I've been doing a lot of thinking and researching and talking with Sorrell. I ended up with a cesarean with the twins because Ava decided she wanted to turn breech in the 9th inning and my doctors wouldn't deliver twins vaginally unless baby A was head first. Bummer, but they were both SUPER healthy and I healed fine so I'm over it. Sorta.
Until now, that is.
I have found out that Florida is one of the most VBAC unfriendly states. Most hospitals have a ban on VBACs and for the few that allow it, it is extremely hard to find a VBAC friendly doctor. Though the reasoning is cloaked in "safety and health of the the mother and baby," the real truth is money. Doctors and hospitals don't make as much on a VBAC as they do on a cesarean. Not to mention that a repeat cesarean can be scheduled and make their lives easier. The truth is that the ACOG (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) actually recommends VBAC and trial of labor after cesarean for most women who have had one, and even two, low transverse cesareans. While doctors are fast to scare patients into cesareans with the risk of uterine rupture, it is actually only a 0.7% - 0.9% chance. Contrarily, in a second repeat cesarean, there is a 3.3% change of excessive blood loss and a 25.6% chance of dense adhesions, just to name a few things. Hmmm…which sounds more risky now? Not to mention that another unnecessary cesarean would start to put me at even higher risks in third and subsequent pregnancies after.
Anyway, all of that being said, I have always been a proponent of natural birthing methods when there is no indication for intervention; I labored at a birth center with my daughter and the experience was amazing. And there is a part of me STILL trying to get over the fact that my natural labor with my son was sabotaged by an outdated back-woods hospital and that I had a cesarean with the twins. So when Sorrell and I decided that we'd be interested in doing a second surrogacy journey, I naturally started looking into local birthing centers.
Florida's money-greedy, outdated thinking quickly shot me down. In 2010 the State of Florida went against ACOG and passed a ban on VBACs in birthing centers (even though it is still perfectly safe and acceptable for those very same nurse midwives to attend a VBAC at home) because of course, the pocket deep insurance companies rule the land in Tallahassee. Well fine. I talked with Sorrell and as long as we match with awesome IPs who also understand what the recommendations of the ACOG are and recognize that a woman is ultimately the best at knowing her own body and what she is naturally meant to do, we plan to rent a house in Austin or Dallas, Texas (a VBAC birth center friendly state and where Simple Surrogacy is located) for the last two months of the pregnancy so that I can deliver there and prevent unnecessary surgical intervention that really COULD put myself and the baby at a higher risk of complications.
Now to get matched again…. ;)
Until now, that is.
I have found out that Florida is one of the most VBAC unfriendly states. Most hospitals have a ban on VBACs and for the few that allow it, it is extremely hard to find a VBAC friendly doctor. Though the reasoning is cloaked in "safety and health of the the mother and baby," the real truth is money. Doctors and hospitals don't make as much on a VBAC as they do on a cesarean. Not to mention that a repeat cesarean can be scheduled and make their lives easier. The truth is that the ACOG (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) actually recommends VBAC and trial of labor after cesarean for most women who have had one, and even two, low transverse cesareans. While doctors are fast to scare patients into cesareans with the risk of uterine rupture, it is actually only a 0.7% - 0.9% chance. Contrarily, in a second repeat cesarean, there is a 3.3% change of excessive blood loss and a 25.6% chance of dense adhesions, just to name a few things. Hmmm…which sounds more risky now? Not to mention that another unnecessary cesarean would start to put me at even higher risks in third and subsequent pregnancies after.
Anyway, all of that being said, I have always been a proponent of natural birthing methods when there is no indication for intervention; I labored at a birth center with my daughter and the experience was amazing. And there is a part of me STILL trying to get over the fact that my natural labor with my son was sabotaged by an outdated back-woods hospital and that I had a cesarean with the twins. So when Sorrell and I decided that we'd be interested in doing a second surrogacy journey, I naturally started looking into local birthing centers.
Florida's money-greedy, outdated thinking quickly shot me down. In 2010 the State of Florida went against ACOG and passed a ban on VBACs in birthing centers (even though it is still perfectly safe and acceptable for those very same nurse midwives to attend a VBAC at home) because of course, the pocket deep insurance companies rule the land in Tallahassee. Well fine. I talked with Sorrell and as long as we match with awesome IPs who also understand what the recommendations of the ACOG are and recognize that a woman is ultimately the best at knowing her own body and what she is naturally meant to do, we plan to rent a house in Austin or Dallas, Texas (a VBAC birth center friendly state and where Simple Surrogacy is located) for the last two months of the pregnancy so that I can deliver there and prevent unnecessary surgical intervention that really COULD put myself and the baby at a higher risk of complications.
Now to get matched again…. ;)