{"id":15736,"date":"2015-03-23T07:17:46","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T12:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=15736"},"modified":"2015-03-21T12:19:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-21T17:19:11","slug":"book-review-the-vbac-companion-by-diana-korte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2015\/20150323-15736.htm","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The VBAC Companion<\/em> by Diana Korte"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m sure it will come as a total shock to my readers – but I’m hoping for a vaginal birth the next time around.<\/p>\n

I know, I know. You’re having a hard time wrapping your head around it.<\/p>\n

Truth is, even if I weren’t all about natural childbirth and minimal interventions and maximizing chances at successfully establishing breastfeeding (all good cases for vaginal birth after c-section, or VBAC), I want to have lots of kids. And you can only have so many repeat cesareans. <\/p>\n

So I’m planning on doing everything I can to work toward that end.<\/p>\n

Diana Korte’s The VBAC Companion<\/em> is the first resource I’ve picked up – and it’s a pretty good one. It outlines the case for VBAC, as well as the risks associated with it, and then goes right into how to plan for your VBAC.<\/p>\n

The bulk of the book consists of finding a medical professional and a birthing location that are supportive of VBAC. <\/p>\n

Turns out, the most important thing you can do to ensure success of your VBAC attempt is to have supportive attendants. Having a doctor or midwife who believes in VBAC, who has practices that support successful laboring (versus “trials of labor” that root against a woman), and who has successfully helped women have VBACs is HUGE.<\/p>\n

The final part of the book was about laboring – mostly the general stuff you’d learn in any childbirth preparation class. How to manage pain and keep labor moving by moving around and assuming different positions. Which interventions help a woman to labor well and which slow or stop labor. Helpful things, but not ones unique to VBAC.<\/p>\n

This was a good book on preparing for a VBAC. I would imagine that most women who want to attempt a VBAC will find it very useful.<\/p>\n

I didn’t. <\/p>\n

You see, I was hoping for something more. I was hoping for guidelines for physical fitness, exercises to do. I was hoping for weight gain guidelines. I was hoping for more specific laboring advice. Not that the other stuff isn’t important. I know the stuff this book discussed is the most important stuff for ensuring success. It’s just that I’m blessed to already have two extremely supportive attendants. I know that when I try again, my midwife and my OB are both rooting for me and are going to do everything in their power to help me to be successful. <\/p>\n

So, I keep searching for that other stuff (I have a feeling I might not be able to find it in a book – so I’ve got a meeting scheduled with my midwife to talk about what she’s found to be helpful with other women). <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book as a resource for other women who are hoping for a VBAC, especially for those who don’t know their OB, doctor, or midwife’s track record on VBAC and need help choosing a supportive professional.<\/p>\n

\n

Rating:<\/b> 4 stars
\nCategory:<\/b> Pregnancy\/Childbirth
\nSynopsis:<\/b> Rationale for choosing a vaginal birth after cesarean and how to plan for a successful VBAC.
\nRecommendation:<\/b> If you are interested in trying for a VBAC, this is a good resource.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m sure it will come as a total shock to my readers – but I’m hoping for a vaginal birth the next time around. I know, I know. You’re having a hard time wrapping your head around it. Truth is, even if I weren’t all about natural childbirth and minimal interventions and maximizing chances at … Read more Book Review: The VBAC Companion<\/em> by Diana Korte<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[36],"tags":[48,1382,1383,1384],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15736"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15738,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15736\/revisions\/15738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}