Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Delivery: Current Status

The dictum "Once a cesarean, always a cesarean" ruled for most of the 20th century.¹ Nevertheless, in the 1970s a small group of women who had prior cesarean deliveries were eager to experience vaginal birth and risked a trial of labor (a purposeful attempt to permit active labor development with progression to vaginal delivery).² Success in such cases led the National Institutes of Health in 1981 to promote trial of labor for patients who had previous cesarean deliveries.²