Reason for your cecerean??? Please share!

[Juelie's Mom]

I am a mother of one, vaginal delivery. I am training to be a Bradley Teacher and doula, so I have full confidence in VBACs. The other day my dh's aunt told me her friend had had a cecerean. I asked "why?" (proffessional curiosity). She (who is a nurse of 23 years) said it was b/c she had had a c-section with her 1st baby, this was her third, and that after you have had one baby with a c-section you cannot deliver vaginally. I bit my tongue.

I have thus far heard only one story where a cecerean was nessecary (placental preevia). I was hoping you could share with me the reasons for your cecerean births so I can get better aquainted with the reasons why they are sometimes nessecary, from the point of view of women who have been there.

Thanks is advance,
Holly

[bec]

My C-section

First off, let me say, that I don't think my section was necessary. The official reason was failure to progress. I was a week late, when my water broke. I had been having mild contractions for a day or so before this happened. I was in the middle of doing some nipple stimulation (with a hand-pump) when, gush! Anyway, there was some meconium in the water. We called my OB, who said come in right away. In that we were an hour away from the hospital, we went.

In the car, my contractions seemed to be picking up. Katie was still riding very high in my abdomen. She had not descended in the slightest. I swear we walked two very short hallways for most of the night! It was really boring, but the contractions seemed to be getting more intense, and coming a bit quicker.

Katie had descended a little bit (not much, though), and had finally settled into what seemed like a final position. She was still squirming around a lot, but her head seemed to be staying in the same place. I was pretty tired by this time (being up all night, after spending much of the previous day pacing), so I rested for a little while. The doctor came in and announced that I had not dialated any further than I had from about an hour after I arrived. She wanted to put me on pitocin. I said fine (big mistake).

Needless to say, the hospital had a policy that I had to have continuous monitoring if I was on pitocin. Which meant that I had to stay in bed. Which meant that the only thing that was helping in the slightest was no longer an option for me. I was also really tired, and not really in a place to argue. I spent 6 agonizing hours on pitocin, with no pain medication. I felt very strongly about that. I was adament about not wanting an epidural or anything else. I breathed, and groaned, and my husband and mother coached and applied counter-pressure. Because Katie wasn't engaged in my pelvis at all, she was twisting and turning, doing dance moves that would put Michael Jackson to shame! The nurse doing the monitoring had a really hard time keeping her heart rhythms. The little stinker! It made them panic a couple of times. And having someone constantly pawing my belly was really aggravating! Several times I grabbed the monitor away from them and put it on the part of my belly that she was. You see, I knew she was all right! I knew she where she was and what she was doing. I just wish some one else had believed me and in me!

All of this effort was to no avail, however. I didn't progress even one lousy centimeter on the damned stuff. After 15 hours of labor the doctor said she could give me about one more hour before wanting to do a section. I talked to my husband. I felt pretty defeated and hopeless. I also didn't see where an extra hour was going to change anything. At that point I just wanted the pain to go away. I caved and about 30 minutes later, my precious daughter was born. I firmly believe that my insistance on not having pain medication was the reason she was so bright eyed and alert, getting 9's on her apgars.

In retrospect, I think the meconium was due to to her being post-dates and being a huge baby (10lb 6oz.) I think her movements alone were a good indication that everything was all right. Also, with 20/20 hindsight I have realized a couple of things. The first was that I wasn't as prepared for labor as I thought I was. The second is that I have realized that during labor is not the time to try and argue about hospital policies. It doesn't work. It was very easy for me to become the good little patient that I had promised myself I wouldn't become! The result of these realizations is that I will be having a home-birth the next time around.

I hope this helps! Peace

[Clarity]

loss mentioned

(loss mentioned)











1) hemorrhage. I had 52 cm of amniotic fluid. Baby died at 29 weeks. We tried to induce gently...they worried if I went into labor all at once and lost all the water in one gush, the placenta would prolapse. It trickled out slowly from pinhole. 5 bedpans worth. Then the placenta did start to come away, and my blood pressure dropped. It didn't hurt, but it was a lot of blood. Luckily no transfusion, but it was general. Woke totally up before I hit the recovery room (with no morphine yet mind you. Ow.) Never seen people move so fast! So maybe it was the induction. But there was the same risk form letting me go naturally. 52 cm is more than any one uterus should have.

2) long preterm labor (36 weeks) Did agree to pitocin after 16 hours of back labor unrelieved by rocking and tilts. Had one demised twin (23 weeks), and one live. Demised twin was transverse. Was making no progress in dilation after 24 hours. Manually turned the demised twin, delivered vaginally. After delivery of the twin and the placenta, the other baby showed some heart distress. Ceased pitocin. Waited. Oxygen. No progress on dilation. Heart distress returned. So not 100% necessary, but difficult to say. I think we did our best in a very complicated pregnancy generally. They were very cool about letting me try to labor as much as I wanted before we moved on to pitocin, and after delivering the twin before deciding on surgery.

[Jude's Mama]

Well let me see.......I was in labor for 26 hours and got to 9 1/2 cent. in dialation. Then it was nothing for 1 or 2 hours I really can't remember. I was soooo tired. My son's heart rate kept dropping really low and the doctor decided the second time it happened to do a c-section. It so happened to be that my son's cord was drapped over his neck so the more he decended the cord would get taught and boom there his little heartbeat went. My doctor assures me that I can deliver my next one vaginally. He said if it wasn't for the cord we would have been fine. He didn't even know the cord was that way until he cut me but, I was confidant in his decision. He is a great doctor. I hope I made sense. I'm a bit tired this evening!

[LiamnEmma]

First, Clarity, omg, how awful, and how beyond awful. I'm so sorry.

I'd like to say that when I read the title of this post my heart kind of lurched, and this is why http://www.mothering.com/discussions...threadid=29069

In that same vein, can I respectfully suggest that you might not want to discuss "necessity" in your classes when talking to women VBAC'ing? Maybe not everybody is so prickly about it, but chances are.....

But I like to help out when I can so here's why.

#1) HELLP syndrome, which luckily did not develop until 39 weeks. My bag broke with no onset of labor, ob started doing bloodwork, and eventually my platelets dropped so low that they had to put me under and take my son out for me.

#2) Baby turned transverse at 41 weeks and DH and I took it as a sign from God. We were fully intending to VBAC, but we felt our child was telling us something that we needed to heed and we went ahead and scheduled the c-section for the next day. Turned out her umbilical cord was less than 12 inches long and the placenta was at the top of my uterus. Short enough to scare the bejeebers out of the operating crew when they pulled her out....should have known something was up, and it turned out that she indeed had kidney issues (apparently the two are related somehow : ) that later had to be surgically repaired. But I digress....

[sarahmae1]

I believe my c-section was needed. I had developed pre-eclamsia (came on very suddenly and pretty badly also) and they tried to induce me but it didn't work. My ds and I weren't doing very well, from what I understand we almost died, so I was taken in for an emergency c-section and put under and all.

[Jude's Mama]

sarahmae1


Wow! That's scary. Glad your both OK.

[HeatherB]

Well, here's my story...

I woke up on Saturday morning with fluid that I thought might be my water. Mild but fairly regular contractions. I wanted to stay home so we did not call the doctor, but my doula came over after I rested for a while.

After hours of walking and not a lot of increase in contractions, we finally figured out it wasn't my water - OB had stripped membranes and this was just a side effect. Still, the contractions increased, but not enough to have a baby on Saturday.

Late Saturday night, they got strong enough that I started to wonder if I was in active labor (in retrospect I think I was). By about 7 am I had to be coached through them. They never got very close together, so my doula didn't figure I was making that much progress. They spaced out if I lied down, but got stronger. We walked several more miles (I think!) in the midst of the contractions.

Finally very late on Sunday night I decided they were getting strong enough I was starting to doubt myself. If my doula was right and I was not very far along (she was guessing 3-4), I didn't know if I could do it. So we finally went to the hospital 24 hours after active labor began, to find that I was at 5-6cm. Apparently the nurse broke my water with her finger at that point because she said she could feel baby's hair. That was enough to get me through some awful contractions and make me feel like I could get through it.

Nine or ten hours later I was announced to be at 9.5 cm, baby was very low, they started preparing for delivery, doctor came in, etc. Then they said I was at 8. Baby moved UP. Started leaking fluid again, this time with meconium. Even though I was having intense transition contractions (triple peaking, etc.), I was no longer dialating. Much to my discomfort, the nurse checked me through one contraction, to find that I was not dialating with contractions, but closing up more.

We tried nipple stim to get the contractions stronger (not like they weren't strong enough already!), and finally allowed them to run pitocin as a last ditch effort to finish dialating. I had no urge to push, nothing.

When the pit didn't help, either, and the doctor had tried all he could think of, we okayed the section. Both DH and I said later that we figured the pitocin was a waste and would've skipped that option and gone straight for the section as he clearly wasn't coming out naturally.

I was also put under because I did not have an epidural and was not allowed to have one due to spina bifida and systemic Lyme disease. This is my biggest regret, that no one witnessed his birth (not myself or my husband). He was born at 1:44 pm, after 36 hours of labor. (All natural except for an hour or two of demerol with the pit - horrible, horrible, horrible! I will NEVER do that again! Worse than nothing!)

Was it necessary? We certainly believed at the time that it was. I still struggle with it (and he's 10.5 months old). Could I have done more? What if I had gotten in other positions, tried other things? I finally got the urge to push and actually pushed once on the operating table! Does that mean I could've gone through with the delivery? I honestly don't know, and I don't think I will know until the Lord tells me someday in Heaven (but perhaps He'll spare me that). I can think of lots of reasons why it might, in fact, have been necessary - the cord was around his arm, which may be what made him move back up, or may have caused injury had he come vaginally.

All I do know is that we prayerfully did what we believed to be the right thing, and I have to trust that it was right - even though it was one of the most difficult things I ever did.

I earned him, though, I'll tell you that much!

HTH, sorry so long!

Heather - planning VBAC for #2, whenever that is
& Gabriel - 03/18/02 - 36 hours and c/s

[mirlee]

Mine was simple. Sam refused to move down any further than he already had and it was determined by the nurse and my OB at different times that his head just wouldn't fit. Based on my sister's experience with 4 hour labors for both of her kids and the fact that they practically fell out, I was surprised. My OB says she doesn't like to do c/s, and she prefers that women labor naturally, but she said the likelyhood of me delivering naturally, might be slim. She said that if I did have another child, we would try naturally first and see what happened. That said, I would probably end up as before.

[AmandasMom]

It was a variety of things that made me have the C/S, but in a nutshell I went into labor on my due date, when my water broke, it was loaded with meconium. Her heartbeat was almost non-existant (for 1 week prior I had to go into the doctors office daily because she simply was not moving around anymore inside of me) and she was sunny side up. They did an emergency cs and she had to be in some sort of oxygen "tent" over her head for hours.

BTW... while doing research for my family tree, I have the opportunity to read town's death records in the 1800's, specifically 1854-1857. (trying to find cause of death for a relative) and death during childbirth was very common, almost scarry. They don't say why she died, only "Childbirth". But whatever the reason, dying during childbirth was not uncommon. I'm not saying that to justify the high cs rate there is today, most of that is due to doctors interferring, but a lot of times it is necessary.

[sarahmae1]

Thanks Jude's Mama! It was a rough couple of days afterwards for me, and I don't remember it much but I'm just so very thankful that my ds was/is okay!

[MamaOui]

I labored for two days and pushed for hours and hours (in every darn postion). Turns out ds#1 was transverse. My family practioner worked with me for hours, but it just wasn't gonna happen. I know he was not one to c-sec, because he seemed as upset about it as I was. He stayed after the c-sec and came to visit me every day and he even did diaper changes

I VBACed ds#2.

[Clarity]

(more loss mentioned)






Thanks Leah...even after all that, people still second guess. even the docs...since I was in the hospital when the first died, and they were the same docs in the second pregnancy...they were "what if'ing", but I was there...and I was VERY involved in all the decisions...none was made "for" me, and we made the best decisions we could in difficult situations.

The worst stuff was actually from a doula friend...which made me too wonder about Holly's motivations (sorry Holly...I know they were probably sincere.) Monday morning quarterbacks are soooo common. Before I got pregnant (she knew about the first) she was raving about a particular local birth center, who also does home births...one of 5 or 6 bc within driving distance. I said something about vbac. and she says...."oh, I forgot you had a c. They don't do vbac." After raving about them for half an hour, she couldn't freaking remember? I forgot. Dead babies aren't part of normal birth - no wonder she didn't pay attention. Then I got pregnant and at first it was triplets. did she say something supportive? "It's a hospital birth for you!" grrrrr. Just what I needed to hear. Pregnancy gets more complex...Ms Doula Birthy Girl - didn't even hear from her. Post birth, she calls, chit chat wants to hear brith story...what does she ask - "how low did the heart rate fall?" I could HEAR her think..."oh, it was another unnecessary c-section, I bet the heart rate was not really an indication of a problem." Now she wants to get together. For-get it. Friends like this I need not...not after the miracle of modern science process I have to go through. When I have a normal pregnancy, I hope to be at home. She won't be there.

When I was going through this I was looking for a doula to attend me and even talked to a few doula teachers looking for someone they could suggest. I could not find one that could deal with my complexity or had any experience with non normal birth. I was more prepared than most of them were, having seen both normal and complex birth and pregnancy. The first pregnancy my original midwives attended though I got the "admin" one I hadn't met who no longer attended births? Kind of insulting.... The second time it was just too complex, the supervising OB's were there so who was in charge would be sort of muddled... I would have appreciated a little help at trying to relieve the back labor but I was all on my own. OB nurses were worthless about that, of course. I knew what to do, I just couldn't get it to work, I think due to the position of the demised twin.

So, Holly. Learn about high-risk and complex obstetrics too. because we have a right to as little intervention as we require, too. We need advocates, and we need to learn how to advocate, but with an understanding of the medical issues, and how to research them. I wanted a bradley class. But being as I was in the hospital for 2 months prior to losing my first, not possible. And after what I've been through (and I have read the Bradley book, and the Natural Childbirth the bradley way, and my sisters class materials.) I think sitting through a class would probably make me choke at this point. The natural birth community for a number of reasons, some external, tends to abandon anyone who gets complicated. And some bradley teachers seem unable to address complex women. So I plan on a future homebirth, but probably without Bradley preparation. Birthing From Within handles complex birth and prior birth experiences in a better way, IMO though I have no had any of their workshops. I am sure some bradley teachers can handle this sort of thing better.

[Cloverlove]

Clarity~ I am so sorry for your loss.

I know that having a c-sec has made me much more compassionate towards women who have a c-sec. I used to be like "Ms Doula Birthy Girl" -sad but true.

I don't know if I needed one or not. After pushing for hours, the midwives suggested transport. At this point I was so exhausted that I went along with anything. Basically, I started pushing too soon and he just got "stuck." We tried all kinds of tricks, but to no avail.

He had a huge bruise on his head when he came out.

I was able to have an HBAC 4 years later!

[zombiemommie]

I had a failed induction for pre-eclampsia at 38 weeks. I had been developing p/e I think since about 33 weeks but at my OB office I was a number, they poo-poo'd me, n ever told me to rest, wouldn't write me out of work (I worked until 37 weeks in an ICU trauma unit 12 hour shifts - hello) and then all of a sudden I blew up, gained 18 lbs in 3 wks, and slowly BP crept up and I got p/e. Never counselled on good nutrition, or nutrition for high risk of p/e patients (overweight, borderline high BP, first pregnancy , etc). Anyway, instead of bedrest or whatever, they said "go to hospital, you are having baby today". Gave cervidil, pitocin, 2 epidurals, broke my water, and 12 hours later, puking my guts up from the magnesium for p/e, I agreed to section because I felt like I was gonna die. Technically since I never dilated beyond a 1 cm, had no contractions to speak of, and my water was broken, I would have HAD to have the c/s because of the membrane rupture within 24 hours anyway. Sometimes I wish they would have spared me the agony of trying to induce a high baby with a short, tight unripe cervix and just sectioned me because they tortured the living crap out of me for 24 hours first. It really sucked.

I am due in 1 week with #2, attempting VBAC, baby estimated at about 10 lbs, and I am so excited to try. I have nice CNM group, will be birthing in hosptial, with doula, did Bradley, different pregnancy all the way. I can't wait to experience even labor, VBAC or not, ebcause I had nothing last time. I am interested in how the situation plays out, and very anxious to meet my new baby.

[Clarity]

I was with my sis when she did her 10lb at home...her first! It was slow but steady... Good luck to you! I hope it's great!!!! My friend in Denver is in labor as we speak...so I've been thinking about babies all day!

[julie128]

may not have been necessary

When laboring in the hospital, we had 3 nurses. If either the first or third had taken the place of the second, I probably would not have had the cs, but, who knows. I felt "pushy," so she checked, and said, "yep, ten cm, push at will." I pushed for two hours, then the dr came (attending another birth at another hospital). He checked. I was at ten, but there was still a bit of a lip left. I had been pushing for two hours when I was not possible for me to push out my daughter. I suggested using the vacuum extrator to help lower her down, so we tried that. My husband was able to see our daughter's head, but I was too tired to push her out. Another nurse shift change. The third nurse suggested pitocin to try to avoid a cs, so we tried that. I could feel it working, but after five hours, I was too wiped out to continue. Anyway, we both turned out to be healthy, so it worked out in the end. On a completely different subject, I tried to have an epidural, but, not only did it not work, I got a spinal headache from it. Spinal headache pain is worse than labor pain. I'm going to try hypnobirthing this time. (one month along) Anyone have experience with hb?

[flores]

I was 2 weeks past due with my first ds. I had come down with the flu and the next day I went into labor, still with the flu. I was miserable. I labored for 6 hours and was dilated to 6. The nurses asked how my mother labored. I told them she had 4 kids under 6 hour labors each. So they thought I would do the same. WRONG. I never dilated past 6 and ds was not descending. after 10-12 hours of labor I finally got a epidural. So I was stuck on my back and I could still feel lots of pain. (before this I was walking the halls and showering) I was feeling terrible. I was fevering and throwing up (I am sure partly from the flu) and not progressing at all. finally after 24 hours they said the baby was in distress and stressed to me how tired I was and I agreed to surgery. Dh came in with me. They laid me flat on my back and I was having a difficult time breathing. when they made the first cut on my belly I could feel it and try to scream but I had lost my voice from being sick so my dh did not know what I wanted. He saw terror on my face though and told the dr. The dr told the anesthesiologist to give me gas to knock me out. When the anesthesiologist put the mask over my face dh freaked and slapped the guys hand and mask away from my face. (dh knew I was having a difficult time breathing and he saw a mask and his mind went nuts. my dh is a very mild tempered person and this still surprises us that he did this) The nurses ended up kicking my dh out of the or. So I was knocked out with gas.Ds was born and he had respiratory distress.They were going to fly him to a larger hospital that was 3 hours driving time away. (we were at a small town hospital) Not sure why the did not. But so glad he got to stay with me. He was 10.9 pounds.( he is 11 now) When I saw him he was dried out and wrinkled and his skin was peeling. His feet would lay flat on his shin. I was kinda shocked. We had to stay at the hospital for 6 days because I was still fevering and my lungs were filling up with gunk.
I think that maybe I could have gotten him out without all the intervention if I had a support team. But I was only 16 and only had my bf (dh now) and we went to Lamaze classes which I learned nothing.

I have since had 2 vbacs. One with vacuum extraction and epi (8.4) and the third au natural (9.7) in a hospital. If a fourth is to come, it will be at home

whew- have'nt thought of all that for a while

[~Megan~]

I had a c-section because dd was breech. We found out about a week before she was born that she was in a breech position. My OB told us that she thought that a c-section would be safer than an attempt at a breech delivery. We did exercises for days trying to turn the baby. I had an attempt at a manual version, it was unsuccessful obviously. I began to search for a provider that would be comfortable doing a vaginal breech birth. Unfortunately I progressed too far and dd was born before I could find anyone.

I am and was dissappointed. I think I could have handled the birth vaginally. I was at 100% and 5 cm with very little discomfort when I was admitted into the hospital.

I hope to have a VBAC next time and would like to do it in a birthing center

[Chelly2003]

Footling Breech here.

My OB said he would have let me birth a breech baby, but not a footling breech......

Chelly
TTC#3