As April comes to a close, so does Cesarean Awareness Month. Fortunately, childbirth educators and other birth professionals recognize the significance of helping familes to be prepared for their birth experience, informed about all their options and offer information and resources to help reduce the likelihood of needing a cesarean birth. Providing lots of class time to practice utilizing non-pharmacological coping techniques and discussing how to be an advocate for oneself and the baby can go a long way to support physiological birth. Our role also includes offering additional resources if a cesarean is needed or a VBAC is being considered.

Lamaze International and this blog offer an enormous collection of resources to support education around cesareans. Are you fully utilizing the information found within the Lamaze organization? Here are some useful links for you to use:

Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators - teaching ideas

• Cesarean Section Role Play Helps Families
• Cesarean Pie

Selected Science & Sensibility Posts on Cesarean and VBAC

• Is there Such a Thing as a "Natural" Cesarean Section?
• The Soaring Cesarean Rate: Its the Economics, Stupid
• Dueling Cesarean Statistics: What Should the Cesarean Rate Be? - Henci Goer Compares Recent Studies
• Preventing Cesarean Delivery : What is the Nurse's Role?
• What's the Deal with Cesareans Infographic
• An Interview with Christa Billings, President of International Cesarean Awareness Network
• April is Cesarean Awareness Month! Resources for You and Your Classes
• The Childbirth Educator's Role in The Cesarean Epidemic: 10 Steps You Can Take Now!
• Series: Supporting Women When a VBAC Doesn't Happen - Part One: A Unique Grief
• Series: Supporting Women When a VBAC Doesn't Happen - Part Two: The Forgotten Mothers
• Series: Supporting Women When a VBAC Doesn't Happen - Part Three: Supporting the Mothers
• Preparing Mothers for Breastfeeding after a Cesarean - The Educator's Role
• Too Bad We Just Can't "Ban" Accreta - The Downstream Consequences of VBAC Bans
• Safe Prevention of the Primary Cesarean Delivery - ACOG & SMFM Change the Game
• Unintended Consequences: Cesarean Section, The Gut Microbiota and Child Health
• Seeding the Microbiome: Can We Do It? Should We Do It?
• Consumer Reports' New Ratings Help Consumers Choose the Right Hospital and May Lower Rates
• Interview with Neel Shah, MD, MPP - Co-author of the Just Released Cesarean Rate Research

Please note, you can also search this blog using the keywords "cesarean" or "VBAC" to find more posts not listed here.

Lamaze Online Classes

VBAC after Cesarean: Informed and Ready

Lamaze International Website Resources

• VIDEO: Preparing for Vaginal Birth: Pushing Past a Previous Cesarean
• VIDEO: Cesarean Awareness - When & Why?
• Avoid Interventions That Are Not Medically Necessary
• Intervention Intelligence
• Cesarean Q&A (former Henci Goer forum)
• Cesarean Surgery
• Lamaze Advocacy - Hill Day Resources

Giving Birth With Confidence - Lamaze Parent Blog

A Woman's Guide to VBAC series

Outside Resources

• International Cesarean Awareness Network
• VBACFacts.com
• VBAC.com
• Well-Rounded Mama Blog
• The VBAC Education Project

California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative Toolkiit to Support Vaginal Birth and Reduce Primary Cesareans

The California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) is pleased to announce the release of the Toolkit to Support Vaginal Birth and Reduce Primary Cesareans, a comprehensive, evidence-based "how-to" guide to assist hospitals to reduce unnecessary cesarean births among first time mothers. Concurrent with the release of the Toolkit, CMQCC will convene a Quality Improvement Collaborative to support California hospitals in reaching the Healthy People 2020 goal of nulliparous, term, singleton vertex (NTSV) cesarean rates at or below 23.9%. Both the Toolkit and the Quality Improvement Collaborative are funded by a grant from the California Health Care Foundation. For more information, or to download the Toolkit or apply for the Collaborative, please visit our website at www.CMQCC.org.

What are your favorite teaching activities, resources, handouts, books or websites to support families in preventing a cesarean, receiving support after a cesarean and planning for a VBAC? Can you share your favorites in the comments section below so we can all benefit.

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