I can give you a horror story if you really want. This is not my story, but a girl I know quite well (she's sort of my sister in law).
She had a c/s due to a failed induction at 40 weeks, 5 days. If you ask me, there was no need to induce yet and all of this could have been prevented had her doctors had a little more patience.
She had been given an epi during her labour and then another top-up for the c/s. Well, it didn't work. Not like it should anyway. She said it worked enough to numb her a bit, but she felt everything. They didn't believe her when she told them that she felt the incision so they kept going. Her sister who was waiting outside says that she has never heard screaming like that in her life. Ella (the woman who was having the c/s) says that she felt hands in her stomach and although it felt a little foggy, it hurt like hell. They noticed their mistake and put her uner completely to finish the op. When the baby finally got taken out (it took them much longer than normal), it was blue and didn't breath. The father tells me of his horror at the attempts to rescucitate his daughter and at the same time, his girlfriend lying there, being stitched up with the memory of her screaming still fresh in his mind. He was soooo traumatised for months after the birth. They did manage to revive the little girl. She's now almost 1 1/2 and although her development is on the slow end of the spectrum, there does not seem to be any brain damage. At least nothing significant. The mother was only able to hold her little girl around 10 hours after the birth. She was in enormous pain. She suffered a nasty infection from the c/s and then, a few days later they discovered a big abscess growing under her scar. So they had to open it up again and drain it. All in all, she was in hospital for about a month. She was soooo sick. It took forever for the infection to clear up completely.
The story has an ultimately good ending as she still managed to bond well with her daughter and BFing worked out well, too. She is an amazingly strong woman and only a couple of days after her ordeal my mother talked to her about the experience. She said, looking at her daughter's face: "I would go through this again in a heart beat!"
1 year later her sister (the one who heard the screaming) had to have a c/s herself and she was absolutely freaked out by that. But hers went really smoothly and she recovered very quick.
I do however agree with the others. A decision shouldn't be based on which stories are the more horrifying but rather on statistical chances of outcome. From this point of view the picture is pretty clear: maternal and fetal outcome is better after a VBaC than after a repeat elective c/s. Of course there are circumstances that counterindicate a VBaC, so talk to your health professionals. I am glad to hear they seem to be supportive of a VBaC. Most women are not that lucky and have to fight for the right to have a VBaC.
I hope your birth will go smoothly no matter what you decide to do.
All the best, Saša
it wasnt meant to put u off . but think its fantasic ur getting so much information . i only wished now that i had of been a little more informed . good luck
Maybe it's just me, but this isn't really "supportive" of c-sections to read horror stories.
Just my opinion as i came here looking to read/inform myself in a supportive environment and now can't read any more (have just jumped to the end to post this)
I think we need to equip ourselves with all the knowledge there is and that includes the things that go wrong. I have read the posts in the VBAC section about VBAC babies dying after the uteris ruptured. Now I wanted to know what could go wrong with a c/s as no one seems to want to talk about it.
MissH - I think the issue is only with where this thread is placed, not the content. You asked for horror stories and there are many stories here that people have posted for you, although as I originally posted I don't think horror stories about either VBAC or C/S should be the basis for a decison as important as this. Rosead was just saying that she came to the c/s support forum and this thread was here and should probably be moved to the general birthing section. Good luck making your decision.
I have spent hours and hours in the last 2 1/2 years for others who may have had the same issue as me (nicked bowel) I didnt come here to this site to have a whinge, I have remained silent for all this time.
I can sit here today and accept that there are risks in any surgery and that a nicked bowel is one of those - although perhaps that should have been disucussed throughout my pre-natal period with the OBGYN - he failed to mention it because I wasnt necessarily planning on a c-section. You go to these classes and they go on about a plan etc, but dont mention that there are so many emergency c-sections - what - so they arent scaring you? jeez, if i wasnt scared then, I am totally freaking out now of going through a VBAC and being in the same positon of having a rushed c-section and potentially having some other doctor that I paid thousands of dollars to safely deliver my baby, then be too arrogant to accept that he may have made an error.
If I was more aware of what the risks were, I would have been much more forceful and demanded they commence testing, rather than accepting 3 days of agonising pain. rather than being thought of as a 'princess' who had a low pain threshold because I had a c-section.
I agree with you. I am still going ahead with my elective c-section even though I have read all these stories. Now I know what to look out for and will hope that I do not have any complications. I cannot get a vbac around my head and my baby is posterior. I do not want an emergency c/s either so an elective c/s is the way for me. Many people will disagree with this I know and maybe I will too once it is over, but this is the decision I have made. If I could magically get the baby to appear outside my uteris then I would take that option. I'm too paranoid about everything that can go wrong with the baby during a VB. Caesar here we come!
Miss H, it sounds like you are happy with the decision you have made. Good on you. It is your decision and it doesn't matter what other people think about it.
A friend of mine was in a similar situation recently. Except that for most of her pregnancy she was fighting for the right to VBaC. But in the end, she decided for a repeat elective c/s because she didn't like the chance of having anotehr emergency c/section. Because it was planned, they tried to keep her as involved as possible, she got to hold and feed her son immediately and all in all she was extremely happy with the birth of her second son. With her first, she didn't get to hold him until 3 hours after the birth and she found that quite traumatic. She also recovered much quicker after the second c/s. So things can go very smoothly. She does feel a little sad that she never got to experience a natural birth, but as i said, she is genuinely happy with how things went.
All the best with your birth.
I think you are doing the best thing to save yourself from the emergency, as I will do in future, as I think thats when things tend to go wrong. I just have to work out now what I am going to do even before i thnk about trying to conceive. I have such bad scarring all over my abdomen that they are talking of having to do a vertical c-section to avoid the other 2 scar tissue - join the dots so to speak - although may have to have laparotomy scar sniped to allow for pregnant belly, and i still dont know if my stomach muscles will cope - anyway all these things I want to get sorted before the next one, otherwise considering adoption because after not being able to bond with my son and still feel that I am jsut a care taker, that I thnk that my husband and I can cope with that, anyway, commencing proceedings against my doc for neglecting to commence testing and I am still not coping.
I wish you the best, jsut remember, if you think something is wrong it usually is, so dont worry about being difficult to the doctors.
Margery, I understand completely where you are coming from, just wanted to quickly say that, although it is true that a planned c/s is less risky than an emergency one, statistics clearly show that a VBaC is safer than a planned elective repeat c/s.
In your case, with extensive scar tissue, it might be different, though.
Saša
My pregnancy was very complicated they induce with cervidill then after 32 hours of walking laying in bed and labour pains i was finally diahlayed to just enough for her to break my water and then they started the patosin no one tells you that tha stuff really sucks i had just enough time to breath between contrations needless to say i gave up and got the eppi so the next morning around 10am (which was sunday by this time i had been in the hospital and in active labor since friday around 7)they finally say im ready ok push her heart rate drops and i hear the words ive been dreading emergency c section so they wheel me in (after about 53 hours of labour) every things going ok till i start throwing up then i go numb from my chin down the epi is back washing i cant even feel my husband holding my hand ok shes out ok she should be crying but all i hear is the nurses come on breath baby breath the color is draining from my hubbys face finally she breathes thank god ok she is off to neonatal my hubby in tow as i lay there thanking god i can hear them counting everthing then i hear one turn to the other and say "im missing a needle" "are you sure" "ive counted three times" then one of them leaves the room i finally get back to my room and befor i even get to hold my new daughter i go threw 3 sets of x rays nothing they cant find it i finally get situated then they wanted me to use the bathroom ok no prob except its a new nurse im 4 10 so i need help getting in the bed they brought me a step stool great except i need help sitting down which meant this nurse was suppossed to hold my hand and let me ease down well she let go as i fell i thought oh crap well nothing tore but i was in tremendous pain after finally going home i was till in pain more than expected thre days later im running a fever and cant put pressur on my right leg i call the doc for an emergency app which turns out i have an infection and tore a nerve to this day i still have some pain almost three years later but docs say that cant find any thing wrong go figure oh yeah did i tell you they never found the needle
Reply With Quote
Registered User
emergency csection NEVER AGAIN
Bookmarks