Resources - Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC)

• Considering a VBAC? Worried about the "ban on VBACs?" Wondering what are the benefits and what you can do to make your VBAC successful? VBAC risks are low and the old adage "Once a cesarean, always a cesarean" does not hold true today. Find a support group near you. Read successful VBAC birth stories.
• What about uterine rupture? From VBAC.com: "Dozens of studies report that for women who have had one prior cesarean birth with a low-horizontal incision, the risk of uterine rupture is 0.5% to 1.0."
• Bruce Flamm, obstetrician and VBAC advocate, and his colleagues evaluated the VBACs of 11,000 women in southern California in 1994, and found a rupture rate of .5 percent. Bruce L. Flamm, "Once a Cesarean, Always a Controversy," Obstetrics & Gynecology 90, no. 2 (1997).
• Based on the most recent evidence, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) revised its VBAC guidelines (March 2005) and now encourages women to consider labor after a prior cesarean and maternity care providers to support women's choice. The AAFP found no scientific evidence that having a surgical team and anesthesia "immediately available" when women labor for a VBAC significantly improved outcomes. The complete guidelines are available as a pdf file from the AAFP web site.
• Read an excerpt from A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth: Chapter 38 Labor and birth after previous cesarean.
• Whatever you decide, be sure your decision is informed and you are aware of your patient rights.