planning a cesarean birth?

[jmcsparkly]

Hello! Name is Jeanette and I'm a long time lurker at Mothering. I have two children born with midwives.

I am working with a group of researchers from Cedars Sinai who want to learn more about women who are planning cesarean births. 

I hope it ok to post the survey here. It takes 10 minutes or less to complete.The survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9JX9JCP

I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have about this project!

Warmly,

Jeanette

[fljen]

Good morning,

I responded.  One thing that I noticed is that it did not address those of us who are in the unenviable boat of having to plan a c/s because we have no choice.  

I have had two prior c/s, both for situations unlikely to occur again, and I am unable to find a provider to even allow a TOLAC.  It is incredible frustrating to want to have a vaginal birth safely but have your only option to be going it alone...

Hopefully the survey will give you guys some ideas how to go about decreasing the amounts of primary elective c/s so that more women aren't ending up in the position that I find myself.

Jen

[jmcsparkly]

Jen:

Thank you so much. I will pass on your feedback about the survey to the researchers. I am *so* sorry you are having troubles finding a provider that will support your VBAC goals. I'm assuming you've found the folks at VBACfacts? I know they have had some luck helping people find providers and fully understanding their options.

Wishing you the very best in your birth and hoping you find the options you are looking for!

Warmly,

Jeanette

[MarionLS]

Are women allowed to plan this way for first time births? Isn't it just based on medical necessity? Or is all that changing?

[MeepyCat]

Originally Posted by MarionLS 

Are women allowed to plan this way for first time births? Isn't it just based on medical necessity? Or is all that changing?

A lot of doctors will do c-sections for maternal request.  There are also a lot who won't, but at least in the U.S., you largely get to choose your provider, and you absolutely get to plan this way if that's what you want.

And some medical needs are forseeable, and allow for some planning and decision-making.  If your baby is breech, for example, even a hospital that "does" vaginal breeches will be happy to schedule you for a c-section if you're uncomfortable with the risk of attempting vaginal delivery.  Same for twins.  If you have an active herpes outbreak around the time you expect to give birth, they'll section you.  IF you're post-dates, you can often make the argument that you don't love the risk of having an induction, and then potentially winding up having to page in a surgeon if things don't go well, so you'd rather just have surgery during the day.  I had a "planned" c-section for placenta previa (planned, as in, when I came in hemorrhaging, they planned to send me into the OR as soon as it was ready, but had things gone the way we expected, we'd have scheduled a section for 37 weeks or so).  If you're pregnant and have a pelvic deformity or a heart problem, you can absolutely be planning your totally medically necessary c-section from day 1.