Camping with the Mediocre Dad

Camping tips, tricks and advice from a fairly average parent and a reformed dad blogger

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Camping
  • Family Days Out
  • Sponsorship
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Why celebrate mediocrity?
Menu

Fatherhood²: “VBAC for good” and other strange things

Posted on June 24, 2011January 7, 2018 by Henry Elliss

Robert, when he was about 2 hours old
Today was our 38-week hospital appointment – the (hopefully) final appointment before baby arrives: an appointment which we never got to in Robert’s case. As far as I can tell, the only thing they actually did – after almost 90 minutes of waiting and 3 different medical professionals – was check Sara’s urine sample and listen to baby’s heart, and dish out the same advice they talked to us about at our last visit: the controversial and (apparently) much-debated subject of “VBACs”…

For the uninitiated, VBAC (one of the worst acronyms I’ve ever heard) stands for “Vaginal Birth After Caesarian” – in other words, choose to have a natural birth despite the fact that you’ve previously chosen/had to have a c-section.

The doctor who saw us (the quietest man on the face of the planet – not an easy man to understand while Robert is jabbering away next to you) said something which struck me as odd:

“Are you still happy to go for a natural birth?”

That was particularly odd for me because nobody has EVER asked my wife whether she actually IS happy to go for a natural birth – we’ve simply been told all the way through the pregnancy that “VBAC is wonderful”, that is’ definitely something we should “work towards” and that there really wasn’t any arguing with them. We’ve raised our concerns to our midwives a couple of times, but they’ve always pushed back that a VBAC is the thing to do.

I’ve got no opinion about whether a VBAC is better or not, because we’ve not had one (yet) – all I know is, nobody has ever actually asked us what we think about it, and whenever we’ve raised it we’ve been (almost forcibly) steered away from the subject.

We’ve had conversations with other mums about it though, some of whom have offered advice or tips about how one might engineer a caesarian if that’s what you want to do – but it seems like a very weird situation to me that you can’t just have an open dialogue about the subject with your doctors and midwives.

When it comes to how it actually unfolds, I am very comfortable with the fact that I have no say whatsoever in how the birth will go. Sara is very aware of the fact that a VBAC is a lot quicker to heal from, and supposedly better in most aspects (though I have a son with a LOVELY round, un-squashed head who might play a good case for the prosecution…!), but we’ve only experienced a caesarian so far so we’re both understandably nervous about it.

I guess only time will tell how this all pans out, but it’s certainly something I’d be interested to other people’s opinions on if you’re happy to contribute…

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print
  • baby
  • birth
  • caesarian
  • check-up
  • Fatherhood²
  • hospital
  • vaginal
  • vbac
  • 2 thoughts on “Fatherhood²: “VBAC for good” and other strange things”

    1. Jessevershed says:
      June 24, 2011 at 8:26 pm

      I have VBACed twice in one day with my twins. Twin two was breech. I can honestly say it was a breeze compared to an emergency caesarian. I personally was ‘all or nothing’ on this. Any whiff of an intervention of any kind and I was straight into the theatre. In the event, and commonly as far as I can work out, second births are a LOT easier and quicker. This goes for those of us that didin’t get far at all first time around too, labour much quicker. as for the VBAC bit, do the research, and you’ll see the background risk is not that different to that of a normal birthnnReally worth a go I’d say. It’s great that you are being encouraged in this – there are lot of women who are actively discouraged by the ness on this option.nnGood lucknJessica

    2. Pingback: Fatherhood²: V-BACk to That Old Chestnut Again…

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    henweb

    henweb

    Pun-loving, 👨‍👦‍👦 dad-blogging, 📷 photo-taking, 🏰 Lego-making, 🎅🏿 beard-wearing, 👶 child-caring dad of 2. 💍 Husband of 1. 💩 Strategist

    View Full Profile →

    Instagram Gallery

    A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning walk. Some lovely sunrises, lots of ice on the canal and a couple of rivers and lakes that were quickly merging together, at the expense of the newly-laid track. At least my wellies stayed strong!
    Instagram post 18021846115464989 Instagram post 18021846115464989
    A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good th A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good thing to come from this week’s rail strikes (and the subsequent week WFH) was my daily sunrise walks - something I really miss when I have to go into London. Fingers crossed that 2023 allows for a few more of them.
    Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Ple Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Please enjoy this photo of our beautiful but low-key Christmas decorations, hung in the splendor of our delightful Tudor home.
    Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter
    Lovely moonrise this morning 😍 Lovely moonrise this morning 😍
    Load More… Follow on Instagram

    A little ad for some stuff




    Subscribe by RSS

    RSS Feed RSS – Posts

    Recent posts

    • 5 Tips to Make Family Travel Easier December 2, 2022
    • 5 Great Camping Blogs You Should Follow August 18, 2022
    • Summer Holidays in the Mountains? 4 Reasons Why You Should Go for it! June 7, 2022
    • Family Camping for Beginners – A Guide to Buying a New Tent May 31, 2022
    • The Best New Beauty Treatments to Prepare for Summer May 31, 2022

    A bigger ad for some stuff

    Recent Comments

    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | Camping with the Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Food, glorious food
    • Tiana on Fatherhood²: The Ultimate Octonauts Quiz
    • The best camping gadgets for your next trip with the family | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Dynamite dad blogs | Samuel Windsor on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Camping with Babies & Toddlers

    My Brimpton Village history website

    My Mastodon profile

    © 2023 Camping with the Mediocre Dad | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
    Find me on Mastodon