Midwife said wait 18 months before having DC3 - why?

[mumbot]

Hello, I remember my midwife saying to me after the birth of DS2 that I should leave it 18 months before my third.

I can't remember if she said 18 months before trying or 18 months before having another.

Does anyone know what the guidance is and why they say that?

I had a c-section with ds2, maybe that has something to do with it?

Thanks xxxxx

[fizzpops]

My friend was told the same thing after a c-section, but she had the c-section following blood pressure issues so I have a feeling it was that too.

I would imagine they say this to give your body a chance to recover.

[mumbot]

Thanks - have a feeling it may take 18 years to recover though

[SylvanianFamily]

I had boys 19months apart ( as on, I got PG 9 months after normal delivery.). Physio sucked her teeth and said that my various ligament problems were to do with mybody not having had time to 'bounce back'

[Lulumaam]

you should in theory wait a year at least between pregnancies to give your body a chance to recover and with a section you have a scar on your uterus and you need to make sure you are all healed

[SylvanianFamily]

Tbh, I'd wait 18 months before trying, assuming you're not hearing the deafening tick of the ol' body clock.

My friend had a very, very difficult experience with her C section scar in the subsequent pregnancy, so I would really take professional advice on board w.r.t. healing times.

[larrygrylls]

My wife just had a VBAC (2nd child) with a gap of 17 months between our two boys.

People talk about scar rupture but it is a really tiny risk. Having spoken to the obstetric consultant about it, the risk of uterine rupture is 5 in 1,000 (1/200) in a normal VBAC. That goes up to 8 in 1000 if the labour is accelerated using Syntocin. However, if labour is induced it goes up to 25/1,000 (1 in 40), which seems pretty high to me. On the other hand, for a labour after a section, you can always choose another section or convert a natural labour to section at any time at your election. Even those odds above overstate things as there are ruptures with and without sequelae and the statistics are not separated. And, finally, according to our midwife, she has seen two ruptures in 18 years of midwifery and they all came after long stop/start labours. As she put it (in what seems logical to me) if you are not opening up where you should (the cervix), you will open up somewhere else (the scar).

I don't think people should plan their family structure based on the risk of uterine rupture. On the other hand, a third child within 18 months?! I don't think I could cope with that personally.

[mumbot]

Thanks everyone x

[TheFowlAndThePussycat]

Leaving a gap of less than a year between c-section & subsequent pregnancy increases the risk of low lying placenta. I only discovered this when in hospital with low lying placenta with dd2.