The VBAC Link

As we continue our Cesarean Awareness Month series, CBAC and RCS moms, this one's for you. If your future birth looks like a subsequent cesarean, we want to make that cesarean the best, most peaceful, and empowering experience it can be. Better birth after cesarean means better options, and today's episode takes a deep dive into the option of Maternal Assisted Cesareans (MAC). 

We are joined today by Dr. Koen Deurloo from the Netherlands. Dr. Koen is a Dutch OB/GYN specializing in perinatology and family-centered cesarean birth. Since 2017, his team has performed more than 300 Maternal Assisted Cesareans, developing one of the most experience-based approaches to this technique. He is also the author of Door de ogen van een gynaecoloog and teaches widely on respectful, trauma-informed birth care. His work focuses on creating transparency and calm so parents feel genuinely involved and supported throughout the entire process, especially in the operating room. 

In this episode, Dr. Koen walks us through how he was first introduced to the MAC (spoiler: it was a mom and her doula!), how the procedure has evolved over time, what his patients have to say about it (another spoiler: 100% recommend it), and how to advocate for this kind of experience with your provider.

Birth after cesarean deserves dignity. It deserves options, and it deserves finding a provider who holds your stories with care and who speaks about birth the way Dr. Koen does.
We PROMISE this is an episode you will not want to miss!!!

Women of strength, we know how difficult it can be to choose between going for a VBAC, pivoting to a CBAC, or scheduling a repeat cesarean. Whether for medical or personal reasons, your choice is valid and good. There are so many brave ways to birth. As always, our team here at The VBAC Link is here to give you options, stories, resources, love, and support!

Through the Eyes of a Gynecologist by Dr. Koen Deurloo
MACAZINE
Paige’s Maternal Assisted Cesarean Story
Needed Website: Code VBAC for 20% Off
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training

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Is it possible to have a VBAC with multiples? YES. In honor of Cesarean Awareness Month, Erin, a registered dietitian and mom of four (under 5!), shares her journey through cesarean, VBAC, miscarriage, and a twin VBAC. She opens up about navigating postpartum anxiety, benefiting from medication, and how her hard work and growth helped her have a different mindset when a lot of similar things happened in subsequent births. 

Erin’s first birth was a cesarean during COVID due to fetal heart decels, her second was a healing VBAC and her third and fourth births were an induced twin VBAC for cholestasis. Her stories touch on miscarriage, close pregnancy intervals, di-di twin pregnancy, provider support, membrane sweeps, epidural and Pitocin. 

She also shares the realities of postpartum recovery, breastfeeding with a nipple shield, and facing a neonatal emergency when one of her twins required surgery at just three weeks old. Erin’s big VBAC tips are to have birth preferences instead of rigid plans while holding strong to your boundaries, find care that is individualized to your unique circumstances, and lean into positive affirmations. 
Connect with her on Instagram @the.dietitian.mama or at morningbirdnutrition.com.

VBAC Certified Doula Finder
The VBAC Link Supportive Provider List
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training
Submit Your VBAC/CBAC Story

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April is Cesarean Awareness Month and Women of Strength, we are aware of YOU.
All month long, we are bringing you VBAC stories & discussions featuring these most common reasons for cesareans:
• Big babies
• Failure to progress
• Twins
• Breech
• Fetal heart tones
And for our CBAC and RCS mamas, we’ve got a special episode all about maternal assisted cesareans, so stay tuned!! 
In today’s episode, we talk with Katie, a Certified Professional Midwife from Oregon, whose journey into midwifery began after her own VBAC. Her first birth began spontaneously at the start of COVID and ended in a cesarean with an asynclitic, sunny side up baby. Her second birth was a healing VBAC at a freestanding birth center with midwives.
Her third birth at home was longer than her previous VBAC and required her to let go of expectations and trust the process. This birth ended in a successful VBAC with a shoulder dystocia, postpartum hemorrhage, and a second degree tear. We’ll let you listen to the episode to find out just how big her record-setting baby was!
Katie talks about just how different births can be, what it takes to become a CPM, ways to manage postpartum hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia maneuvers, safe transfer from out-of-hospital to hospital care, and recent policies that impact midwives attending VBACs. 
Katie reminds us to choose your birth team wisely, the mind is a powerful thing, and sometimes letting go of expectations is the only way through.

VBAC Certified Doula Finder
The VBAC Link Supportive Provider List
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training
Submit Your VBAC/CBAC Story

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Rachel, a VBAC mom, NICU nurse, researcher, and soon to be women’s health NP, shares her healing VBAC journey with us today. Her first birth started as an induction and quickly turned into an urgent cesarean. She experienced a failed spinal, aggression from providers, and general anesthesia. 
Rachel talks about some tough things she’s seen as a NICU nurse and how trauma can show up secondhand. She shares why it’s so important to process those experiences, and how she uses them to be a more compassionate caregiver.
We also talk about what it means to truly be informed during birth. It matters so much to be humanized in those moments, to be talked to and included in decisions as they’re happening instead of being told after the fact.
As she prepared for her VBAC, Rachel focused on evidence based care, setting clear boundaries, and building a supportive team around her. We talk about how physiological birth can still be supported in a hospital setting, practical prep like the role of Webster certified chiropractic care, and why partners need time and space to process birth too.
Rachel also shares what it was like to have the same doula for both her cesarean and her VBAC and how that support made a difference, not just during birth but in processing everything afterward. Her story is such a good reminder that healing is possible, support matters, and you deserve to feel seen, heard, and respected every step of the way.

Keywords: VBAC after traumatic C-section, NICU nurse VBAC story, informed consent

VBAC Certified Doula Finder
The VBAC Link Supportive Provider List
The Evidence on Dates
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training
Submit Your VBAC/CBAC Story

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ve probably heard women say they did all the things to get their VBAC. 
But what actually are “all the things”? 
This episode covers it!
As moms prepping for their own VBACs and now doulas helping others do the same, Paige (coming hot off a birth!) and Lily sit down to talk about everything you can do before conception and during pregnancy to prepare for an empowering VBAC or repeat cesarean. Scar mobilization, acupuncture, therapy, Webster-certified chiropractic care, what books to read, how to find the right doula, choosing your birth location & team, finances, nutrition, processing trauma, positioning, and so much more.
Comment on this episode and let us know what you did to prepare that we missed! 

ALL THE LINKS: 
How to Find a Truly Supportive Provider
Signs It's Time to Switch Your Provider
Deciding Home vs Hospital Birth
Choosing VBAC or Repeat C-section
Episode 119 Pelvic Movement in Pregnancy and Birth With Gina Conley
Episode 160 Everything Left Unsaid
Episode 386 Dr. Stu Fischbein & Midwife Blyss Young
Our Favorite Books
VBAC Certified Doula Finder
The VBAC Link Supportive Provider List
The Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for Parents
Online VBAC Doula Training
Submit Your VBAC/CBAC Story

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands