witnessed that a VBAC after classical can be done!

 

Claudia Villeneuve

ICAN Education