VBAC subdirectory ~ ACOG & CMA Lobbying MBC to make it illegal for licensed midwives to attend VBAC mothers ~ 2016

SnakeCatchBird_smallCalifornia College of Midwives’ VBAC Statement

Here is everything you ever wanted to know about VBAC in relation to:

  • Ca LMs and Overview of VBAC Controversies
  • AB 1308 and the politics of ACOG and the MBC
  • Why the historical development of obstetrics as a surgical speciality that routinely used general anesthesia, episiotomy and forceps still negatively influences the practice and billing codes for obstetrical medicine today (normal childbirth is still billed as a “surgical procedure”) 

Links to Preamble ~ Parts 1, 2 & 3

Links to CCM’s VBAC Statement, parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

 Three-part Preamble :

Part 1:  High CS Rate & 50% Hospitals Ban VBACs:
symptoms of an irrational maternity care system

  • Intro to topic, Definitions & Explanations
  • Maternity Care is a rational responsibility of society
  • Dark Side of the Moon

 Part 2:  The Obstetricalization of Normal Maternity Care ~ 1910 to 1980-ish

  • The Great Divide ~ Before and After Common Knowledge of the Germ Theory of contagion & infectious disease (BC vs AC)
  • A quick ride in the Way-back Machine
  • The medical no-man’s land of between 1881 and 1945
  • Trying to fool Mother Nature: a smart idea or iatrogenic problem?

Part 3 ~ Developing a Rational Maternity Care out of the Ashes of our Illogical Obstetric-centric System

  • Obstetrical game-changer: the many-headed monster of malpractice litigation
  • Problems in Mudville
  • WANTED: a Mother-Baby-Father-friendly maternity care system that both functions for childbearing families and is a cost-effective form of healthcare
  • Solutions to the VBAC Problem: Hospital-based physiological childbirth as provided by midwives and other professional birth attendants

Links to CCM’s VBAC Statement, parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

 4-part VBAC Statement

part 1 ~ Ca LMs and Overview of VBAC Controversies

  • VBAC in California ~ Access-to-Care & Denial-of-Service Issues
  • Maternal-Infant Outcome Statistics for the US
  • Availability of VBAC in California
  • Life after the first Cesarean

Part 2 ~ Cesarean rates & risks; availability of VBAC

  • Risk of Primary and Repeat Cesareans and the Unintended Consequences of VBAC bans by hospitals and obstetrical groups
  • The high Cesarean rate and associated risks in subsequent pregnancies
  • Abnormal placenta implantation & increased risk of mortality for both mother and baby in post-Cesarean pregnancies
  • Maternal consequences of placental accreta, increta and percreta
  • Potentially-fatal placental abnormalities and Cesarean surgery
  • Perinatal Consequences of Placental Abnormalities

 Part 3 ~ Cost of high CS rate & low VBAC rate, hospital VBAC bans

  • Ethical, Economic, personal and societal cost of a high-Cesarean/low-VBAC rate
  • How minor or “ordinary” problems can work against a laboring woman
  • Practical issues facing VBAC families in California
  • VBAC bans not safer; increase risks for affected childbearing women
 BirdAgainstHarvestMoon_09

Part 4 ~ The Post-Cesarean Problem for California Mothers & Midwives

  • The Magnitude of the Post-Cesarean Problem in California and its effect on childbearing women and their midwives
  • Walking the Talk ~
  • The other ‘big blue elephant’ hiding in plain sight right
  • Additional information on EFM

Part 5 ~ VBAC Concluding Statement (part 5)

A Better Way ~
A 3-fold reduction in operative deliveries, while dramatically lowering costs & improving maternity care for healthy women with normal pregnancies