A friend of mine is currently anticipating a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean).  She is a great candidate for a VBAC – she has had only one prior cesarean and this pregnancy has been normal and healthy.  The main cause of any stress and anxiety she’s had with this pregnancy hasn’t been from her fears of labor and birth, but from her fear of being pushed into interventions she doesn’t want.

With her first, her induction ended with a cesarean performed under general anesthesia.  The general was necessary because the epidural didn’t eliminate all sensation.  This time around she is much more informed of her options and her mian difficulty has been finding a provider who will even “let” her have a shot at VBAC.  I think she is currently with her third provider this pregnancy. Right now her main focus is hoping that all of her provider’s VBAC supportive talk  early on will hold as her due date comes and goes.

TIME magazine has an excellent article about the difficulty many women are having trying to find a way to have a VBAC in our current system.  The evidence shows that it is much less risky for healthy mothers and babies to have VBACs rather than routine repeat cesareans.  Henci Goer writes about what medical research shows to be the true risks and benefits of VBACs.

Once the baby is born I’ll let you know how everything went for my friend.