c section horror stories

[Phteven]

This is not my experience as I haven't had one but my SIL needed IV antibiotics for an infection.

OMG that reminded me of a mega-horror story - so I dug it up
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...upsetting.html

[~Aveta~]

OMG that reminded me of a mega-horror story - so I dug it up
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...upsetting.html

OMG that's awful!!! my BF had a similar experience after a hysterectomy, tho...i believe any surgery is darn dangerous.

i had twins in 1988 in Coffs Harbour. because i was a first birth and a public patient, no doctor really wanted to take responsibility. i got shunted here and there and eventually got a young locum who failed to pick up that i was becoming toxaemic. he booked me in for induction at 38 weeks, with my boy/girl twins being 7.5 and 6.5 pounds respectively. my boy was a transverse breech so a caesar team was on standby. after 4 hours of a very hard induced labour i gave birth vaginally to my daughter. she was perfect, good apgars, etc. the doctor gave me ten minutes, then started to try to turn my son. within half an hour of her birth i was on a trolley heading for surgery, and being abused by the midwife because i had refused an epidural - i had only a little gas at the end. i had an emergency c/s with a general anasthetic and ended up bleeding our to the point where they gave me seven units of blood and a plasma product that gave me a histamine reaction, so another tap was inserted and i was given more drugs. the surgical registrar was elbow deep in my vagina cleaning clots out of my uterus at 4am. i nearly died. in the morning i insisted the pethidine be taken away as i was afraid of it (i'd seen a friend die of morphine and heroin addiction) i didnt see my son till he was 14 hours old an didnt have any desire to hold or feed him i went thru the motions with him till i finally bonded when he was six months old. i had no trouble bonding with his twin sister, and i BF both to 21 months. . but.... 20 years later i still have adhesions, a crooked scar, an apron, and a fear of anasthetic. it took over ten years before i could stand any pressure on my scar, a fact that led to difficulties between me and my (now ex) husband.

my younger daughter was 8.5 pounds, two weeks late, and born at home with a midwife in attendance, 30k from the nearest hospital. no trouble birthing, no scar rupture, tho it was difficult to get the high-set placenta out over the fold in my uterus where the scar was.

if i manage to get that far again, i'm going for another vaginal birth - 16 years after my last. i personally found i recovered much quicker, without the nerve damage at the scar, the crook back from being shifted in the operating theatre, and i had less trouble brastfeeding without the drugs in my system.

i also suggest you do your research on the stats, and talk to midwives and homebirth attendants. the final decision is yours, and yours alone.

[christy]

My horror story is that I felt the procedure. The spinal block obviously didn't take effect enough. It was horrific & I went into shock on the table while my baby was coming out. It is all hazy what happened the first 24 hours of my daughter's life. I then reacted to the morphine...

My daughter was more affected long term than I was.

[AnyDream]

I recommend you get your hands on the excellent book about caesareans called "Delivery by Appointment". It goes through all the sorts of things that can go wrong and the type of impact it can have. The author is pro-VB but has written a very well researched and balanced book that anyone making this decision should read.

My CS experience was a very positive and empowered one however I did have problems with wound infection for a couple of months afterwards - definitely meant i was in more pain than usual and for longer than normal. However for all of that I'm still very happy with what I chose.

[paradise lost]

I have heard many horror stories, of both VB and CS. I know a woman whose son's eyeball was accidentally cut with the surgical knife and he lost it the next day. I have heard of literally dozens of babies being cut by the knife, many needing stitches and some being scarred for life. I have heard of women who lost a lot of blood, their uterus, their baby, their life. The same goes for vaginal birth, i know women who lost their babies there too.

Currently it is statistically safer for a healthy woman having a normal pregnancy to VBAC than it is to have a repeat section - that is in terms of both mortality (mums and babies who die) and morbidity (injury and ongoing issues for both mum and babe). BUT the statistics of safety for NEITHER are at 100%. That means that whichever you choose you risk injury and death. We all do. EVery birthing woman in the history of the race risked it too. The risks of mortality are lower than they have been, the risks of unnecessary morbidity are a little higher (women run the risk of intervention and injury that was not necessitated by medical need). The reality of the figures is that for the vast majority of women, whether they have a CS or a VB, will be fine. Within the choice, VB is slightly safer and reduces morbidity significantly (no surgical wound for starters).

Are you undecided? Or do you want to go for a section but feel judged or questioned on your decision? I had a homebirth, and NO homebirth horror story would have put me off, i knew in my heart it was what i really wanted, and part of that was the knowledge that unless something went wrong with the pregnancy it was also my safest option.

Read the studies, study the statistics, find your OWN decision, and when it's made you can tell everyone who questions it your reasons. If they would have made a different decision based on the same statistics, well, boo to them! It's your body and your baby, not theirs!

Bx

[~mamaspice~]

I have had a caesarean myself. The proceedure went well, apart from the epi not working and having to have a general anaesthetic - which scared me terribly emotionally. Also I got a baldder infection and my wee resembled a rose' wine.

I know someone who ended up with a twisted bowel after her caesar. Was in excruitiating pain and had to go back for more surgery within days of the caesar to fix it.

[Cherie]

I had an unplanned c/s - the procedure itself was straightforward, but a couple of days later, I ruptured one of my internal stitches which pulled through my abdominal muscle and rested on my sciatic nerve. Excruciating! I couldn't walk, or even place any weight on one leg.

I went home in a wheelchair (in a high-set house), with a shower chair, an over-toilet frame, and a prescription for doloxene, voltaren AND oxycontin, which gave me nightmares and, I think, affected my baby via breastmilk.

My OB has told me that this is a very, very unusal occurence, but I am terrified of having another c/s in case it happens again. No new mother should ever have to start her baby's life drugged up to the eyeballs, in a wheelchair unable to walk, and in enormous amounts of pain.