Elena 
It’s interesting to me how certain issues come up in my life at certain times. Calvin’s big 18th birthday was this week, and Gabe’s will be on Sunday. Calvin was my baby born by C-section for cephalopelvic disproportion, and then Gabe was my bigget baby ever, born naturally at home, in my living room.
At that time in my life I was a childbirth addict. I couldn’t read enough birth stories, birth books, birth conferences, videos etc. I loved talking about birth and attending births. I even took a doula course to assist a friend of mine with her four births.
As fate would have it, I also got involved in a discussion on another blog this week that indirectly involved the diagnosis of CPD which gave me that old urge to research to see what is being said about CPD now, 18 years later. Turns out, things haven’t changed that much.
First I found this lovely birth on Youtube with a woman giving birth in the squatting position. With myfirst birth I was tethered to the bed. I was not allowed to get up and walk much for “insurance reasons” and certainly not after they broke my water (without my informed consent I might add). My pushing was all done uphill on my back and as it turns out, this did not help my baby’s posterior.
I later learned that squatting can open up the pelvic outlet by 30% and I discovered with all of my other vaginal births that squatting was my key for a normal vaginal delivery.
I also found these sources about CPD on the web. I post them here for information and encouragement:
VAGINAL BIRTH AFTER CESAREAN (VBAC):
“Whether you are a candidate for a VBAC may depend upon the reasons for your previous cesarean. If you needed a surgical birth because your baby was in a breech position, you had an active herpes infection, you had toxemia, or the baby was experiencing true fetal distress, there is no reason to expect you will need a cesarean again. These factors were unique to the earlier pregnancy and may not recur. If the diagnosis leading to your previous cesarean was ‘cephalopelvic disproportion’ (CPD) — your baby’s head was thought to be too big to pass through your pelvis, there’s still no reason to worry. New studies show that this diagnosis does not lessen your chances of having a VBAC. True CPD is very uncommon, and in most instances the births could just as easily have been labeled ‘failure to progress.’ Studies report a 65-70 percent chance of successful VBAC despite a previous diagnosis of CPD. A woman’s pelvic outlet often becomes more flexible with each delivery, and various changes of position during labor can make it easier for baby to find the way out. “
: “There’s no accurate way to predict CPD prior to labour – one can measure the mom’s pelvis by feeling it, but that is not 100% reliable.”
VBAC (Vaginal Birth after Caesarean) Information:
“Cephalo-pelvic disproportion (CPD)
This indication has been shown repeatedly to be inaccurate as a predictor of the possibility of future vaginal births. Up to 77% of women with a previous caesarean for CPD have a later vaginal birth. One third of them with larger babies. (ICEA Review). X-rays are notoriously inaccurate as a means of diagnosing CPD. The movement of a woman’s pelvis during labour and the position of the baby are so significant that an x-ray prior to, or during, pregnancy cannot reliably indicate the likelihood of vaginal birth. “This Simple Life » Birth-day: Looks Can Be Deceiving This is a blog but the writer illustrates the point very creatively.
Cephalopelvic Disproportion (CPD) during Labor : American Pregnancy Association: “CPD can rarely be diagnosed before labor begins even if the baby is thought to be large or the mom’s pelvis is known to be small. “
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