Cesarean vs. VBAC: A Dramatic Difference on Vimeo

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1. Cesarean vs. VBAC: A Dramatic Difference

4 months ago

Watch how a baby is delivered in a cesarean birth and see the dramatic difference of what both the mother and baby experience in a home water birth after cesarean.

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10 Likes

Rosie Peterson
10 days ago
Sina Fehr
1 month ago
Jill--Unnecesarean
3 months ago
Jasmine Ojala
3 months ago
erin andrews
3 months ago
Pamela Smith-Noel
3 months ago
karen gelling
4 months ago
Brandi Doucet
4 months ago
Sara Carney
4 months ago
Lisa Cuthbert
4 months ago

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Angela Leonard 4 months ago

Congratulations Alexandra! I love your film. I had a c-section in 1997 and then 3 empowering and healing VBAC's including 2 at home. Thank you for sharing your story and your strength. I hope it reaches the women who continue to allow their doctors to bully them and their babies into unnecessary surgery!
Bill Mensch 4 months ago

My message is for all those fathers who might watch this video and be concerned for their daughters (grandchildren) who are considering a home birth. Because I was present for Alex’s birth, her two sisters’ births, and her brother’s birth, I know a little bit about the concerns a father will have. Yes, I was aware of the issues, hospitals’ concerns, and the various doctors’ concerns as Alex progressed through her pregnancy. I can honestly say, though, that my wife, Dianne, and I were always 100% behind Alex’s decision from the start because we saw where her heart was, her mind was, and where her indomitable spirit was. She invited Dianne and me to be with her during her birth week and we had the good fortune to help Alex and her family before, during, and after JoJo’s birth.

My wish would be that all children could come into our world the way JoJo was born - in such an incredibly loving environment. So fathers, when your daughter decides she wants to have a home birth, listen to her heart, listen to her soul. It is literally an opportunity of a lifetime for all concerned.

Thank you, Alex, for that gift!! Thank you!! Thank you!! We will never, ever forget the joy and the loving family setting you and John created. John was there for you and JoJo in a way that was so incredible - so loving.

Alex, your video with your brother’s music playing in the background is just so beautiful - it brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it. I Love You, Dad
laura bilbo 4 months ago

I am at a loss for words, this was so beautiful. You make me proud to be a woman all over again! Thank you for sharing, I will be posting this so your message reaches more and more women to help them understand the difference with their own eyes. Congratulations!!
Sara Pereira 4 months ago

OMG! Alex, this is amazing! You just brought tears to my eyes! My husband and I just watched it and as soon as the video of Josephine being born played he said, "Yep, we can have a home birth." (Not that he really has a say). Such a beautiful film, congratulations to you are your beautiful family!!!!
Tammy gifford 4 months ago

Amazing! I cried, I laughed. It was glorious!
Thank you for sharing

Tammy,
5 VBAC's and counting!
Marla Davis 4 months ago

THANK YOU for sharing your journey! It was just lovely...beautiful. I was touched by the moment when your oldest met your second as you soundly slept in the background due to the pain killers. I don't remember anything about holding my newborn twins for the first time because I was so "intoxicated" with medication after the c/s. I'm so happy for you that your 3rd birth was everthing it should have been, and everything you deserved. I cried tears of joy for you as you declared, "I did it!" Of course you did and good for you! Congratulations! You have a beautiful family!
Jill Pariseault 4 months ago

CONGRATULATIONS, Alexandra! Thank you so much for making this video and sharing it with us! In just two weeks I will be celebrating my baby's first birthday, as well as the anniversary of my HBAC! My first son was born by Cesarean, and, like you, I didn't meet him for four hours. The OB goofed up during surgery and I was back in the OR at death's door a week later because of his mistake (which I was never told about, I had to find it out from my medical records). I chose a homebirth for my second child because not only did I know that I would have a snowball's chance in hell of VBACing at the hospital, I also wasn't willing to give them another chance to screw up my body! My HBAC was just about everything I wanted it to be and more, as triumphant and empowering as yours. :)

The footage of your second Cesarean is gruesome, I had to look away many times, but I'm really glad you showed all the nitty gritty details. I think too many people believe that all Cesareans are like how your first one looked - cut a slit in the belly, pull out the baby, la dee da! In reality, they are graphic, almost violent, and very shocking to both baby and mom's body. The look on Maddie's face said it all when she was fully born and holding her arms out. "WTF just happened to me?!" How much did she weigh, BTW? (Curious if she was as terribly big as they feared!)

I'll be sharing this video on my blog. Feel free to stop by anytime. You can read my HBAC story there too, by clicking the photo that says "My Triumphant HBAC" on the right. keyboardrevolutionary.blogspot.com Thanks again for being an inspiration! You are awesome!
ruth malik 4 months ago

Thanks I have had two cesareans without labor, because I went to 40 weeks plus 7 days they called it postdatism which it is not. Ahhh. There was nothing was wrong with me or my babies. Post natal depression lots of therapy for me and my eldest son - we suffered a lot. Sometimes I feel I know too much now that Im a hypnobrithing practitioner and childbrith educator and sometimes I dont know if I can pass the psyscological block that took me to the wrong place the last two times. Can I really have a birth? Thanks for lettign me see yours.
chelsea shure 4 months ago

That was amazing. I am so touched that you chose to share this with the world. Thank you.
mickie dohm 4 months ago

That was amazing! I was crying so much while watching the birth of your second babe. How big was she in the end? I may have missed that along the way. Thank-you so much for sgaring this. As a student doula this has shown me again why mummas dont want c-sections unless they are truely needed.

I was lucky with my secong babe that the Ob 'missed' his size, he was born 10lb 15oz. My third birth was a Home Birth and he was 11lb 0oz.

Thank-you again for sharing :) I just also want to ask how you feel about the midwife doing all that suctioning in you HB?
Alexandra Orchard 4 months ago

Since a few people have asked, I thought I would post it here: My first daughter was 7lbs10oz, my second was 9lbs8oz, and my third was 8lbs8oz. :)
Pamela Smith-Noel 3 months ago

Good Day Alexandra and company,
This is priceless. Congratulations and thank you.
I am a Grandmother weighing in...I birthed nine children,8 in the hospital, one at home. Largest newborn was 10 lbs 8 oz.Long labors,shorter ones,many 3 weeks overdue..most in fact.That was how our(babe and I) bodies worked.
I have been a childbirth educator and as I prepare to semi- retire as a psychotherapist I hope to doula and to provide professional help to women and babes traumatized by birth experience.
Most difficult experience of late was to watch 2/3 daughetrs have unplanned, unwanted c -sections that I cannot walk away from and say were necessary.Being at their births in the capacity of birth attendant,mother and grandmother was like having my mouth duct taped by a system that was condescending,self serving and..well, worth the time to find brief and succinct articulation.I'll try again later after it assimilates better.
My daughters still cry and as a family or as women, have not been able to REALLY talk about it yet(babes are 2,3,4 months)That makes a 50%section rate in my family of 5 sisters and that is too much!!
Some of these women will not have the opportunity to birth again and they are left to make sense of their experience and I think it is an emotional and mental bind!! I believe your share will help. I am so glad you did have this opportunity you powerful woman you.!! And your effort to share with other women...thank you.It needs to be spoken and SHOWN!!
I would like to learn more from you as I seek to serve this " cause" and our women and our people.
peace, pamela
Wanda D 4 months ago

What a beautiful video! My c-section was for a 9lb 6oz boy after failed induction for supposedly being too big. I had a hospital VBAC with an 11lb girl and then a home water birth with a 10lb 13oz girl. I hope all the future moms who watch this realize the ACOG rules are causing way too many unnecessary c-sections.
Jade Baker 3 months ago

Just thought i would add that although ACOG gets blamed for it all, if you actually look at some of their rules, one of them says to do NOTHING until a woman is 42 weeks.

so to a certain extent I think you are right, but then I think maybe OB's should look at the ACTUAL rules
Jade Baker 3 months ago

I would not have joined this site just to make a comment if it was not for your dad Alexandra (I already know the vast difference) but what I needed to say is THANKYOU BILL!!!!! your message made me cry before the video even started.

my mum actually refused to come to the hospital with me for my second birth, said that it scared her, she was terrified of doing that again (my mother has 5 children, all but one homebirthed), so she not only supported my decision to homebirth, she totally encouraged it, she helped me convince my husband, she helped me face the world when i told anyone that i was going to homebirth!

once again THANKYOU!! amazing to see, not just from a parent but from her father!!! WOW
LadyBlue 2 months ago

The video of your second cesarean was brutal. How on earth can people think that is possibly better for babies? I had to keep looking away from both videos...still traumatized by my unnecesarean 8 years ago. I've since had 2 freebirths, the most recent was an amazing water birth.
Desiree Wynn 2 months ago

Alexandra,
I am sitting at my desk frantically trying to wipe the tears from my eyes so no one will see me! This is quite possibly the most heart-wrenching (c/s) and most triumphant (homebirth) thing I've ever witnessed! Thank you so much for sharing this with us and I applaud you.

Thank you!
Kelcey Lastiwka 1 month ago

I'm pregnant with my 3rd (2 c-sections previously) and desperately wanting to VBAC. Granted my section stories are not as unhappy as your 2nd, maybe it's different here in Canada, I held both of mine immediately after (right in the OR) and they weren't out of my sight the entire time we were recovering in hospital. The doctor's "fears" for me trying to deliver vaginally- big babies. Both my 1st (boy) and 2nd (girl) were big, neither engaged and my boy was 16 days "overdue" with no signs of labour. Your story and the comments here have helped me strengthen my resolve to not go through the terrifying moments of another surgery. Thanks everyone!
Cheryl Cameron 23 days ago

I cannot tell you how much respect I have for you...you are an amazing woman. I also have a ton of respect for your husband, who clearly is very supportive of you and loves and respects you very much. Thank you for sharing such intimate 'places' in your lives...you have left an imprint in my mind/heart, and 'cracked' them open a lot more, once again. Blessings.
Cheryl Cameron 23 days ago

P.S: I was researching for my husband and her partner (expecting in the spring), at their request...and as well, my daughter is expecting her first in a few weeks. Our first child was born by emergency C-section almost 27 years ago. When the time came for our next child I deliberately sought out a doctor who would let me try to give birth naturally....which I did....3 more times. I will say, however, that I was always yearning (during labour) to be able to climb into some water, to not have to leave the shower (all that was available) AND to have the courage to push to give birth in a more natural, calm setting (ie: home). As it turned out, the 4th (and last) babe had many complications (breech and a few others) and this wouldn't have been possible, in the end. I can so relate to not getting to hold or connect with your newborn babes for hours...24 with the first, and I was pretty out of it! Your father's testament to supporting you touched me deeply...and has lent new perspective to think about, and to share with my husband (about to become Grandpa). Thank you, again. Respectfully and with love, Light, and Blessings your way.
Tory Anderson 18 days ago

Thank you so much for posting this video. I cried and cried through both of your c-sections. I can totally relate to your first c-section.. I recognized the look on your face (even though we can't see your eyes). I had that same fear and trepidation with mine. How wonderful that your husband took video of the c-sections; mine was not allowed, and he didn't think to sneak it until it was too late. I did not get to meet my daughter for 4 hours, and I, too, was so doped up on drugs that I wasn't really with it.

Unfortunately in Arizona we can't VBAC at home unless we want to go unassisted. While I know my body can birth this baby, I'm not willing to go without a midwife. So, sometime next month, I'll have my baby in the most VBAC-friendly, NCB-friendly hospital in the Phoenix area with my husband, midwife, and doula by my side. I chose a midwife practice that delivers in hospitals that has a very high VBAC rate. I'm glad I at least have choices in this large metropolitan area.. some women are not so lucky in Arizona. In fact, there is a woman in Page who has to drive down to Phoenix for her VBAC (a 5-hour drive) because her hospital doesn't even allow them. It's a shame that Arizona law doesn't allow midwives to do HBACs. Basically we're forced to choose between no medical expertise at all vs. hospital.

I know my body can do this, and I truly appreciate you for posting your video. Every day I try to watch or read a VBAC success story; I have developed tremendous confidence from them. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your video is inspiring.