Vaginal birth after cesarean section: A quantitative study exploring women’s understanding and experience regarding VBAC rates in Greece

INTRODUCTION: Vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC) is a choice of birth that provides many advantages for women. This study presents women’s VBAC experience in a Greek population. The study’s aims were mainly to determine the reasons for choosing VBAC, women’s feelings during pregnancy and their experience, and level of post-birth satisfaction. METHODS: This study is sampling research which has a cross-section retrospect study design. The study was held via the internet due to a self-administered questionnaire which is comprises both open-ended and close-ended questions. Data analysis was performed in S.P.S.S. 20 and Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: A total number of 473 women participated in this study. The findings showed that during pregnancy and childbirth over 50% of women felt very happy and satisfied, while 35% to 40% felt moderate or no fear at all. Furthermore, 96.48% of them would attempt for a VBAC birth again while 97.36% would recommend this way of delivery to other women. There was a total of 78.85% of succeeded VBAC. The main reason for women to choose VBAC for a birth option were the desire for a normal birth (23.1%), the thought of vaginal birth as the normal way of giving birth (22.4%), to avoid another surgery (14.2%) and to experience a vaginal birth (10%). CONCLUSIONS: VBAC is an option that needs to be offered more in Greece, and needs improvement in obtaining informed consent in obstetric care services. More studies are required to draw further conclusions.