I began questioning the so-called outrageousness of me having to travel to have my VBAC last night as I watched the Olympics. There was a male figure skater who was skating for Italy and the announcer said that he was actually French but the European Federation wouldn't allow him to skate for France. So, with lofty Olympic dreams in his head, this young man denounced his French citizenship and became at Italian citizen. You might say, "Wow! What an ambitious young man. Now that's a person who had a dream and wasn't afraid to sacrifice to follow it. Good for him. Bravo!" Indeed, the announcer's tone of voice seethed admiration for the young man's actions.
After the young man skated I recalled another skater in this year's Olympics, a woman, who gave up her Japanese citizenship to skate for Russia. She even changed the spelling of her last name. The reason given was that there was no couple's skating "legacy" in Japan.
With all this in mind, my hard question: Is it really so "outrageous" that I had to travel to another state to have a VBAC?
When I was going through the ordeal I thought it was ridiculous. Why should I have to inconvenience my family and myself just to give birth vaginally to my baby? Why should I have to travel so far away? Why wouldn't the doctors or midwives here just attend my baby's birth?
Yet, what would have happened to the young skater from France or the young skater from Japan had they had similar thoughts? Had they scoffed at the inconvenience their dreams produced, I wouldn't know who they are because they wouldn't be in the Olympics.
Every day people go through unimaginable circumstances and face such extreme obstacles to getting what their hearts desire. Think about people who travel to other states or countries for state-of-the-art medical treatments. Do they complain about the inconvenience?
So I'll repeat my hard question:Is it really so "outrageous" that I had to travel to another
state to have a VBAC?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
A Hard Question
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4 comments:
Yes, yes it is outrageous. Olympic dreams my require Olympic-sized sacrifices. Birthing a baby in the safest way possible? The natural, physiological way? That should not take an Olympic effort to arrange. Hugs!
Actually the female skater you mentioned was from Japan, not China.
A VBAC is not a state-of-the-art medical procedure. It's just giving birth, and carries with it no greater risk than any other birth. If a hospital can perform a "normal" vaginal delivery then they can also do VBACs. ACOG themselves, as well as other numerous studies, show VBAC to be a safe, reasonable option. If hospitals cannot offer evidence-based care then that speaks of the hospital itself, not the safety of procedures like VBAC.
I have had 2 vbacs, and it is outrageous we have to search for a hospital willing to deliver our babies. Especially considering there reasoning, no to vbac because of the potential need for an emergency c-section. But in theory shouldn't all c-sections be an emergency. if they cant provide an emergency c-section should these institutions be calling themselves hospitals?
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