If you've had a c-section, do you feel that it was necessary? - Page 2

[InstinctiveMama]

I don't believe my c-section was medically necessary. It was necessary because I don't believe any of my care providers knew enough about breech birth. In a different situation, I would have been able to vaginally birth my baby just fine. I never stopped believing in my ability to birth my breech baby!

[gottaknit]

Yes. Attempted homebirth; 30 hours of labor at home, 10+ more at the hospital (with pit and epidural), and never progressed beyond 5cm. Baby was posterior with an extended neck (chin up rather than tucked). I just don't think he ever would have come out without trama/going into distress, even if I'd labored another couple of days.

Originally Posted by chiromama

This hasn't stopped me from blaming myself for not achieving a vaginal birth.

: Which really sucks. I feel defective. I wonder what I should have done differently, but don't come up with anything...

[ksera05]

yes - severe pre e / iugr / HELLP / fetal distress / breech @ 24 weeks

[CaraNicole]

yes i did and it saved my sons life...
his cord was wrapped around his neck twice and in 2 true knots...everytime i had a contraction (which lasted 7 min EACH) his heart rate would drop to the 40's...i didn't get the birth i wanted at all but i did get to go home w/my baby and in the end that is what matters!

[Girl In The Fire]

I had 2, the first was because of placental abruption, I hemorrhaging and it was totally necesarry. The second one was a scheduled c/sect, I could have done a VBAC but I chose the c/sect becuase of my medical history/status, the fear of another abruption, and the fact I wanted my tubes tied as soon as I delivered. While it may not have been "medically necesarry" it was what I was comfortable with and my choice.

[channelofpeace]

Nope.. first was frank breech. I found out three years later that there is a doctor in town that delivers breeches. But i made the best decision that i could at the time with the information i had available.

Second c-section I am still trying to figure it out. He had hardly any fluid left at term (five cm is low. he had 1.8 cm). I chose a section instead of induction. I will go over it a thousand more times in my head and do the coulda shoulda woulda, but i am never going to know. However, i wouldn't have been in the position to skip to a c-section had i not had my first (unnecessary) section. Nor would i probably have had the blood incompatibility that made the biophysical profile necessary.

[BetsyS]

Yes and no here, too.

I don't think that he was coming out vaginally. He weighed 11 lb, 14 ounces and was persistent OP. I was an anterior rim for 10.5 hours. I was in every position imaginable. I went into labor on my own, at 41 weeks. I had some BP issues, and my platelets were 105 thousand, so I was probably developing pre-e, as well.

I sometimes think that if I had done *more* spinning babies stuff (I did a fair amount), that maybe he wouldn't have been OP. If maybe I had restricted calories, he wouldn't have been so big (I pushed protein the last month, and he grew a fair amount that last month). If maybe we had waited a little bit longer, he would have rotated and come down. All the what ifs.

But, my gut tells me that it was a necessary section.

[pookel]

Honestly, I don't know. My baby was posterior and I had back labor for about 20 hours before I started pushing. I pushed for three hours and I was ready to kill myself if it would stop the pain. During the last hour, he didn't descend any further. When they did the c-section, it took three doctors half an hour and a vacuum extractor to yank him back out, and his head was pretty bruised up too.

If c-section hadn't been an option, I suspect he would have eventually come out without killing either one of us. So in that sense, maybe it wasn't really "necessary." But I can't imagine how much worse the experience would have been for me (and him) if I had kept pushing long enough to get him out. It was traumatic enough as it was.

[BookGoddess]

Yes, it was medically necessary. I had very high blood pressure and DD was posterior and malpositioned. I was in labor for a long time. Pushed for hours in so many positions but she just wouldn't budge. In the end, DH and I decided that a C-Section was the way to go, much to my disappointment, when the option was presented to us. I think it did save DD's life. When she was born she was gray and completely nonresponsive. She ended up in the NICU. I don't know if spending another hour or so pushing would have caused something unimaginably tragic to happen so in hindsight I think it was a smart move to go ahead with the surgery.

[Meiri]

For what we knew at the time, I have to say yes to regarding DS's. His head was cocked at a funny angle, and then my cervix was swelling. Considering that we weren't up to speed on the latex allergy, I now wonder how much of that swelling was allergic reaction rather than trauma from his head. It's moot now.

With DD, we tried again, and like with DS, had support for going the distance, but again, baby's head was in a bad position. In DD's case, she never tucked her chin and was facing my leg.

It helps that I could see the molding very clearly with both to know I wasn't being fooled that they were each in a nonoptimal position.

So much for "nonrepeating factors" as the OB labelled DS's circumstances.
*sigh*

IF there's ever another, the hospital where my CNMs deliver has had a labor tub now for the last few years. I would go for that in a heartbeat. I didn't find the shower to be all that relaxing. I would also definately bring music, some way to play my iPod into the room. I know I have a relaxation response to music. I would also teach DH some pressure points that I've learned that trigger a relaxation response in me.

IF

[myjulybabes]

c-section#1: Definitely necessary. 32 wks, severe pre-e and HELLP, baby was transvere. We knew that much when we planned the surgery. By the time I got to the OR, he was in distress, and I ended up under general because it was taking the spinal to long to "take". It sucked, certainly not the birth I had pictured and hoped for, but in the end, it was necessary, IMO.

c-section#2: I'm not sure it was necessary at the moment it was done, but it may have become necessary. Again, severe pre-e, this time I was induced at 36wks. In the middle of labor, the little bugger turned from vertex to transverse. I probably could have and should have asked for a little time to try natural means to turn him, since he wasn't in distress. But ultimately, I was pretty ill, and he needed to be born, so if natural means hadn't worked, then it definitely would have been necessary. So it might have been a premature decision, but there's no guarantee I could have avoided it if I did things differently either. Seems like kind of a gray area of "necessity" to me.

[angelcat]

Large baby (not super huge, just under 9 lbs) , sunny side up, labour not progressing. So yeah, it was needed. If she'd been smaller, then she might have changed position, or if I was taller she might have been able to, or if she was in a better position, things might have progressed.

That's the short version. And it's NOT up for debate or questions btw.

[maxmama]

First one, yes (HELLP and pre-e, breech, failed version, Bishop score of 1). Second one, I don't think I could have made another choice given the information I had, but I wish I had labored (persistent late decels on monitoring of 39 week pregnancy complicated by Kell antibodies and insulin-dependent GDM).

[4stgal]

Yeah, i think it was. At 38w3d, i went for my NST for chronic hypertension. They always check the amount of fluid he had because chronic hypertension could cause him liver problems. His fluid was down to a 4...it was at 10. So i was induced.

After 24hrs with little progress, but dialating 4cm, they broke my water. Twenty hours later, i was only at 7 cm. If they didn't do a csection, there was a huge chance of an infection.

BTW, the reason the baby's fluids dropped was meconium.

[QuietTempest]

I'm not sure if it was or not, really.. She was breech with a foot planted firmly against my right hip bone from 36 weeks until my due date. Tried to get her to turn around on my own with no luck, tried a version, which was really painful, but unsuccessful.. I made the decision that if she hadn't turned on her own by my due date, I'd consent to a scheduled cesarean because I was afraid of going into labor with a breech baby since I didn't know of anyone in the area who had dealt with breech births. My due date came and nothing had changed, so a surgical birth it was. : If I'd known then what I know now I might have been more apt to at least wait until labor before making that decision.

[sun-shine01]

Yes my c/s was necessary. I had prior surgery to remove a softball size fibroid from my uterus and could not deliver vaginally due to possible uterine rupture.

My first child was delivered in a birth center - drug free. So I'm one of the rare ones that delivered naturally the first time and then had a c/s for the second one.

[witchbaby]

yes. i was induced with cytotec and external monitoring indicated she was in distress. when she was born, she had absolutely no signs of distress whatsoever. i think i was hurried along because it was saturday night and they were annoyed with me (i'd been to the hospital 10 times before, i'm not kidding). plus, it was just 5 days before christmas. it was like a parking lot in the l&d.

[Sagesgirl]

No woman should ever be made to feel guilty about a c-section, medically necessary or not. In each and every case I have ever seen on this site, it was at the very least the best decision made with the information available at the time. Blaming yourself for what is, in the grand scheme of things, a minute fraction of your child's life just isn't worth it. What matters is being the best, most loving mama you can be.

Control for what you can, and don't worry about the rest. Honestly, so much of birth is happenstance and/or luck. You can eat the pefect diet, excercise every day of your pregnancy, do all the Spinning Babies stuff, etc etc and still have a baby go into distress during your serene home birth and have to be transported for a c-section. And there are plenty of women out there who spend their pregnancies laying on their back on the couch eating solely fried stuff and then go to the hospital and have insanely quick, easy, and uncomplicated births.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't do your best to ensure a healthy pregnancy and a good birth, or that you shouldn't want things to go a certain way. I'm just saying that self-recriminations after the fact accomplish nothing.

[Fyrestorm]

Mine was NOT!! I was a HB transfer...they (the midwives at the hospital, not my HB midwives) HATED me (I was originally going to use them as a back up but stopped seeing them after all the greif they caused me at prenatals). When I got to the hospital, they refused pitocin without an epidural and threatened a court order and then of course CPS would HAVE to get involved if I didn't sign the consent for a section...this was after I was sexually abused by them...

No mine was not necessary and the courts agreed with me.

[2tadpoles]

My second cs was not medically necessary. I chickened out of a VBAC on my due date.

First cs was at 42+2 weeks. My cervix was still long and closed, and the baby had not descended at all. I was scheduled for induction....prostaglandin gel was applied to my cervix over 4-5 hours, and then I was on Pitocin for 24 more hours. I had to stay in bed on a monitor. I never dilated past 4 cm and was too traumatized and exhausted to go on.

I think that if I had just been left alone, I might have delivered a late but healthy baby. My fluid levels were more than fine and there was no fetal distress even after all that induced labor. Although, he was over 9 lbs. at birth and I'm a small woman....so there's no telling how humongous he might have gotten if I'd been left alone.