Meeting with our Doula

We met with our Doula, Kelly on Thursday. I have been chatting with her online, and we met her previously at a seminar on 'Preventing the preventable caesarian'.

I get along well with her and she has a good understanding of what I want from this birth. She and our OB have also worked together before, and both recommend each other. This makes me feel more comfortable in that we all have the same goal in mind and will be working for me rather than ignoring or undermining me.

The key benefit of a doula, for us, is that we'll have someone who is knowledgeable/experienced in birthing, with us for the whole labour. (What 'traditional' midwives do, as opposed to the in-hospital 'obstetric nurse' midwives who work on shifts - which is fair enough). If I had a doula last time I think that she would have picked up that VV was posterior (she showed all the classic signs) and would have made suggestions so that VV may have perhaps turned. That, in turn, may have prevented her C/S. Again... all just 'perhaps'es there, but we think it certainly isn't going to hurt and could in fact help a lot.

A few interesting stats about VBAC. In Australia (I think), the rate of a caesarian scar rupturing at some point during the pregnancy is 0.2%. During birth, it doubles, but that still makes it only 0.4%. I am happy taking on that very small risk, seeing how the risks involved with actually having a C/S are much higher, and our OB is so supportive. In fact, when we first met our OB, she said "So you're going for a VBAC then?.... Because I'm not interested in taking you on if you want a C/S".