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Hi Mama K

Just wondering how things went?
Didn't hear back from you and hoping all is well.

Love and sunshine
Lia
xxx

And a successful experience it was!!

Words cannot describe how I felt when my midwife perfromed vaginal check before she could summon the gynae to perform a ceasor. When she said ‘fully dialted’ I burst out in tears and oh what joy and relief filled my heart. I could not help but shout to the one who made it all possible, Jesus, Jesus! The uncertatinly was over. I had been at 6cm for over 3 hours and time was running out!
Natural birth is an experience that has changed my life. As I recall the experience now, tears fill my heart. What a wonderful team effort and a professional service I received from everyone. I gave birth at Genesis clinic and to my delight and to Xoli’s (midwife) dream come true , the doula on duty during my labour is also a qualified reflexologist. She is a dear . She helped me through one of the most unique experiences life will ever present to us women.

To all those attempting a vbac, please do not be discouraged to change professionals if you feel that they are not with you 100%. Trust your instinct and voice your dissatisfaction. When I found out that I was pregnat, I knew I was could not go to my first gynae since she had already told me the 1ce a ceasor always a ceasor story. I looked for a gynae whom I thought would at least give me a trial of labour and I found one who told me if I did not dilate with my first pregnancy then I will not dilate agian!?! Imagine! I had trouble finding a pro VBAC active birth unit around pretoria so I found a midwife in joburg but she was not reliable/professional. At 26 weeks I started with a new midwife and the rest is history. My bouncing boy is now 6 months. When I get asked if it was natural or ceasor, I’m always proud to announce, VBAC!!

With all said and done, I can imagine why doctors/ gynaes are shy to perform vbacs. I exprerienced a lot of pressure/ discomfort on my scar as I dilated more and more. Which is why it requires close monitoring and a service that would cost them thousands of rands, and they would not want to do that now would they!!!!. Thank God for midwives , with you ALL they way. What they do is out of this world.

Hi everyone. It's been a while since my last posting and the road to vbac attempt is not an easy one.
My search obviously started with a whole lot of information from this website .
I am now 36 weeks pregnant and would like to share a lot of information that I think would do a lot of people good.
Firstly, you need to be patient. Yes,there's a difference between a pro VBAC gynae and a gynae who says yes you can try natural birth.
Until you find a supportive gynae it may be a journey. It may be a journey to find a suitable midwife as well. I had the heartache of strggling with both.
I would recommend that one finds a midwife first and rely on her to refer you to a gynae that she's worked with because she obviously has your interest at heart. Secondly, once you have found a midwife, you start a journey of hopefulness. Yes her first instinct is to ‘promise' yo a trial of labour BUT there are other factors to consider.
KEEP IN MIND, THE GOAL IS TO EVENTUALLY HAVE BOTH MOM AND BABY HEALTHY!
So as much as your hopes may be set on not havving a ceasor, with time your body and time can only tell. There are things to consider such as the weight of the baby, the position of the baby, the cervix and the ultimate deciding factor the progression of labour.
Some facts may be hard to swallow some facts when we come across them because we may assume that since we're with a midwife it will end your way. You need to find a midwife who will be honest with you and not tell you what you want to hear but what will result in the health of your baby.
The other information you will find out is that once the baby is a certain weight the back-up gynae will not recommend a VBAC (over 3.5 kg). Thirdly, midwives do not have the full support of medical aids so your pregnancy wil cost you more in cash (but not in monetary value).
While some gynaes could claim all or half their consulatation fees from the medical aids, midwifes do not. I do not blame them. My medical aid pays me back R 64 from the R 150 I claim! The medical aids only pay R 1 700 birthing fee, while gynaes claim much more than that!!!!
Lastly and this was a huge adjustment for me and the reason why I changed midwifes along the way. Not all of them have dedicated administrators so that it's easier to remain in touch with them.
In the world of gynaes, you make a call, someone picks up the phone and you make an appointment. Same procedure when you need to reschedule or the other. Feedback was guaranteed. And on a personal note, mylast point. I had my check up with the back-up gynae today and that's actualy what prompted me to share my experience.
As I said, I am 36 weeks ( first baby is 17 months). With my 1st pregnancy, at 36 weeks the gynae picked up that the cord was nead baby's neck but could not confirm that it was AROUND her neck.
Pregnancy no 2 and @36 weeks again the cord was near baby's neck and although this is a concern to me me the gynae reckons it's safe enough to wait until labour to see how things will progress. Except, I don't want to hype myself up unnecessarily.
Frankly I would rather find out closer to the time and if the cord is indeed around his eck then just schedule a csection (did I just say that!!!!!!!).
Yes, it's about the safety of the baby. Those are words that have been hard to swallow but fundamental!! But oh, how I would love to have a successful VBAC experience ” />