It appears to me that the biggest hurdle to your great birth isn't your Dr but yourself.   Choices are always available.  I know of no study which shows that continuous monitoring is any better than intermittent auscultation for reducing adverse outcomes.  I am in Australia and the VBAC rate is 16% for hospital birth.  The HBAC rate is 97% with the only adverse outcomes being at the hospital following induction of labour or augmentation and epidural as pain relief.  All of which are contraindicated in every piece of research produced on VBAC.  The first sign of uterine rupture is debatable and a raised maternal pulse is an indicator way before any sign of distress in the baby.

I'm not sure what you would constitute as an excellent candidate for VBAC, surely every woman with a scar on her uterus is an excellent candidate.

Lisa Barrett