Wow, what an incredible video – it moved me to tears. Chronicles one woman’s journey through miscarriage, a cesarean (where she was told her pelvis was to small for vaginal birth), VBAC advocacy in her state of New Jersey (where she met with the governor and held a rally at her local hospital), onto her victorious hospital VBAC 9 days “overdue.”
She entitles her piece, "How I learned to stop worrying and love my pelvis" and says, "Nancy Wainer once said that when they cut her open for a c-section, a tiger must have jumped in. I guess you could say the same for me."
Watch Dana’s story and prepare to be inspired.
BEAUTIFUL! I am also a successful VBAC mama =)
Awesome! Well done creating awareness. I am 3 day from my VBAC “due date.” OB told me on my last visit that my baby was very large and because I wasnt dialated at all I should think of having a section. He also told me that I am 65% likely to have a successful vaginal birth. There is a data entry program that can estimate this number by taking your BMI, race, if you have ever had a vaginal birth. I will not let anyone tell me that I can not have a vaginal birth. This percetage the doctor gave me means nothing an my baby will be fine. Thank you for the support!
Diana,
While some doctors use such “data entry programs” in an effort to estimate VBAC success rates, and while we know some variables increase the likelihood of success, there is no accurate way of measuring an individual woman’s success rate.
Srinivas (2007) examined 13,706 trial of labors after cesarean. They found a failure (repeat cesarean) rate of 24.5% and found “six variables were significantly associated with VBAC failure: gestational age at delivery, maternal age, maternal race, labor type (spontaneous, augmented, or induced), [no] history of vaginal delivery, and cephalopelvic disproportion or failed induction (combined variable) as prior cesarean indication.”
Yet, even with all these variables that pointed to VBAC failure, they concluded, “Our results indicate that significant clinical variables (prelabor & labor) cannot reliably predict VBAC failure.”
Read more here:
Srinivas, S. K., Stamilio, D. M., Stevens, E. J., Obido, A. O., Peipert, J. F., & Macones, G. A. (2007). Predicting Failure of a Vaginal Birth Attempt After Cesarean Delivery. Obstetrics & Gynecology , 109 (4), 800-805.
Hope that helps!
Jen