Kiley's VBAC Lists
-by Kiley
Myers
Kiley's list of what to avoid for a successful
VBAC
Avoid negative people. It's hard enough to deal
with your own fears when planning a VBAC, you
don't need to have anybody else's fears added
to yours.
Avoid medical procedures. Just about everything
done to pregnant women in the name of avoiding
complications, causes complications. Henci Goer
details this in "Obstetric Myth's vs Research
Realities", and there are plenty of great
articles here at BirthLove. Pick an intervention:
ultrasound, prenatal testing, vaginal checks,
and the big daddy of them all, induction.
Avoid induction. Induction is dangerous. Induction
is triply dangerous for women who are VBACing.
It increases the odds of uterine rupture greatly.
Recently a study came out detailing rupture rates
for various kinds of women. Women who haven't
had a c-section and women with previous c-sections
who aren't induced or augmented have about the
same rupture rates. Once induction or augmentation
is done, the picture changes and things get dangerous.
The ACOG has recently recommended that women not
be allowed to VBAC. This leads me to think that
Obstetricians in the USA today do not know how
to attend a birth without inducing.
Avoid distractions during labor. Different women
have different needs in labor. What is a distraction
for one woman, can be a blessing for someone else.
I found I needed to be absolutely alone to concentrate
on what I was doing [read Charlie's
Birth]. Another woman may feel she really
wants her partner, a sister or a friend by her
side. When you are in labor you are the queen.
You can send out anybody, and I mean anybody,
Dr and Midwife or nurse included, or anything
that is distracting you.
Avoid hospitals. Hospitals are full of germs,
and people with their own agendas. Medical staff
may sometimes be caring, but they have elaborate
rules and procedures they must follow. These things
are distractions. These things won't make your
birth safer. These things may make your birth
very dangerous. Even if you are dead set on having
a hospital birth, stay home as long as you possibly
can. There are extremely rare cases in which hospitals
have something of substance to give the birthing
woman. Most of the time they are applauding their
ability to save the mother and baby from an emergency
they created themselves. Again, read Henci Goer’s
book, it documents this so well.
* * *
Kiley's list of what to do to have a successful
VBAC
Give yourself real prenatal care. Tests and procedures
won't make you or your baby more healthy. Good
diet and exercise will. Don't wait till you are
pregnant. Folic acid is most crucial for the three
months before conception. Eat well and take care
of yourself all the time. You deserve good care
even when you aren't pregnant.
Give yourself responsibility. For too long women
have been told to put their fate in the hands
of the almighty Drs. as if Drs possess some secret
knowledge unattainable by regular women. I have
news for you, we women have been in the birthing
business waayyyy longer than Drs have,
and they aren't very good at it. Responsibility
should lie in the hands of the one who has to
live with the consequences, and it won’t
be the Dr has to live with the pain caused by
their unnecessary fear driven interventions.
Give yourself control. So often others assume
control of the birthing woman. Drs tell women
they won't "let" them go past a certain
date. How did medical people get into that position?
I choose if I will let them do things to me or
not, and I choose not. I choose none of the whole
smorgasbord of medical interventions they routinely
shove down women’s throats. Nobody can make
this choice for me, and when I hear language seeks
to undermine this control, I cringe. Women have
lost control of their birthing bodies, but we
can take it back simply by being aware and making
our own choices. Choose who, if anybody, you allow
to attend you very carefully. Choose what they
are allowed to do to you very carefully. Choose
where you want to birth. Nobody but you has a
right to make these choices.
Give yourself the truth. Don't assume that the
experts know it all and always have your best
interest at heart. Medical mistakes are more common
and more deady than one would imagine. The leading
cause of hospital deaths is medical error, by
a long shot. The third leading cause of death
overall in the USA is medical error. Drs make
mistakes, big ones. You are just as smart and
capable as any Dr, in fact more so when it comes
to your babies. What Drs know about birth isn’t
worth knowing anyway. Why go to an expert on disease,
when you aren’t sick?
Birth is a normal healthy event, not an illness.
Read good books, read articles at the BirthLove
website. Take Gloria Lamay's online doula course.
You can birth without knowing a lot. Birth is
innate, your body knows what to do. But learning
the truth can help you navigate safely through
all the cultural hurdles thrown in front of pregnant
women in our society today. Don’t buy into
modern day obstetric myths, look at the hard cold
facts and make wise choices. Knowledge is power.
Give yourself time. Don’t feel you need
to rush into birth. Babies come when they are
ready, and almost always birth is safest when
meddled with the least. My third son, and first
VBAC arrived at almost 44 weeks. Many mothers
wait even longer. My son wasn’t overdue,
in fact he was covered in vernix, and was a pound
smaller than his brothers were. To look at him
one would have thought he was maybe a little early.
A uterus that has been cut may need more time
in labor. Often VBAC moms find their labor is
slow. In a hospital setting augmentation would
be called for, but at home you can give yourself
and your baby time. Give your body time to start
labor on it’s own, and give your body time
to labor it's own way.
Give yourself compassion. After my two cesareans
I found that I had many layers of pain. I was
sad about the ugly scars. The great physical pain
caused by the scar tissue in my abdomen affected
my quality of life in numerous ways. My belief
in myself as a woman capable of caring for my
own children was shaken. This pain was the worst
of it all. I found "Birthing from Within"
to be very helpful as I tried to get down to the
deeper regions of myself. I found I had profound
feelings of guilt and failure and I needed to
forgive myself.
Give yourself credit for having done your best,
but work to make your best better. Be kind to
yourself, it's very freeing.
Also read- "How
to Have a Successful VBAC"
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