Never Good Enough

I found an article today that made my eye go a bit twitchy. It is called “A family centered cesarean is not a substitute for a fully supported natural birth or VBAC“.

I have no idea why the author thinks they are the authority on what is or isn’t a substitute for a natural birth, I would think that the woman giving birth would have to decide that on her own. I am sure there are mothers that have had a vbac and then a c-section for a later pregnancy. A poll of them would be more useful than just making a blanket statement.

The article is intended to demonize c-sections, as usual. What struck me is that physicians who do not feel comfortable with a “natural” vbac (see: almost none) are still considered bad for offering what is called a family-centered c-section.

And mothers, if when you are discussing your desires for your natural birth with your provider, they immediately start talking about the “family centered cesareans” they offer for mothers like you, please please please recognize this as a red flag, and consider transferring care to a more supportive provider….one whose immediate response is what they can do to facilitate your natural birth and then, only if all other options are exhausted, will perform the most family centered cesarean possible

No matter how much OBGYNs pander to natural child birth advocates, its just never good enough. I think I would do the same thing if I were in the OBGYN’s shoes, just to try and prevent anyone from having a dangerous birth at home.

The reason that most providers require close monitoring and epidural anesthesia for VBAC in the hospital is that the risk of a catastrophic uterine rupture is best managed under those conditions. A life saving c-section can be performed quickly under those conditions. An unmedicated VBAC makes it impossible to catch the problem early, which can result in death for the infant. It can cost the mother her uterus, or her life.

I just wish people like the author of the Birth Blissfully article  had to explain how superior a natural vbac is to women who have suffered a uterine rupture during a vbac. Here is one from baby center:

The room filled with people, they threw the sheet curtain on me, didn’t even have time to hang it up before I heard the doctor say “cutting!”  Thank goodess I had the epidural so there was no time wasted there.  She had my baby out so fast, literally within a minute or so.  DD’s arm and shoulder had went through my rupture into my abdominal cavity.  She was breathing but a little limp – it’s so scary to think that minutes later would’ve been a different story.  They rushed her to the NICU, right by DH who had no idea that she had even been born yet.

It seems that she came pretty close to death, too. She lost 2 pints of blood, had multiple transfusions, and had to stay in the ICU for monitoring. One of the big things people dislike about c-sections is that you may have to spend time away from the baby while getting stitched up, but this mom ended up going days without seeing her daughter because they were both in their respective ICUs and couldn’t visit each other. Here is what she has to say about her decision to vbac:

I spent more time thinking, praying, and researching this vbac decision than any other in my life.  Ironically, it was the worst decision of my life.

I feel the exact same way about my choice to birth out of hospital with direct entry midwives (though luckily I did not have this type of health outcome). I looked into it so much, but sometimes doing research is just assuring yourself that what you want is really what you need. It takes a lot of humility to realize when you are reinforcing your previously held beliefs vs when you are actually trying to get to the truth.

A fully supported VBAC, for this mom, would have meant death or serious injury to mom, baby, or both. A c/section is a fine substitute for that risk, that is probably why the vast majority of moms choose repeat c-section over VBAC when presented with information about risks. It isn’t because women are stupid or uneducated, they just have different priorities than NCB advocates. There is nothing wrong with that.

math is an intervention

math is an intervention

…or at least home birth midwives must think it is, because they seem to have such difficulty with it.

MANA (midwives association of north america) had a voluntary survey to collect outcome data. They found a death rate for HBAC (home birth after cesarean)  of 5/1000, which is much much higher than comparable hospital birth. MANA did not understand that this is equivalent to 1/200, and denied it when it was pointed out to them. Here is what MANA had to say on their facebook page:

…[I]t does show a combined 5 deaths of 1000 (which is not the same as 1 in 200, since 1000 subjects were necessary to find those 5 deaths).

They deleted the post instead of correcting their error. Typical.