The Meeting and Informed Consent

The meeting went better than expected - though it was a bit brutal. The OB I met with is the one who will doing my version on Wednesday and she said she's never done one on a VBAC mom before but only because most women opt to go with a repeat c-section. But she did agree to do it!!!!! Whew!!!!!

She then asked what happened with my first c-section and why I wanted a VBAC. When I told her she said my reasons are understandable and then the meeting pretty much turned into an "Informed Consent" meeting for my VBAC. She pulled out their VBAC consent form which basically outlines ALL the risks involved. Let me just say, I totally understand why many prior c-section moms opt out of the VBAC after this meeting!!!!! It was BRUTAL! She was never rude to me nor did she ever talk down to me and even though I know all the risks since I've done a ton of research, it was hard to hear her talk about baby death and uterine rupture. I never felt like she was trying to scare me but it's hard stuff to hear when you're almost 37 weeks pregnant. I told her I understood why she had to go over all the info and respected it but I was sure a VBAC is best for me - she visibly relaxed when I said that, I got the feeling she's had some bad experiences with other moms before during meetings like this. I told her I had to weigh the risks and benefits for myself and absolutely still want the option, and then I signed their form.

And I'd like to say it irritates the crap out of me that the form barely mentioned the risks involved with a repeat c-section - there was like one thing that said something like a "repeat c-section has more risk for the mom" but basically it's glossed over. It's no wonder many women say no to the VBAC but sign right up for the c-section - the risks are barely discussed!

At that point she offered to do my version today which shocked me! But since we had our daughter with us (and she was already getting tired and cranky) I told her I could wait until Wednesday since it's already scheduled then. She told me to continue doing the positions I'm doing and said I should consider acupuncture as well (which shocked me because my husband is very opposed to non-traditional medicine so I'm not used to that attitude in a doc). Before we left she felt my stomach and felt the baby's head right above my belly button which is where I thought it was because I had been rubbing it during the meeting!

My only worry now is the baby won't turn because they don't deliver breech babies which means I'll need to find another doc or schedule a c-section (or have a c-section if she's still breech when I go into labor - which is the route I'd like to take). I've already started looking around for a doc who will deliver a breech baby but I'm not 100% sure I want to go that route. So I'm off to lay upside down some more.