Thursday, January 9, 2014

Do Your Research and Question ALL the Things!

I was a bit disappointed, if I'm being honest, about a post Improving Birth did today about Florida birth. The Facebook page stated matter-of-factly that no, ladies in Florida, vaginal birth is not illegal for you. Duh. (That's the tone I took from it, but maybe I'm sensitive). 


Anyway, the fact is that vaginal birth after cesarean in birth centers IS in fact illegal in Florida. True, it's one form of birth among many different types, places, etc. But my gripe is that Improving Birth is a resource for a lot of women, and one that many take at it's word as experts. How disappointed would I personally be to get my hopes up that Improving Birth says the birth I want is legal, only to find out it's not? 


I posted my response there about how it should be my right to birth where and how I want if I'm otherwise healthy, and that doing so would make me feel safe and raise the chance of my successful VBAC, but I don't like that most women won't read the comments and learn specifics. Usually when I make a fuss about VBAC restrictions in Florida, I'm met with "well, you could always do a homebirth!" I was met with just that here...The thing is that going "off the grid" shouldn't have to be our only option, though. Home births are great, but for those of us that would like to be near emergency care in case we LEGITIMATELY (not routinely) need it, we should be allowed that simple, not at all outrageous, scenario to feel safe in our labors, which is what most likely would result in successful VBACs.


The bottom line is: I feel like the message shouldn't have been delivered in such a "duh!" way when there's obviously stipulations and it's been shown time and time again that where and how you birth is incredibly important and indicative of your outcome. My two cents.

What do you think about VBAC restrictions? What sort of opposition have you come across in your pregnancy or labor/birth experience, VBAC-related or otherwise?

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