Cephalo-Pelvic Disproportion?

Hi,

I had to have an emergency c-section with my DS as his head got stuck in my pelvis and jut would not budge, even after 2 vacuum extraction attempts.
I was told afterwards that it appeared that I had Cephalo-Pelvic Disproprtion - where the lower opening of the pelvis is smaller than the upper opening, making it almost impossible for a babies head to it out.

I have done a small amount of research, but not much. So far I have found out that it affects small women and women who have large babies... My son was only 8Ib3oz (3.774kg) and his head circumference was only 34rcm, so only an average baby. I am also not a small person - 162cm tall and a larger sized lady with large hips.

Since finding out that I am pregnant again I have started to get a bit concerned, as I am planning to aim for a VBAC, but if I have another baby around the same size or larger than my DS then I will need another c-section, which I am terrified of as the c-sec with DS was very traumatic and I never want to have to go through that again.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else on the forum has had this problem and what your outcomes were? Were you able to have a VBAC at any point? Or was it an on-going issue for every pregnancy?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm currently reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. She actually discusses common reasons why women have problems in labour & birth and how often there is a misdiagnosis - including CPD. It's all about the support and environment created by the caregivers and support people. I'm not saying this is necessarily the case for you, but it might be worth having a think about it.
Really brilliant book, btw, worth a read.
All the best for your VBAC

Hi Marcellus,

Thank you for the link, I'll definately go and have a look at it.

For it is looking like genuine CPD as I was fully dilated and DS was fully engaged and his head *almost* came out (They could see the top part of his head), but he got stuck on the lower opening of the pelvis, hence why I was diagnosed, as it's supposed to be the upper opening of the pelvis that is smaller than the lower part & I had the opposite lol.

Thank you again :)

What position were you in when you were fully dilated?

Hi Tanya, first I was in the bed with the back of it fully raised while I pushing and then we tried squatting over the beanbag as there was a bit of a lip on my cervix, which wen away within 10 minutes of being on the beanbag, but as I had a rather strong epidural (when it hadn't slipped) as well I wasn't able to feel the contractions as they came, so I had to go by what the midwives & my ob were telling me. I think I was pushing for about 10 hours straight, but it all blurs up a lot as I was inhaling the gas like there was no tomorrow and passing out between contractions lol

It was only when I had the c-section that they realised my DS wasn't going to come out naturally, his head was well and truly wedged into my pelvis.

It probably didn't help that part of the labour was rather traumatic when I spent most of the night before where the epidural had slipped by approx 3-4mm and left me able to feel every contraction across half of my body. I didn't get any sleep that night, and when I had to start pushing I was exhausted, so that might have had a bad effect on my chances of being able to give birth vaginally.

I was told afterwards by my OB (who was the best in my opinion and I wish she hadn't retired as she was all for me trying for a VBAC with my second baby) that I had the choice of getting CT & X-ray pelvimetry done, but that it wasn't accurate and most doctors would either not go by the pelvimetry scans or wouldn't allow me to have a VBAC.