title: Low primary cesarean rate and high VBAC rate with good outcomes in an Amish birthing center.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent national guidelines encourage a trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) as a means of increasing vaginal births after cesarean (VBACs) and decreasing the high US cesarean birth rate and its consequences (2010 National Institute of Health Consensus Statement and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists revised guideline). A birthing center serving Amish women in Southwestern Wisconsin offered an opportunity to look at the effects of local culture and practices that support vaginal birth and TOLAC. This study describes childbirth and perinatal outcomes during a 17-year period in LaFarge, Wisconsin.
  
  
  METHODS
  We undertook a retrospective analysis of the records of all women admitted to the birth center in labor. Main outcome measures include rates of cesarean deliveries, TOLAC and VBAC deliveries, and perinatal outcomes for 927 deliveries between 1993 and 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cesarean rate was 4% (35 of 927), the TOLAC rate was 100%, and the VBAC rate was 95% (88 of 92). There were no cases of uterine rupture and no maternal deaths. The neonatal death rate of 5.4 of 1,000 was comparable to that of Wisconsin (4.6 of 1,000) and the United States (4.5 of 1,000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both the culture of the population served and a number of factors relating to the management of labor at the birthing center have affected the rates of cesarean delivery and TOLAC. The results of the LaFarge Amish study support a low-technology approach to delivery where good outcomes are achieved with low cesarean and high VBAC rates.
authors.affiliation: Amish Birthing Center, La Farge, WI 54639, USA. jdeline@vmh.org
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deline
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Varnes-Epstein
authors.forename: Lee T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Dresang
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gideonsen
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Frey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D061365:Amish; D016550:Birthing Centers; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D036801:Parturition / Q000208:ethnology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014219:Trial of Labor; D014481:United States; D016064:Vaginal Birth after Cesarean / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014922:Wisconsin