My first child was born by caeserean section at 2:30 in the morning after a long induced labor. My doctor had recommended the induction because I was a week overdue and the amniotic fluid was looking a little low. Not low-low, really, but, hey, I was a week overdue, and didn't I want to have this baby?

My recovery wasn't too bad, but I did suffer from a case of post-partum depression, expressed mostly in the form of anxiety and the inability to make decisions. I stopped carrying the baby up the stairs because I was afraid to bring him back down--my brain kept telling me it was a hugely dangerous thing, carrying a baby down the stairs by myself. I'd have to sit down and scoot down the stairs on my backside--and on the days I couldn't make myself get out of my bathrobe, this was an especially bad thing. Carpeted stairs were not kind to my backside!

During my next pregnancy, I decided that, unless I could find a damned good reason for a surgical delivery, I wasn't having one. Abdominal surgery is not fun. It messes with all of your insides and it takes weeks, if not months, for everything to realign into something resembling its former configuration. Anaesthesia is not my friend--it makes me itchy or woozy, or just plain doesn't work properly so I end up needing twice the dose of other people my size (which may contribute to the above side-effects). And, having a nearly-three-year-old to chase after while taking care of a newborn, when I could barely climb stairs and wasn't allowed to drive for weeks just didn't sound like a good idea.

I started reading everything I could get my hands on. I read books and online articles. I read studies. I read summaries of studies, and summaries of summaries of studies. I read personal stories of women who had suffered uterine rupture with horrible consequences. I read triumphant stories of women who had a water birth at home after three surgical births. I did a lot of thinking and a little bit of math.

The basic statistics are about 3 out of 4 women who attempt VBAC have a successful vaginal delivery--the rest end in Caeserean. In most parts of the US, between 1 out of 3 and 1 out of 4 women who have had a surgical birth will attempt VBAC, rather than elective Caeserean birth. And, about one in four first babies is born by Caeserean, for one reason or another. All this means that maybe 4-5% of all women with more than one child in the United States will have had a vaginal birth after Caeserean.

From everything I could gather, the risks to the child from Caesarean birth and VBAC birth are close enough to the same to be a wash, even when you account for the fact that some Caesareans are done because a high-risk fetus/infant is involved. The immediate morbidity risks for the mother include a higher risk of uterine rupture, about a quarter percent; a 0.5% lower risk of bleeding requiring intervention; and a 5% lower risk of fever.

I decided to attempt join the smaller ranks of VBAC moms, on certain conditions. First, if there was a medical condition of myself or my child that would normally be circumstances for induction, I'd opt for elective Caesarean instead, as induction greatly increases the risks of labor for women with a scarred uterus. Second, if I was going to make this attempt, I was going to maximize my chances for success. This meant exercise and a good diet during pregnancy, relaxation exercises and skills, having a professional non-medical birth attendant (doula)--and going med free if possible.

All of which I did. My nine and a half pound, posterior-positioned baby was born naturally (except for the episiotomy, which is another story) after about four and a half hours of labor. It's a good thing it wasn't a long labor or I think I would have been sorely tempted to change my mind. I gave it my best shot and it was good enough. The baby was healthy, my recovery was swift, and I'd joined a fairly small club.

The thing is, I wasn't determined to have a life-changing spiritual childbirth experience. I didn't have something to prove and I didn't think the medical profession was trying to oppress my reproductive rights. I wasn't bitter about my first birth. All I wanted was to make the best choice for our family.