Neonatal and maternal complications of vaginal birth after cesarean in Khatam Al-Anbia hospital in 2019-2020

Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) is one of the strategies developed to control the growing number of cesarean sections and is still under investigation. In this study, we investigated the neonatal and maternal complications of VBAC. 

In this cross-sectional study, all pregnant women with a history of cesarean section who decided to have VBAC from 2019 to 2020 were included in the study. Demographic information and postpartum outcomes including success rate of VBAC, its maternal and neonatal complications, and causes of VBAC failure were assessed. 

255 pregnant women with a mean age of 31.95 years and BMI of 29.98 kg/m2 were present on study. The mean time elapsed since the last delivery was 5.57 years. VBAC was successful in 77.6% of cases and  lack of delivery progress and lack of response to induction  were the cause of 85.5% of failures. VBAC was uncomplicated in 97% of  mothers and 95.5% of neonates. The average Apgar score of the first and fifth minutes was 8.99 and 10, respectively. The most common maternal complication was bleeding (2%) and the most common neonatal complication was RDS (3%). No case of mortality or uterine rupture was observed. 

VBAC is successful in 77.6% of cases and in unsuccessful cases, decline FHR and failure to descent are the most common causes of failure. Also, VBAC-born neonates have a favorable Apgar score and blood gas analysis, and in more than 95% of cases, there are no maternal or neonatal complications.