C-Sections are at an all-time high

  • Thread starter Thread starter MooCowSteph
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
40.png
spacecadet:
isn’t the risk of uterine rupture in VBAC largley due to induction?
Click to expand...
“In most cases, the cause of uterine rupture in a patient who has undergone VBAC is unknown…” medem.com/search/article_display.cfm?path=n:&mstr=/ZZZ3CTZ6FIC.html&soc=ACOG&srch_typ=NAV_SERCH

**An article from the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health (2003) reports “it is unclear whether this increased incidence of uterine rupture is secondary to other risk factors, specifically the additive effect of induction of labor with either oxytocin and/or prostaglandins”.

collegeofmidwives.org/Citations%20or%20text%2002/vbac%20Quotes%20Aug03.htm

Of course, the evidence is simply not clear.
birthlove.com/free/safe.html#journals
**
 
You ladies are scaring the bajeezus out of me.

Sponges being left inside someone’s body!!! Infections and uterine rupture and vertical cuts and all the other gory stories…

I have a higher risk pregnancy and the possibility of a c-section is therefore greater. My husband and I pray nightly for an uneventful, safe vaginal birth but a c-section is always possible…
 
One of our local news shows interviewed a Dr. who said, “…you won’t get sued for doing a C-section too soon, but you will if you do one too late…” A sad state of affairs, I suppose. At least 70 % of labors still go the old fashioned way…

I thank God I had short, easy labors with manageable pain levels. Of course, there were those two contractions I had with baby 1 where I thought I would perish if they continued…thankfully there were only two of them! After the second I got the urge to push and, well here she is…all those years ago…
 
40.png
Princess_Abby:
You ladies are scaring the bajeezus out of me.

Sponges being left inside someone’s body!!! Infections and uterine rupture and vertical cuts and all the other gory stories…

I have a higher risk pregnancy and the possibility of a c-section is therefore greater. My husband and I pray nightly for an uneventful, safe vaginal birth but a c-section is always possible…
Click to expand...
Well, keep in mind they didn’t actually leave one in ME…lol, but they did the section so fast (first cut at 8:02 and she was out at 8:07…) that they did’n’t do a count of the instruments first (standard procedure) – so when they closed, they took an x-ray to be sure everythign was out – this sponge in question was on top of the drape, but you can’t tell it was outside the incision by looking at just the x-ray (can’t see skin on an x-ray). Took another and saw it was not in that one…no less scary, but still…

Don’t freak out, just get smart on your options and know what your choices are beFORE you go in.
 
😉
40.png
Princess_Abby:
You ladies are scaring the bajeezus out of me.

Sponges being left inside someone’s body!!! Infections and uterine rupture and vertical cuts and all the other gory stories…

I have a higher risk pregnancy and the possibility of a c-section is therefore greater. My husband and I pray nightly for an uneventful, safe vaginal birth but a c-section is always possible…
Click to expand...
Hi Princess Abby, 👋
People only remember the really odd, rare things that seem to happen. So you shouldn’t worry, most births are normal and don’t make any headlines. But a bunch of posts about normal births would be pretty boring to read so I imagine that is why you aren’t seeing many here! 😉
Good luck with your pregnancy and your new addition :blessyou:
 
40.png
Princess_Abby:
You ladies are scaring the bajeezus out of me.

Sponges being left inside someone’s body!!! Infections and uterine rupture and vertical cuts and all the other gory stories…

I have a higher risk pregnancy and the possibility of a c-section is therefore greater. My husband and I pray nightly for an uneventful, safe vaginal birth but a c-section is always possible…
Click to expand...
Don’t be afraid of a possible C-section. They are very safe. And the baby weathers it well. No deformed head from the passage down the birth canal makes for great photos! And no red marks from the forceps, either. C-section babies are very photogenic!
 
Leaner, aren’t you afraid of the radiation on your ovaries??? I would be SO ANGRY that they were taking an x-ray over such an intensely delicate area to determine whether or not they had left something in me due to their negligence in the first place!!! Did they discuss with you the risk of having that area x-rayed??? I broke my tailbone as a teenager and my doctor wouldn’t even consider x-raying me due to the exposure in that area.

Thank you ladies for trying to reassure me but LORD there is some scary, incompetent people out there.
 
40.png
Princess_Abby:
Leaner, aren’t you afraid of the radiation on your ovaries??? I would be SO ANGRY that they were taking an x-ray over such an intensely delicate area to determine whether or not they had left something in me due to their negligence in the first place!!! Did they discuss with you the risk of having that area x-rayed??? I broke my tailbone as a teenager and my doctor wouldn’t even consider x-raying me due to the exposure in that area.

Thank you ladies for trying to reassure me but LORD there is some scary, incompetent people out there.
Click to expand...
Of course I was!! LOL – but the idea of sepsis was more frightening to me, and if it had already been in there a week, well…

My MIL had just arrived that morning, and we were all getting “acquainted” with my newest darling when the call came…now you need to know this part – my MIL was the chief of nursing in a major boston area hospital…several years ago, a sponge was left in a patient – the patient got sepsis, and died. The resulting lawsuit/settlement was in the millions, and while she was not even at work that day, someone had to hang, and since she was the head of nursing, and it was her nurses that “did it” she ended up with a severance package after 30yrs of blood sweat and tears…it was like her worst nightmare was repeating itself, only this time it was smack in the middle of her own family…she was crying, I was crying… – looking back the irony is astounding, but at the time…

To be fair, my first section was fine. Recovery took a while, but I had nothing to compare it to except my appendectomy…which was slightly less painful, and a bit quicker, but also laproscopic…so it seemed to fit… then I started listening to women who’d birthed vaginally…they were up and moving that day, feeling better by the time they went home…I was on the couch for two weeks recovering…and I thought “oh, I guess it is a huge difference after all!” LOL. Again, having no vaginal birth to compare it to, I have only watched others and heard their tales…

but long answer short, yep, it bothered me, but the alternative was even worse…
 
Well, with my son, who was born 7 months ago, I had a vaginal birth, no pain killers, no epidural, no nothin. That’s the way I wanted it…I didn’t want ANYTHING unecessary being administered to my baby…and whatever they gave me they gave him…so I decided that I would take whatever pain I needed to take but I was not going to drug him up. Yeah, it was painful and it was even more painful because I have a ruptured disk in my low back which hurt more than the labor and delivery pains…they had to use a vacuum once because the pain in my back kept me from pushing all the way through, my son was born less than two hours after I went into the hospital, the pain is bad but there’s something beautiful to look forward to that makes it all worth it.

Now, about 3 days after my son was born I read an article by AP, I believe it was, it was talking about the high incidences of emergency c-sections and the epidural. Apparantly, they did a study that showed babies in the correct position for delivery, face down, then they gave epidurals to some moms and not to others…they looked at the babies again with ultrasound after that and the majority of the babies who’s mom’s got epidurals had flipped over, they were now facing up…back labor. For the mom’s without the drugs the babies remained faced down, the correct position. Most of the epidural moms ended up having to have emergency c-sections and only a couple of the non-epidural moms had emergency c-sections the reasons were for other concerns. I then remembered my good friend who had an epideral, a very long long labor and delivery, they used the vacuum on her son seven times, she was getting ready to have an emergency c-section until she delivered him the seventh time with the aid of the vacuum. The doctors told her the baby was face up which is why they had such a hard time.

Didn’t mean to make this so long…but for those of you who don’t want any pain I would think twice before taking the drugs…things may end up worse than if you just bite the bullet, the pain doesn’t last forever :o .
 
Leaner, you brave, brave woman, you… and I can’t believe that story about your MIL!!! although I have to admit this urgent wish to go back in time and hand you the phone number of a good lawyer before you had your uterus and ovaries x-rayed. That’s just the attorney’s daughter in me, though. I’m so glad you’re okay! And yeah I’d be more worried about sepsis too…you’re absolutely right.

Okay can someone further traumatize me by explaining the whole “vaccum” procedure!?! I’m getting all sorts of mental pictures.

Lexee–I also happen to have herniated disks in my lumbar (lower) back and I already feel pressure from time to time so I’ve wondered how that will all pan out during labor… thanks for your story.
 
A C-section was brought up toward the end of my pregnancy because of complications. I still planned on not having one. At the very last minute the doctor’s strongly advised for one, as things did not look good.

Baby and mom both turned out to be fine. C-section went smoothly. I was truly blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby. Somehow I still felt “cheated” like I missed out because I didn’t go through the actual birthing process. Some people say I’m lucky to not have endured it. I do not see it that way. I feel like I missed out on something. I was very scared of labour but still looking forward to it.
 
Rob's wife:
The issue here is not whether there is something wrong with someone having a NEEDED c-section.

The issue is being forced or encouraged to have a major, invasive, painfull, and unneccessary surgery - especially as it may cause complications at the time and/or in future pregnancies. 30% is way higher than ANY other nation in the world and we DO have a VERY low birth mortality rate for an 1st world/industrial country.
Exactly.

My 3rd baby was c-sec due to severe breech position. It was horrible from beginning to end. Not that natural is a picnic, but the recovery from my c-sec was terribly painfull and much longer.

I then went on to have 2 v-bacs without any problems.

Then to my shock I had to go through 4 drs. and 2 hospitals before I could find a situation where they would allow me to have v-bacs with the next 2 babies! It appears that many drs/hospitals are refusing to continue v-bacs because it is inconvienent. Whereas it is VERY hard to win a lawsuit for malpractice on the basis of an unneccessary c-sec surgery.

That’s my biggest fear about having a c-section. This is the first of, God willing, many children I’ll birth, and I know if I have a c-section it could limit the number of children I can have. I am worried about being forced to have additional c-sections for no good reason, and too many c-sections can lead to a ruptured uterus and thus a hysterectomy.

I’m really worried about the this baby and these policies…
Especially as I’ve heard that many drs. (though not mine I pray!) are purposely giving the vertical interior cut for c-sec to ensure that a patient can’t have future v-bacs.
That is very disturbing. Very disturbing indeed…:nope:
 
Nonie said:
:eek: I’m sorry but education is NO PREVENTION for pain!!!. :eek: I mean I would have gotten my Doctorate in “Painology” before having my third child if this were true. I did the relaxation methods, bla bla bla…basically you are in for pain. Unless you are a wiz at self hypnosis or such nonsense. Some women have more pain than others and wether that makes you take the c-section route I wouldn’t know. I always heard it was better to have a normal birth if you were going to have more children in the future. But if they came out and said that a c-section was the best way to go…safe for the baby …etc. i would have done it in a heart beat. :yup:
Click to expand...

Yeah…I really enjoy the Dr. Sears Birth Book, it’s full of great info, but they won’t use the word pain. She prefers “sensation”. She says pain is a sign something is wrong. Now I’ve never been through labor before, but I fully expect it to hurt like hell, even if everything is going along swimmingly.
 
40.png
astegallrnc:
There is also the issue of medical malpractice insurance costs that are rapidly increasing and will definitely increase if the physician has been involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit. In fact, there are some malpractice insurers that won’t cover VBACs. In addition to the cost of malpractice insurance, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has a new standard of care for VBACs. So many factors dictating our care.
Click to expand...
Just so people know, the criteria for a vbac is really very simple, but contrary to how most drs. prefer to handle things.
Usually the ob only really shows up for the final bit of action at the end of delivery and relies on nurses to keep him updated. Thus he doesn’t waste time standing around when he could be playing golf or delivering another baby down the hall.
However, the guidelines for vbacs requires that the dr. be right there the entire time so that if rupture happens he can do the emergency c-sec required to save the mother’s life. (In this exact situation, we’re talking minutes to save a life.) Most drs. aren’t too thrilled with that kind of demand, so they insist on a scheduled c-sec 2 - 3 weeks before the due date to avoid the entire possiblity. At best they may “say” they will let you have a trial of labor at that time, but will still want to induce at that time in case a c-sec is needed. But this pretty much sets you up for a c-sec, because that baby and your body probably isn’t going to be ready for inducing. So the dr comes in and says then that you need a c-sec because you aren’t “progressing”.
The vote is out on if induced labors contribute to rupture, although even without a previous c-sec, there is a very slight risk of that happening. Personally, I think it’s more about starting a domino intervention effect. When they put you on that drip, it usually has more to do with some imagined “timeline” of how fast they want your labor to go for them to feel your “progressing”. I’ve had drs. who insist on a drip after just a few hours, even if I’m continueing to dilate and efface. I’ve had other drs. who have an 8 or 10 hour mark, where they’d rather just give you a c-sec if you haven’t delevered yet. I’ve had other drs. who don’t care unless the patient cares.
Now before anyone gets all freaked out about that possible scene, keep in mind the risk of uterine rupture does double after a c-sec BUT that doubling only brings it up to less than 2% which still gives vbac a much lower risk factor for complications than a repeat c-section.
If you had the proper interior cut, and each layer of muscle and tissue was sewn individually (rather than bunched up together and sewn - which can lead to horrible interior scarring and possible uterine complications) - the chances of uterine rupture are very small and your previous c-sec shouldn’t neccessitate the need for all future pregnancies to be planned c-sections.
The point of all this is not to scare anyone.

The point of having information is to give the patient the confidence to stand up and speak up for the best medical care they want and need. Yes, there are times when we have to just trust and pray our drs. are doing what’s best - but the vast majority of the time the patient needs to be aware that there are always decisions to be made and that they should allowed to make a personal informed decision about what is done to their body.
 
Okay can someone further traumatize me by explaining the whole “vaccum” procedure!?! I’m getting all sorts of mental pictures.
Click to expand...
Okay, the vacuum they used on me looks like a flat disk that’s about 5 inches in diameter and another smaller one inside of that which kinda looks like it’s rubber or something, then in the middle there’s a long, thin tube which has a sort of pump attached to it. What they do is take the disk and semi insert into you onto the baby’s head, it seals to the head by them pumping, like a vacuum seal, then you push as hard as you can and the doctor is able to gently help you by pulling with the vacuum, just until the head is out then they take the vacuum off and pull the shoulders out and then the rest of the body. My son had a big bump on his head for about three to four weeks, it’s like a bruise. Some babies only have a bump for a couple of days, it just depends on the baby I guess. If you are going to a child-birth class they should go over this and show you the different pumps that they use or are available, and if they don’t ASK them about it. The old vacuums used to give babies a “Mr. Cone Head” look, these new ones seem to be much better. I would guard against forceps, I heard those could be more damaging to the baby, with any of these you can run the risk of cerebral palsy, but you can also run that risk even if they don’t use one of these methods.
Lexee–I also happen to have herniated disks in my lumbar (lower) back and I already feel pressure from time to time so I’ve wondered how that will all pan out during labor… thanks for your story.
Click to expand...
Well, I would highly suggest that you speak to your ob/midwife about this, especially if you’d like to go drug free. They told me that my back pain would be nill had I taken the epidural, I didn’t want it, but I also did not realize that the pain would hinder my ability to push, which is why they used the vacuum. Now, with this pregnancy I am going to physical therapy, working on my core body muscles, stretching, massage, etc. I was planning on looking into ways of taking care of this back problem…apparently there are many new treatments that may not require surgery…or at least not fusion surgery, then I got pregnant and can’t do much else except the therapy…but I find that it’s been helping. I just hope that when it comes time for delivery my back pain won’t be as bad as before so that I can deliver without the aid of a vacuum. Again, speak with your doctor and if possible get into physical therapy, that should help tremondously…unless you get an epidural then you won’t feel a thing.
 
40.png
MooCowSteph:
Yeah…I really enjoy the Dr. Sears Birth Book, it’s full of great info, but they won’t use the word pain. She prefers “sensation”. She says pain is a sign something is wrong. Now I’ve never been through labor before, but I fully expect it to hurt like hell, even if everything is going along swimmingly.
Click to expand...
honestly, Steph, although I did experience pain during my very short transition it didn’t hurt like hell. The natural process kicked in and it was really no big deal. Pushing hurt some too, especially crowning, but again once it was over, it wasn’t the worst pain I’d ever felt but that was because I had trained how to relax and my husband had trained how to keep me relaxed even when I showed doubt. My ankle surgery hurt a heck of a lot worse than having a natural birth. If you are afraid or uncomfortable you will be tense and will cause yourself a lot of unnecessary pain.
 
40.png
spacecadet:
If you are afraid or uncomfortable you will be tense and will cause yourself a lot of unnecessary pain.
Click to expand...
I know, which only makes me worry more. How can you not be nervous or afraid going into childbirth for the first time? I mean, I’m sure there are some people out there like that, but I get nervous when presented with anything unknown. Just not knowing what’s going tp happen - will they want to give me pitocin, will my water break early, will there be any complications, will I have to get to the hospital in the middle of an ice or snow storm? So these things are already on my mind, and I’m afraid they are going to take over when the time actually comes. So, I’m worried about being worried. How dumb is that?!
 
40.png
MooCowSteph:
I know, which only makes me worry more. How can you not be nervous or afraid going into childbirth for the first time? I mean, I’m sure there are some people out there like that, but I get nervous when presented with anything unknown. Just not knowing what’s going tp happen - will they want to give me pitocin, will my water break early, will there be any complications, will I have to get to the hospital in the middle of an ice or snow storm? So these things are already on my mind, and I’m afraid they are going to take over when the time actually comes. So, I’m worried about being worried. How dumb is that?!
Click to expand...
well i think i’ve said this before but i was so scared until i took bradley classes and afterwards i just felt like i knew what my body was doing and what i and DH should do. it goes back to the either do bradley or get a doula scenario…and don’t forget prayers to Mary and St. Gerard. and i’m the biggest worrier my DH has ever seen. i think about things that never happen, you know…if complications happen that is what the hospital is good at taking care of. it is the normal natural births that they are often confused by so i honestly wouldn’t worry about that…
 
40.png
spacecadet:
well i think i’ve said this before but i was so scared until i took bradley classes and afterwards i just felt like i knew what my body was doing and what i and DH should do. it goes back to the either do bradley or get a doula scenario…and don’t forget prayers to Mary and St. Gerard. and i’m the biggest worrier my DH has ever seen. i think about things that never happen, you know…if complications happen that is what the hospital is good at taking care of. it is the normal natural births that they are often confused by so i honestly wouldn’t worry about that…
Click to expand...
I’m using a combination of Bradley and Dr. Sears Birthing book techniques (which is basicly Bradley).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top