We are joined today by Dr. Barry Brock, aka “The King of VBAC” along with one of his VBAC-hopeful patients, Kara. Kara and Meagan ask Dr. Brock VBAC-related questions similarly to how we hope you interview your providers during your VBAC preparation. Dr. Brock touches on topics such as gestational diabetes, big babies, preparing for your VBAC, induction, placenta previa, preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, VBAC after multiple Cesareans, and vaginal breech delivery. Additional LinksNeeded WebsiteHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsThe VBAC Link Facebook CommunityFull Transcript under Episode DetailsMeagan: Hello, everybody. Welcome, welcome. We have a really cool episode for you today, an episode that we have been really anxiously waiting for and so honored to be having. We love having birth professionals on the podcast and today we are so honored to have Dr. Barry Brock chatting with us today about birth and VBAC and all of the things. And then we have an extra special cohost today, Kara Sutton, who is actually one of Dr. Brock’s patients. Hello! Kara: Hi guys. I’m so excited to be here. Meagan: So excited to have you guys. I just wanted to share a little bit about the amazing Barry Brock before we get going into all of these amazing questions that this community has asked. Dr. Barry Brock has been a doctor for over 30 years and has experience in obstetrics and gynecology. He has been attending as a doctor at Cedars and I believe Dr. Barry Brock, you had your residency there, right? Dr. Brock: I did. Meagan: That’s really cool so you’ve been there for a while. Dr. Brock is amazing and takes pride in giving quality care to all of his patients. Seriously, one of the coolest things—I mean there are a lot of cool things—but especially with me in the VBAC world, one of the coolest things to me is that you have an outstanding Cesarean rate. It’s very low. I think that’s one of the things that you are very well known for along with helping people have vaginal breech deliveries which we know is kind of trickling out in the world and vaginal twin deliveries and of course, VBACs. So welcome, Dr. Brock, and thank you so much for being here with us. Dr. Brock: It’s my pleasure. Meagan: Oh my gosh. Yes, and as I mentioned, we’ve got Kara who is a patient of Dr. Brock. Kara, tell us how it is to be a patient. Kara: I am a mom of two. I had an emergency and I had a planned C-section due to PTSD from that first emergency C-section. Now I am four months pregnant with my third baby girl and Dr. Brock is my doctor. I’m excited to try and achieve a vaginal delivery with this one. Dr. Brock has the LA rep as the go-to VBAC doctor if you’re trying to achieve VBAC so that is why I am seeing him. I switched doctors specifically for this pregnancy which I think is super important to find the right doctor. I feel really excited and comfortable with Dr. Brock for this particular delivery, especially after the trauma from the first two. For those of you guys who don’t know, Cedar Sinai is a really famous hospital in LA. We’re in Beverly Hills here today. Everyone from Kylie Jenner allegedly and Jay-Z and Beyonce and all of the people have delivered there so he’s kind of a rockstar. So I’m excited. Meagan: Yes. Oh my gosh. It is such an honor. Such an honor so thank you both for being here.Kara: Yeah, so I kind of wanted to jump in right away and wanted to ask Dr. Brock, why do you think the national average C-section rate is so high and why do so many doctors just schedule a C-section? Dr. Brock: Well, the docs are very concerned about a healthy baby and a healthy mother. It takes the stress off of the doctor if there are any problems getting the baby out, but there’s no evidence that we’ve improved the Cesarean section. We have massively increased the Cesarean section rate and we have not improved the fetal outcome. So obviously the system that we’re going with here needs to be tweaked a little bit. But they also need experience. To do a vaginal