I Got My VBAC When I Finally Switched Care Providers- VBA3C, A Guest Post By Caryn Westdyk
There is so much truth in this post, literally EVERYBODY who is pregnant or ever planning on being pregnant or has a friend who is pregnant should read it.
Do you know HOW important it is that your care provider be the right one for YOUR birth choices? Do you know it is OK to break up with them to get a good birth?
READ THIS.
NOW.
Then share it.
(This guest post was written by Caryn Westdyk, a natural birth (Birth Boot Camp) teacher in Carrollton Texas. Her story is incredible and you should take her class. Thank you Caryn-)
Enjoy~
Finding the right care
provider, not something to be taken lightly
I just celebrated a
momentous occasion this past week. It was the first birthday of our
precious Shelby who is our fourth child! So what’s the big deal? I
have four kids and I’m fussing over a first birthday? Isn’t this
old hat by now? Well it wasn’t just her first birthday it was the
first anniversary of my first vaginal birth.
Not just any birth, a
vaginal birth after THREE cesareans, something that is often unheard
of!
It was a special day, because Shelby is special to us in so many
ways. However, the flood of emotions just came back as I began to
recall the wonderful moments of this amazing birth.
You can read my full birth
story here.
The
basic gist of the story is that I had three very unnecessary
cesareans and then one victorious natural vaginal birth! All four of
my children are amazing and beautiful and in the end how they got
here doesn’t change how I feel about each of them. I do, however,
feel differently about each birth, because I feel cheated in many
ways. I can blame it on so many reasons: my lack of education, my
impatience at the end of my first birth, an impatient OB.
It was my lack of
education that led me to become a natural childbirth educator for
Birth Boot Camp. After my
VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), I wanted to help other women
make educated decisions about their birth and not feel blindsided by
the process.
I see birth as a recipe. There are so many ingredients
to make it a success. I believe education is a key component to
success. There are many other ingredients such having a doula, eating
a healthy diet and staying active, the list goes on. What is the most
important ingredient? I believe it is the right care provider! That
doesn’t mean that the other ingredients don’t matter. Just like
any good recipe, you can’t just leave out an ingredient and expect
it to be a success. Not having the right care provider is like
leaving out salt from a recipe. You can have all the right
ingredients and then skip that very small simple step like putting
salt in, and everything is ruined! I believe it can be that way with
birth! You can prepare yourself all you want, but in the end, your
provider really has so much to say about the outcome of your birth.
I
hear it so often from women. They love their OB and don’t want to
leave him or her. They “think” or “hope” their OB will
support them in their wishes to have a natural birth so they just
cross their fingers that it will be the case. Unfortunately, all too
often it isn’t the case. This isn’t a post about bashing OBs. My
natural birth was with one amazingly competent OB who believes in the
process of birth and supports women every day in having the birth
they desire. I do not hate all OBs! However, I do believe that many
OBs are not excited about supporting a woman in natural birth.
Natural birth takes time. It takes patience. It shouldn’t be
tampered with. A woman’s body knows how to give birth. It doesn’t
need interventions, at least not in most instances.
If you want a natural
birth, you need to have the right care provider, plain and simple!
This means you have to carefully search for the right one. Be it an
OB or Midwife, it doesn’t matter. You need to do your research! Ask
around, but don’t just ask anyone. Ask someone who has had a
natural birth! If you have had a cesarean and desire a VBAC, join
your local ICAN group and
ask for recommendations.
This is not something to be taken lightly! I
wish I had known this after my first unnecessary cesarean! I wish
someone had told me to hit the road and look for a new OB. I didn’t
want to leave her, because I liked her. We had a good rapport. I felt
guilty even considering leaving. I believed her with my second child
when she said she would support me in a VBAC.
Unfortunately, I didn’t
ask her the hard questions. I didn’t ask her how many VBACs she had
attended or what her VBAC success rate was. I should’ve seen the
red flags when she told me she would let me “attempt a trial of
labor” if I went into labor spontaneously and not past 41 weeks. A
truly supportive VBAC provider would not place those stipulations on
you. As you can guess, my first VBAC attempt was not a success. I was
never really given the chance. With my third I was told I no longer
had a choice.
But you do have a choice!
We all have choices in birth! Don’t let any care provider tell you
otherwise. Not all OBs are created equal and not all Midwives are
created equal. You have to be willing to put out the effort to find
the right provider for you, one that will support your wishes in
childbirth.
I can’t sing the praises
enough of my amazing OB, Dr. C! This man gave me a new found hope in
obstetrics! He is truly a godsend to women in the Dallas/Fort Worth
area! VBAC? No problem. VBAC after many cesareans? No problem there
either. Vaginal breech birth? He does them all the time! Vaginal
breech twin birth? He does that too! Obviously there are
complications that can arise in any of those situations, but he is
truly skilled in each of these areas and I would trust him in any of
these situations. I would trust this man with my life! I am so
thankful I finally had the guts to “break up” with my OB!
Please don’t roll the
dice with your birth. If you truly care about the process of birth,
find the right care provider. Don’t skip this very important step,
or you may regret it in the end.
Looking for an incredible woman to teach your natural birth class in Carrollton Texas?! Call Caryn. She is truly awesome.
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