I'm back!

Ok, again I apologize for the neglect. Life is just getting in the way! :)

I am still just as passionate about helping women who have a desire to learn more about VBACs. I want all women to be informed about the birthing process.

That is one thing that has changed me since having my VBAC is just really becoming more informed about everything. I grimmace when I hear of people who just accept everything the so called "professionals" tell them without even doing research or questioning. And when I hear a woman say "well, I have to have a c-section with this one" there is just so much I want to ask and inform her of.

I would love to hear from you what led you to desire a VBAC and how did you make an informed decision?

One Year Later

I am so sorry I have been neglecting this blog and it feels like forever since I wrote on here. I meant to write on Oct. 23 since that was my little girl's first birthday and my anniversary of my VBAC. It is so weird that a year has gone by it seems like it was just yesterday that she was born and I was feeling the rush of ecstatic emotions of accomplishment after the succesful VBAC birth. Yet at the same time it seems like so long ago too....

Since starting this blog I have enjoyed having friends go on to have successful VBACs and I have also enjoyed sharing my story with other women who have wanted to learn more about their options. It amazes me how many women don't even know that a VBAC is an option!

I hope to continue to offer encouragement, and knowledge to women who are wanting to have a VBAC. I also am looking forward to having other women share their own birth stories on here so we can celebrate with them.

I really want to get back into posting on here. If there are any questions anyone has feel free to post a comment or if anyone has specific topics they want me to discuss I would love to hear from you. I have been mentioning I will talk about pain management techniques, as well as twin and breech VBAC so that is next on my list of topics. My goal is to finish those soon!

Twin HBAC Video

Here is another great video a friend found that is showing a wonderful HBAC (homebirth after cesarean) of twins!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi37qJ-mIoU

Is your hospital on the list?

Even though I decided to have my VBAC in a freestanding birth center, I know many people feel more comfortable in an actual hospital. In my town my hospital does not do VBACs so I would've needed to travel to find one that allowed them.

Here is a great resource for you if you are trying to find a hospital that allows VBACs. It is taken from the ican website, which I mentioned earlier has some wonderful information. The list shows each state and all the hospitals and then tells whether VBACs are allowed, banned, or defacto. Defacto bans are hospitals that do not have an official ban, but do not have any doctors that do VBACs, or are hospitals that allow VBACs but have not had more than 2 in the last 6 months.

I would still encourage you to ask lots of questions of the hospital that says they allow them, to get a feel how friendly towards VBACs they really are.

http://ican-online.org/vbac-ban-map?filter0[]=**ALL**&op1=5&filter1=

Natural Births and VBACs with Twins and Triplets

Here is another video a friend sent me about women who had natural births with twins and triplets. I will do some research on this subject and write more on the topic later. It is nice to know that there are options with multiple births. It is important to have a careprovider who has had a lot of experience with natural multiple births and breech births. One thing that stood out to me while watching this video was the actual week of delivery. So many were into the 39th-40th+ week. If they had a c-section that most likely would've been preformed around 38 weeks or before and obviously these babies were not ready to be born then. What a wonderful gift to let the babies continue to grow and develop and enter this world when they were ready and in a natural way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E-wULAaD50&feature=related

Peaceful Birth

This was shared to me by a friend studying to become a midwife. Even though it doesn't show the actual birth you can tell this baby was brought gently into the world. I wasn't as focused and peaceful at 10 cm as this woman but it shows how beautiful and natural birth is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-eW2miJN7U

Good Articles and Other Links

I just came across this great quiz that was on the Consumer Reports website. It has great information. Take the quiz and see how informed you are!
http://www.consumerreports.org/health/medical-conditions-treatments/pregnancy-childbirth/maternity-care/maternity-care-quiz/maternity-care-quiz.htm

Another great article found at Consumer Reports:
http://www.consumerreports.org/health/medical-conditions-treatments/pregnancy-childbirth/maternity-care/overview/maternity-care.htm