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

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

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