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Vaginal Birth After Caesarean video

Another goody waiting on my desk when I returned was a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) video from the US. This had been sent to us with a view to including it in our catalogue.

There is certainly a need for better information for parents on the issue of VBAC. Many women are talked into an unnecessary repeat caesarean when they have a very good chance (up to 80%) of having a perfectly straightforward vaginal birth. The main obstacles to increasing the VBAC rate are the convenience factor for doctors and hospitals, lack of confidence in supporting VBACs by caregivers, and women’s not unreasonable reluctance to be branded as a “trial of labour”.

Many women have suffered deep emotional trauma as a result of unexpected caesareans, and may be grieving from the questioning of their competence to birth successfully. It is our ability to give birth that is central to female sexuality, and any doubts cast on our capacity give birth well strike at the heart of our self image as women. These feelings may not be overtly recognised, but may be very real, influencing a woman’s willingness to once again be put to the test during the next labour.

Fathers are often traumatised by an emergency caesarean as well. It is very unlikely that anyone will have helped the father to resolve his feelings and his emotional state may also put pressure on his partner to accept a scheduled caesarean birth, rather than opt for a less predictable vaginal birth.

The video explored some of these issues. Fathers were not mentioned and there were no views of a VBAC labour that could be used as a teaching tool for women. The brief views of a “normal” birth showed the woman flat on her back. The baby (with a scalp electrode in place) was man handled out by an obstetrician, sucked out vigorously, whisked away to be tidied and wrapped tightly before being presented to the mother. It was a complete contrast to the midwife led births that we aim for in Australia and the UK. There were echos of “push, push” going on in the background and a large number of family and friends urging the woman on and celebrating afterwards. It was far from the “active birth” that we aim for here.

This is one video we won’t be stocking. I am hopeful that a video in the making in Queensland will be much more useful in promoting normal birth after caesarean, and show the benefits to be gained from supportive midwifery care. I feel it will be worth waiting for!

Posted by andrea at April 07, 2004 08:52 AM

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