The VBAC Link

Hannah's first labor began at 40 weeks, the day after a membrane sweep. She opted for an epidural but due to fetal tachycardia, had an unplanned cesarean. It was a lonely and confusing postpartum not coping well with the emotional trauma of that birth. 
Hannah prepared for a VBAC and planned a home birth with a midwife hoping for a different experience. She felt peaceful about transferring to the hospital when labor stalled at 9cm. She talks about what made that transfer feel empowering, including the sweetest affirmations from her cute husband. 
She also shares about her baby girl’s diagnosis with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) at just 7 weeks old and how walking through a rare childhood illness (quite literally 1 in a million!) changed her perspective on birth, motherhood, and life's hardest seasons.
Hannah was a TVL podcast listener herself long before she had her own VBAC. We hope you can find the same inspiration and love that Lily, Paige, and Hannah did when prepping for their own births!
To Lily, she said, “The way that you and Paige honor women’s birth stories is just so beautiful. It’s such a powerful service you provide. It was so inspirational and hopeful, and I still listen every week.”
Our birth stories are meant to be held and shared communally. And this is why we are here.
Keywords: VBAC, planned HBAC, hospital transfer, cesarean birth, tachycardia, membrane sweep, epidural, PPA, birth trauma, husband, birth advocacy, Histiocytosis, infant cancer

Hystiocytosis Association
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training

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One of Paige’s dearest friends and fellow doula in South Korea, Ali Craft, joins the pod today sharing her incredibly inspiring (and hilariously narrated!) seven birth stories, including four cesareans and three vaginal births. Ali was able to advocate for not only a VBA2C in Korea, where it is extremely uncommon for hospitals to offer VBAC support, but she also had TWO VBA4Cs. 

Ali’s stories remind us that every.birth.is.different. From long labors to short ones, planned cesareans to unplanned CBACs, induction, epidural, spontaneous labor, and so much more in between, we know you will take away so much inspiration from her stories. 

“I love supporting moms now because in labor when they’re dying, I can say, I KNOW. When it’s taking forever, I KNOW. When they end up with the C-section they didn’t really want, I know.” 

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Craft and Co. Doula Services
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training

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For the first time EVER, all four of The VBAC Link hosts are together in one episode! Founders and original pod hosts Julie Francom and Meagan Heaton join current hosts Lily Wyn and Paige Lloyd to answer your live VBAC questions. With more than 15 years of combined doula experience and hundreds of births attended, this episode is jam-packed with wisdom, evidence-based birthy tips, and so much love for our listeners who have been with us all of these years.  
Topics include:
How to decide between a VBAC and repeat cesarean
Preventing PROM and chorioamnionitis 
39-week induction recommendation early in pregnancy
Engaging baby's head before labor
How to trust your intuition 
Coping with fear
Tips on practical birth prep

Tiny Blessings Doula Services
Julie Francom Birth Stories
Love Wyns Doula Services 
The Birth Narrative Doula Services
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training

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Today we sit down with Alex, a nurse practitioner and mama of two, who shares her journey from a scheduled breech cesarean to a fast, spontaneous VBAC at a birth center. After two unsuccessful ECV attempts, Alex planned for a cesarean with her first baby. Along the way, she also experienced the heartbreak of miscarriage before welcoming her daughter. Alex opens up about navigating conflicting medical opinions (including being told by an MFM that her baby would die– not okay!!) and how her and her medical doctor husband’s views on out-of-hospital birth evolved over time. 
Alex also shares why practicing for labor could only take her so far before surrender became the greatest lesson, the importance of surrounding yourself with more than just a supportive provider, and how having an encouraging birth team made all the difference. Alex especially talks about how her VBAC-certified doula was an invaluable part of that team. 
We also discuss some of the evidence behind using ultrasounds to measure scar thickness as a predictor of a VBAC outcome or uterine rupture, and why ACOG does NOT recommend it.
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training

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Today’s episode is a deep dive with just Paige and Lily all about LONG pregnancies and LONG labors. Are due dates expiration dates? Is it okay to go past 41 weeks with VBAC? How do you stay sane and steady when you are more than readyyyy for labor to start? 
And when it does and things take much, much longer than you hoped, (you’re in good company because Lily knows all about this with her 66-hour VBAC) we’ve got you. How do you overcome a labor stall? How to reset on the morning of another full day of labor? When is it time to reassess? 
Lily and Paige share a peek into their doula brains with lots of tips, research, and stories as two gals who love birth and want you to know that you are stronger than you ever thought. 🙌

2013 PubMed Study - Length of Pregnancies
2001 PubMed Article - Estimating the Normal Duration of Human Pregnancies
The Honey Jar Honey Sticks
Summer Fridays Face Mist
20 Questions to Ask a Doula
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training

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