As a Licensed Midwife who does Home VBACs, it is *not* "over my head" to do VBACs and those of you who think so 1. don't know me 2. don't know my experience 3. don't know the writer's history 4. don't understand how informed consent works.
If you want an HBA2C (Home Birth After 2 Cesareans) and you have an *experienced* midwife and have done your research and accept the out-of-hospital risks (and benefits!) for you AND your child, then you are set to have a far more wonderful experience than you would in the hospital BECAUSE I know of NO hospital that allows VBA2C in all of my area (S. CA). It would be an incredibly rare doc nowadays to allow a VBAmC (after multiple cesareans) and CNMs are certainly not permitted to manage VBAmCs, either. As far as I can tell, your *only* VBAC chance is a homebirth.
I've been assisting women for 25 years now and VBACs were the norm until a couple of years ago. The fear you hear in these women's voices is recent and induced by the docs (including the one who wrote in) who crave surgery and the ease and cash it provides. Go to ICAN's website to see the REAL risk of uterine rupture versus DEATH from a scheduled cesarean, you scaremongers, then come talk to me about where J. should be terrified to give birth.
(Sorry, a bit perturbed at the moment. I know it comes from y'all's ignorance and brainwashing... not your true research and information gathering.)
Over all these years, I've assisted women with 1, 2, 3 and even 4 cesareans have VBACs... I've helped women with Classical (up and down incisions) have VBACs - unheard of now! But, when you work on the Mexican border and women walk in pushing, there isn't time to say, "Oops, can't take you, honey, unless you have records!" You just put gloves on and catch a baby. It wasn't dumb luck that allowed the women to have safe VBACs over and over... it is statistically in their favor. Read the research!
IT IS THE PITOCIN AND CYTOTEC AND OTHER INDUCTION AND AUGMENTATION MEDICATIONS THAT CAUSE RUPTURES! When medications are kept OFF uteri, amazingly, they don't burst! Wow! So, if you keep your pregnant uterus out of the hospital, they can't put pitocin in your veins, can they?
Again, IF you have done ALL your research and IF you are a good candidate for a homebirth and IF your midwife is qualified and IF you understand the risks and benefits of being out of a hospital including no immediate access to a cesarean surgery and IF you accept ALL responsibility for yourself and your child... the go for it.
Barb