My Body, My Birth: It's All Relative

When you talk about a VBAC two words that get quickly ingrained in your head is uterine rupture. The risks of, that dangers of, the possibility of.... it is the first thing my former OB brought up and purposely inflated all details about it to scare me out of even researching a VBA2C for this baby. When I called, and called, and called other OB offices and they promptly denied me, uterine rupture was the reason for them saying a very quick NO!
But really, when you think about it... yes, there is a risk. But isn't there a risk in everything we do? When we choose to drive, fly, eat at a restaurant, have sex, park downtown, etc.... there are all risks associated with these actions. Rarely though are you in a hospital where if the unthinkable does happen you are in good hands.
Here are some statistics to put it all in perspective: (from here)

Your risk of dying in a car accident, over the course of a lifetime, is between 1 in 42 and 1 in 75. This is roughly 4 to 5 times greater than the risk of uterine rupture.

You're about twice as likely to have your car stolen (that's an annual risk) than to experience a uterine rupture.

Your odds of being murdered are 1 in 140 over the course of you lifetime. That's 2 times more likely than the risk of rupture.

The annual risk of having a heart attack in 1 in 160, 2 times more likely than rupture.

If you're a smoker, your risk of dying from lung cancer is 1 and a half times more likely than a VBAC mom having a uterine rupture during her labor.

You're about 17 times more likely to contact an STD this year than having a uterine rupture, more likely to contract gonorrhea as well.

You're 13 times more likely to get food poisoning than to rupture.

You're more likely to have twins than to rupture. Odds of twins: 1 in 90. That's about 3 1/2 times the likelihood of uterine rupture.

If you ride horseback, you're 3 times more likely to die in a riding accident than you are to experience uterine rupture.

If you ride a bike on the street, you are 4 times more likely to die (annual risk) than to suffer a uterine rupture.

Having a serious fire in your home during the next year is twice as likely as experiencing a uterine rupture.

You're 10 times more likely to win at roulette than you are to have a uterine rupture.

If you flip a coin, you're more likely to get heads (or tails) 8 times in a row than you are to rupture.

The risk of cord prolapse is 1 in 37 (2.7%) or nearly 10 times more likely than that of uterine rupture.

And a final irony (heads up those of you who want a doctor to give his/her opinion on the likelihood of rupture next pregnancy!):

You're 6 times more likely to have a doctor who is animpostor than you are to suffer a rupture. 2% of docs are phonies (1 in 50), according to several sources I found.

So, instead of worrying about rupture, why not take a few minutes to check up on your doctor's credentials? :) It'd be a more profitable use of your time, and a substantially more likely cause for alarm.

Here's a few more I came across on my own (keep in mind the odds of uterine rupture are roughly 1 in 200 or .5% (though I have seen it as low as .3% or 4%)):