RCS vs. VBAC

I was searching for something to post in my ICAN group this morning, and came across this great blog post on a blog I follow, written by one of my ICAN of North Texas friends.  I love the charts she incorporated from the ICAN of Omaha page and wanted to share them here, for those looking for the hard statistics of Repeat Cesarean (RCS) vs. VBAC.

Make an informed choice about the risks of Repeat Cesareans vs. VBAC's

1st C-section
 Risk of hysterectomy: 0.65%
Risk of blood transfusion: 4.05%
Risk of placenta accreta: 0.24%

2nd C-section	1st VBAC
Risk of major complications: 4.3%	Chance of successful VBAC: 63.3%
Risk of placenta accreta: 0.31%	Risk of uterine rupture: 0.87%
Risk of hysterectomy: 0.42%	Risk of hysterectomy: 0.23%
Risk of blood transfusion: 1.53%	Risk of blood transfusion: 1.89%
Risk of dense adhesions: 21.6%

3rd C-section	2nd VBAC
Risk of major complications: 7.5%	Chance of successful VBAC: 87.6%
Risk of placenta accreta: 0.57%	Risk of uterine rupture: 0.45%
Risk of hysterectomy: 0.9%	Risk of hysterectomy: 0.17%
Risk of blood transfusion: 2.26%	Risk of blood transfusion: 1.24%
Risk of dense adhesion's: 32.2%

4th C-section	3rd VBAC
Risk of major complications: 12.5%	Chance of successful VBAC: 90.9%
Risk of placenta accreta: 2.13%	Risk of uterine rupture: 0.38%
Risk of hysterectomy: 2.41%	Risk of hysterectomy: 0.06%
Risk of blood transfusion: 3.65%	Risk of blood transfusion: 0.99%
Risk of dense adhesion's: 42.2%

NOTE: "Major complications" include one or more of the following: uterine rupture, hysterectomy, additional surgery due to hemorrhage, injury to the bladder or bowel, thromboembolism, and/or excessive blood loss.

All VBAC stats for this chart are taken from the Mercer and Gilbert study, 2008 which includes induced and augmented labors. Additional studies have shown lower uterine rupture rates (especially with spontaneous labors) and higher VBAC success rates with non augmented or induced labors.

Sidenote: It's pretty awesome to know if I decide to have another baby, my chance of success for a 2VBAC is 87.6%!! :)

The Big Announcement!!

I am finally ready to share with you that I am the new leader of ICAN of Central Louisiana!!

What is ICAN?  I'm glad you asked!
"The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. (ICAN) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery, and promoting Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC)."

If you'd like to become a member of our group on facebook, visit us here.

You can contact us through email at icanofcenla (at) gmail (dot) com.

I'm VERY excited to get some cesarean awareness and prevention brought to Central Louisiana.  Hopefully this will help mamas like me in the future find support in the area and eventually achieve VBACs here as well.

3 Months Old

No, I haven't forgotten about this little ol' blog, if you're still reading.  Life is just busy with two kids and I've made a promise to myself to spend less time in the internet world and more time enjoying the present.  I read this blog post about "How to Miss a Childhood" and it has really impacted me.  I don't want to get so caught up in technology that I miss out on what life really is.  Everyone is asleep in my house, so I have some free time now.

So things never aligned for me to make it back to Texas for my postpartum visit.  I've been feeling fine and I talked with Dr. C's nurse, so I wasn't too concerned.  I started to have a little postpartum depression and I needed to decide what I was going to do for birth control, so I made an appointment with a local OBGYN that I've heard great things about when it comes to him supporting natural childbirth.  I had heard in the past that he had done some VBACs, but was told he "didn't like to get involved" when I called to ask for a consult.  The appointment went well and some great news is that if we decide we want to have one more child, he is totally supportive of me having a 2VBAC with him.  He says now I have a "proven pelvis" and he has no problem with me going to 42 weeks before talking induction.  I liked him overall.  He's no Dr. C, but I learned from my delivery of Baby B that the doctor doesn't matter as much as my mind set going in to delivery.  I'm not saying baby #3 is going to happen, but Daddy B and I want to keep our options open.  If it is going to happen, it won't be for quite a while, so don't get your hopes up!  

Baby B is 3 months old now!  He is the sweetest baby boy.  I could melt at the smiles he gives me when I go to get him up from naps or bed in the morning.  He's sleeping well, still swaddled, and does about 2, 6 hour sleep chunks a night.  We are on a great schedule that is flexible and he's taking 3 naps a day.  At 10 weeks he was 13lbs 12oz and 25" long.  He is rolling from belly to back and can hold his head up like a champ!  We love doing the kangaroo carry in my ring sling.

I'm still pumping!!  I'm proud of myself!  :)  I don't make much milk and this week it has dropped lower, but this next week is "Operation Increase Milk Supply."  I've deemed it so in my head haha.  Lots of steel cut oats, fenugreek and water.  I'm not ready to give up.  I have a goal to make it 6 months and take it from there.  It's very time consuming because I pump in 30 minute sessions, but I know I'll feel that dang mommy-guilt if I just quit.  

I'm still working on my big announcement.  The last step was completed today and I'm excited to share it with you!

I have lots of ideas of posts I want to do in regards to VBAC, c-sections, and inductions in our country, but I know work will need to go in to them.  I'm not sure how many people keep up with this blog, so with 13 followers, I don't know if I want to take the time away from my family to organize the posts and do the research to back up my statements. 

Here's some more pictures of my beautiful boys!

Loving the bumbo

Big smiles from my little dude

Brother play time :)

Baby C enjoying being part of the 3 year old class at VBS