Last week Tarrant County Birth Network and ICAN presented a meeting on vaginal birth after special scar cesarean, featuring Dr. Frederick Cummings and Katie Grannan Perez, LM, CPM. 

Dr. Cummings is the go-to guy in DFW if you have a special circumstance and want a vaginal birth. When everyone else says no, he says yes. Dr. Cummings catches babies at Denton Presbyterian hospital, and limits his case load to only those families that won’t be supported in their goal of a vaginal birth anywhere else. Vaginal births after multiple cesareans (VBAMCs), after special scars, breech vaginal birth, and twin vaginal births are all welcomed by Dr. Cummings.

Katie Grannan Perez is a three time cesarean mom, one with an inverted T incision, and had a successful hospital VBA3C with Dr. Cummings. She was a doula and is now a licensed homebirth midwife and self-proclaimed VBAC geek who loves reading and studying literature about VBACs. She also loves helping moms achieve this goal safely. Katie is also a founding board member of Special Scars~Special Women (www.specialscars.org/ ), a group that is committed to supporting women who have had special scar cesareans.

The Dallas Fort Worth area is very luck to have these two providers, and I know I was not the only one who felt inspired by their talk and the discussion after. Here are some highlights-

Question- why are doctors telling women they can’t VBAC, that their risk is too high, that their uterus will rupture?

“Because they will say anything to prevent you from pursuing a vaginal birth. Very few doctors want to do VBACs, because it takes time, and the liability goes up. But if the Vegas odds were 99.90% to win, you’d bet every OB in the country would put money on that. But then you take 0.07% rate of uterine rupture and they won’t touch it.”

Dr. Cummings was trying to reframe the statistics and the way we look at them. Uterine rupture is most people’s biggest concern with VBAC, and the rate is commonly cited at around 0.07%. He also looked at uterine rupture like any of the other potential labor or birth complications- something to be watched for and fixed when it comes up. He conveyed two stories of uterine rupture, neither of which were catastrophic to baby or mom. They may be more accurately described as dehiscence. He described them as holes or tears in the uterus, one that required repair and one that didn’t. It’s commonly misunderstood that the rate quoted to those planning a VBAC is the rate at which catastrophic ruptures occur, but even of the small percentage only 6% are catastrophic. More info on this here.

Dr. Cummings on his tough love, no fear approach-

“My office is a no fear zone. We don’t do fear when you’re in labor; depend upon your God, depend upon yourself, your doula, your partner, your doctor.”

“There’s no magic about what I do or how I feel about it, women have their babies.”

 

Katie Grannan Perez, LM, CPM on Special Scars Special Women:

“Our group doesn’t exist to promote one birth over another but to offer support to women with special scars.”

Katie also shared some statistics from her group – 64 women VBAC’ed with inverted T scars.

 

With everything Dr. Cummings does to support women having vaginal births, I asked why he does what he does-

“Because when I graduated from medical school I signed up to be an OB.”

Planning a VBAC, breech delivery, or twin vaginal birth? Hire a doula! Contact me to learn more.

 

-VBAC – Twins – Breech – Natural Birth – Fort Worth – Dallas – Denton – Doula –

Olympic Birth Team | Dallas Fort Worth Doula

 

The 2016 Summer Olympics are inspiring and captivating us all right now, and I’m loving the Rio games! Like expectant parents, these athletes have long prepared and planned for this day, and they have a team of support around them to help them reach their goals. It got me thinking, what would an Olympic birth team look like?

Cheering Partner

Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu’s husband jumped, cheered, and couldn’t contain his excitement and pride at her impressive physical feat. He is SO proud of his partner, and yours is too! Your partner cheers you on, has walked this journey with you from the beginning, prepared with you, and supports you through the whole thing.

 

Keeping An Eye Out

Your midwife or OB has a job like none other, but in Olympic terms is sort of like the referee- they keep a close eye on you and your tiny teammate to keep you safe and healthy and rocking your game. They intervene when necessary, but their primary job is to facilitate a good game, or in your case a healthy birth! Sometimes though they’re more like a coach, and they support you in your goals too.

Doula/Coach

You have a coach to help you get where you want to be; you need someone who is trained and experienced to help you reach your goals. They understand the way the game works, offer encouragement, physical support, and tips to help you do your best. Your coach can help you feel calm and relaxed, and keeps your eyes on the prize. Your coach’s only goal is for you to feel supported, because when you receive incredible support it’s a win win!

 

If you’re giving birth to your own little Olympian, congratulations! Contact DFWdoula to add labor support to your Olympic birth team.

 

Fort Worth | Dallas | Doula | Natural Birth | VBAC | Epidural | Twins | Postpartum Doula | Cesarean | Birth

One thing I love about Dallas Fort Worth is the local community we have full of resources for expectant parents. I’m often connecting my families to photographers for birth, maternity, and newborn, so today I wanted to share a local photographer, who happens to be a former client of mine!

Brittany Jenson is the talent behind Dashing Darlings photography, a lifestyle photography business based out of Weatherford.

Brittany is a mom of three, so she totally gets what families are looking for when wanting to capture not just memories but the little details that make a family what it is. We chatted about babies, birth, and photography, here’s what she had to say!

DFW doula :Tell us about Dashing Darlings, how did you get started?

“I have been doing photography for a little over 5 years. It started as just a hobby that I have grown to be completely obsessed with. I have done everything from newborn sessions to weddings to ‘last memories’ sessions.  I have found my niche to be bumps, births, and babies!”

DFW doula : You do beautiful outdoor sessions that look so lovely but still natural. How would you describe your photography style?

“I am a lifestyle photographer. I prefer natural settings and not really posed! I love shooting in my client’s own element.”

DFW doula: What is your favorite thing about doing what you do?

“I love that I get to capture memories. Pregnancy only lasts [around] 40 weeks, births happen in the blink of an eye, and babies grow like weeds. I love capturing a moment in time. I love capturing emotions. I LOVE being able to give a client something to look back on and remember forever.”

Brittany can be reached via the Dashing Darlings Facebook page. With fall family photos coming up I highly recommend giving her a call! Let her know Sydney sent you 😉

 

 

-Fort Worth – Dallas – Birth – Doula – Maternity – Newborn – Postpartum – Weatherford –