Customer Reviews

DON'T CUT ME AGAIN! True Stories About Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a wonderful compilation of VBAC stories that show just how hard women often have to fight for their basic right to birth. It shows the high rate of interferences and intervention one can expect with a hospital, actively managed birth, which makes this book useful in learning how to anticipate the fights and how to avoid them (whether it be by knowing what questions to ask, how to effectively refuse, or to change your birth attendant/birth place to a more supportive one).

This book doesn't have studies or stats which, while I think are important to know, make this book special in that it helps remind you that birth is not about numbers- it's about women becoming mothers, babies joining families.

And as a side note, my CBAC story is in there- the one with the sabotaged hospital VBAC attempt where I was flat out lied to and coerced into an unnecessary, traumatizing repeat cesarean. I went on to birth my third child at home after two cesareans, almost a full pound bigger than my 'too big' baby that took too long for the doctor to wait for with my second child ;)

For all those who are contemplating a VBAC or those studying birth this is a must read book. It shows the empowerment of women who trust in their bodies and birth the way THEY want to birth rather than how they are TOLD to birth.

What attracted me to this book was that these are actual birth stories of women and families that tried for VBAC. Statistics, studies, politics and opinions are fine, but I want to make my own decision! Do you want to know "what is VBAC really like?" this is a way to find out; learn from people who have been there/done that. After reading it, it was exactly what I wanted- I can learn something from every mother's experience. Not every C-section is "evil" and not every vaginal birth is "perfect" but you do read the patterns of (often unneeded) medical intervention, and realize that next time you can have more confidence to create and experience birth, whatever it brings.

I'm a VBA2C mom myself, and also a childbirth educator and doula. I bought this book when I was pregnant with my third baby, after my first two were born by cesarean. While I really wanted to like this book, I had a very hard time reading it. The stories are in the moms' own voices, which is great except that most of them really don't know much about birth, and the misinformation was difficult to get past. Besides that, but equally as frustrating for me, was that the editing in this book is HORRIBLE. The spelling and punctuation are terrible all throughout. If you're a person who notices things like that, you will be very distracted when reading this book!

Warning - this book is NOT about evidence based practices! The author even mentions how you can't color your hair during pregnancy - not true. After reading some poorly written and not well edited stories where some women had a VBAC out of pure luck instead of becoming educated advocates for their own care, I was horrified that this book ended with a story of a stillbirth! Women who have been through birth trauma don't need to be blindsided with an off-topic story about neonatal death.

This book is a good read for women seeking insight and inspiration from others who have achieved a VBAC, VBA2C, etc. The book should be read with an open mind however because, at the end of the day, childbirth experiences fall across a continuum. Most importantly, these stories are compilations of experiences from the perspective of the individual contributing writer, therefore illustrating that experience can[for the most part] be subjective.

The one fall of the book is its lack of scientific information (although it delivers quick one-lined statistics in the first page of the book). Other than that, I would recommend it to pregnant women who will soon deliver, and women whose experience, c-section or not, may have fallen short of personal expectations.

I can't say enough about how much reading this book helped me. I have had a previous c-section and plan to go with a VBAC and a good portion of that choice was helped by this book. These women are amazing. They stood up for what they believed in and what they believed in was their body! Some of them agonized at first but in the end felt they made the right and healthiest choice. I applaud them all. If you are in doubt about your choice I can't recommend this book enough to you.

Fabulous book has some great stories (real life) to prepare and inspire you for your VBAC. I read at least a story from this book each night to keep me positive and luckily I got my VBAC.

I wanted a "rah-rah", "I am woman, watch me vbac" book. This was not quite what I was looking for. Most of the birth stories are antiquated, speaking about the use of gas and forceps. Several of the stories talked about the women achieving their vbac "by luck", not through research, support or a caring provider. I am very happy for the women that achieved their vbac, however the stories were not the kind of vbac I want or will be working towards. I love to read labor and birth stories and many of them were not very detailed. Off to look for another vbac book to read.