I have a bucket list of topics to talk about when it comes to writing blog posts and this is one that has come up that I feel the desire and the need to share more about.
For those who don’t know what VBAC means it means Vaginal Birth After Caesarian. If you have had a c-section before and believed you are “doomed” to have a c-section for every other pregnancy that you have. I want you to know that isn’t true. You can have a VBAC.
What is Uterine Rupture?
“Uterine rupture occurs when the wall of the uterus splits during pregnancy or labour. This usually happens along the scar of a previous c-section.”
Quoted from a Handout from the Ontario Midwives.
But what is the risk of uterine rupture? What is the percentage normally?
“The average risk of uterine rupture is 0.7 percent. That goes up to 0.9 to 1 percent if you are induced with Pitocin and 1.4 to 1.8 percent with prostaglandin.”
Quoted from Utswmed.
Now, something that I thought was very interesting was the note that American Pregnancy quoted on ACOG was the following: “Recently, ACOG stated that VBAC is safer than a repeat cesarean, and VBAC with more than one previous cesarean does not pose an increased risk.”
An article from Lamaze.org pointed out another incredible fact about the c-section and the numbers that circle around VBACS. “…we find that the risk of scar rupture in a VBAC labor was 2 per 1000 VBAC labors versus 0.3 per 1000 planned repeat caesareans, or roughly 2 more scar ruptures per 1000 VBAC labors, not the large difference that ‘seven times greater’ suggests.”
There are quite a few of different articles that exist around the statistics and vbacs. In the end, you have to do decide if a repeat c-section is something you want. Your doctors can’t force you to have a c-section it’s a choice. And if your doctor doesn’t agree. Find a doctor that does!
https://www.ontariomidwives.ca/sites/default/fles/2017-06/Thinking-about-VBAC-English.pdf
https://utswmed.org/medblog/vbac/
https://americanpregnancy.org/labor-and-birth/vbac/
https://www.lamaze.org/Connecting-the-Dots/is-elective-repeat-cesarean-surgery-truly-safer-than-planned-vbac
