Pregnancy, Parenthood & Playtime

Recently I came across a great video on Youtube which features Dr. Stuart Fischbien speaking about the safety of Vaginal Birth after Cesarean which has turned into such a hot button topic in our society today since the VBAC rate took a nose dive in the past decade.
In 1996, the VBAC rate was upwards of 28.3%, the highest it ever has been. Now we are seeing VBAC rates in some states of 6% or less which is really sad.
Between misinformation given by word of mouth, and even some health care providers women are making the choice to have elective major surgery over attempting for a natural birth. Another problem is the amount of hospitals that are taking on unlawful bans on VBAC, which leaves many mothers with no choices other than birth at home, birth alone, or sign up for surgery. It is estimated that half of the Nations hospitals currently ban VBAC.

But what is the problem with the misinformation about this procedure?  It is not only putting mothers at risk, but also their babies.
Many women are under the impression that having a repeat cesarean section is the safest option, but in reality for the vast majority of low risk mothers, that is not the case. The safest option would be a vaginal birth after cesarean section. But many factors sway women away from this choice.
One being the risk of uterine rupture, which in healthy, low risk women is less than 1%. What is not being told to these women that any time after you have a cesarean section, during a pregnancy you run the risk of uterine rupture, not just if you go into labor, or try to give birth.
But the risks of VBAC do not outweigh the risks of major surgery.

In the video below, Dr. Stuart Fischbein, a California based OB/GYN who has been in practice for years talks about the safety of VBAC and common misconceptions in our society today.