Emergency c section delayed due to electives?

[JenS16]

I was admitted yesterday for an emergency (category 3) c section and they can’t fit me in today as the list is full of electives! Hopefully tomorrow but they can’t say for sure.

I am fully in support of women having a choice when it’s comes to childbirth but AIBU to think that emergencies should be prioritised over electives as there is a risk to the baby of waiting??

(I know I don’t know the situ of the women but waiting for electives but as they are not classed as emergent I would assume there is lower risk or they’d be re-classified…)

I had a call yesterday with a birth plan midwife. People refer to emergency CS but they are really rare and they are in fact unplanned CS.

i was told a failed induction would be category 3 (unplanned CS) after category 2 (planned CS). Category 1 is emergency where baby’s or mums life is at risk.

if your baby or you were at risk you would be bumped up to category 1. Maybe question this if you feel it is in fact an emergency.

i questioned how I could have a failed induction and be in lots of pain but be behind planned CS. The midwife said if I was in lots of pain then I would be put before planned CS.

The delay is understandabley worrying OP but you are in the hospital being monitored which is a good thing. I hope you can get some reassuarnce and clarification from a Midwife. I'm sure baby will be along soon keep focusing on that

I just feel furious at the state of maternity care in the country, the tories have decimated funding and budgets and as a result women are left terrified, told different things and kept in a state of panic (which ironically makes things worse labour wise)

I'm sorry this is happening. Can you be moved? What would happen if you laboured 'naturally' - you say you've been advised against? I'm not sure of circumstances but I was told similar as my son was big and back to back and I'd struggled during pregnancy but in the end I had him vaginally and it was fine. Is your partner with you? Can they help advocate or get some information? Lots of blathering on here about semantics but ultimately you've been told baby needs to come out, monitoring is showing worrying signs and you've just been left. It's not good enough however you spin the terminology used

That doesn't sound right, if yours was an emergency section then you would have been seen well before the elective ones.
I had an elective section booked in - not by choice but because of medical history. I waited from 7am that morning until 7pm that evening and still wasn't seen because of all the emergency sections that took precedent. I did get in the next day though - on the demand of the head of labour ward.

I had an "elective" C-section. I didn't want to, but it wasn't safe for my baby to be born naturally.
Elective isn't always by choice, despite the name.

I had a similar sort of thing with induction. Was told needed an induction, started but failed to progress. Then they stopped and made me wait 3 days until a bed space opened up before i could have the drip. Wasnt allowed to leave either as i was high risk. It was fine but very boring!

In my hospital they have separate theatres for elective and emergency C-sections. I was scheduled for elective due to breach baby but went into labour 2 days before so ended up cat 3 emergency. Luckily I only had to wait 8 hours (until there were no cat 1 or 2) but it was still stressful anyway as I didn’t want it to get to a point where it was too late for the section. I hope you get your section soon but just make sure you are monitored in the meantime.

If there was a real danger to you, you’ll get whisked in ahead of everyone 🙂 my catheter was filling up with blood and there was much beeping and blinking lights after 55 hours in labour so within half an hour they’d prepped me, primed me, stuck a load of drugs in and whisked the baby out!

As I understand there has to be 1 free theatre at all times in case of a crash section, so scheduling can be a nightmare. I understand your disappointment OP, my first was an elective as she was breech. I spent a long time mourning my loss of a vaginal birth. My second was a successful uncomplicated VBAC. If you are having regular monitoring they will know if you need to be bumped up the list. Keep an eye on your baby's movement and if you feel for a second that anything is a miss, inform someone immediately. You'll have your baby in your arms soon enough. Get as much rest as you can now - that's the benefit of an ELCS, you're not knackered from a long/difficult labour first

Thing is, those women who have elective c sections, could have also been delayed in having theirs, so maybe they're now in a dangerous time frame where they need to have their babies sooner than you, as they've gone past their "safest window" for birth. My first was an emergency section after a 68 labour and babies heart beat crashing. I was in theatre within minutes, as it was life or death. My second was an elective, due to what happened first time round, I was given a date that got changed twice, and then before I got to go in for my section, I went into labour, as the delayed c section date meant I was then scheduled for my due date, but labour started the day before. I was classed as elective, but then was changed to an emergency as was already in labour. I couldn't have just been sent home, due to the complications in my first birth, and needed to stay to be monitored, and went to surgery when they had space, about 8 hours later. It wasn't an emergency, like my first, where my baby was at risk, but I was being monitored, and obviously had to have my surgery before other women were no doubt booked in for, as labour was progressing, and I'd been advised not to try for a vbac. I still had to wait until there was space, as real emergencies were happening, like with my first. They will always do the surgeries in order of who needs to be seen most urgently. and for alot of women that means not getting your slot on your booked day, its frustrating, but it will have been changed due to someone else's needs being more urgent.

My second was an elective c-section, but that was because of my first ended up as an emergency C-section and also my age played a factor too. As annoying as it is, you don't know why the other women are having elective c-sections.

My understand of emergency c-section = imminent danger. I had an emergency and had to be put under and baby went straight to NICU for a few weeks. I think elective just means scheduled. Good luck! :)

I had an “elective” c-section for my twins as one was breech. (Although I would’ve wanted one regardless of this!) It was planned for the morning but delayed until the afternoon due to a genuine emergency.

They’d get you right in if it was genuinely dangerous for you or the baby.

Hope you’re ok and all goes smoothly x

I don't think they would keep you waiting a day if it was an emergency. You don't know how long the elective c section's have been waiting. I've never had one but a friend of mine had 2 elective. Her third child was emergency c section they tore into her badder they were panicking that much to get him out. So she had no choice but to have elective c section with her 4th and 5th. She would rather have been able to have a natural delivery but it wasn't possible. You aren't allowed to eat anything before. She was booked in for 1pm but never went down until 6.30 pm . She constantly get pushed back to make room for emergencies. She hadn't eaten anything since 6am to ensure her stomach was empty.

My c-section was elective because it was booked at 6 months, but had I gone into labour naturally there would have been a greater risk to my baby. I had to stop blood thinners at a scheduled time before the c-section so again had it been postponed it would make me emergent and put my baby in danger. Elective just means planned - not more or less important.

I had an elective section for breech. I believe you can try and birth normally but it isn't advised. Did try and turn her (would not recommend this to anyone!).
Hopefully you are getting monitored regularly and will be priority if anything changes.

OP, I’m sorry you are having to wait like this. Understandably you are very anxious. The state of maternity care in this country is simply not acceptable. I fully appreciate the wonderful doctors, nurses and midwives doing their best but it feels more like a war zone field hospital/ crisis situation going into hospital and trying to access care. It should not be like this.

Electives are often planned because the baby or mother is at risk. My 3rd child was an elective section but the reality was the “choice” was have an elective section as we know you and your baby are at significant risk of suffering major complications or dying if you go into spontaneous labour. Your not as high risks as some of the “elective sections” or choice ones as you suggest. My choice wasn’t really a choice as I wanted my baby delivered safely and my children to still have a mother.

Have you had a c section before? Perhaps your scar is hurting?!?

I waited 48 hours for a cat 2/3 - there was emergency after emergency and the hospital closed the maternity unit it was that busy. I was constantly monitored and eventually came top of the pile.
I have also had the pleasure of a cat1 = that really is staff running down the corridor pushing the bed and shaving me at the same time. Decision was taken and I was under GA in less than 5 minutes.

They did something similar to me and it was horrible waiting. I was cat 3 as they knew my placenta was on dodgy ground but I was only 35+5 on admission so they knew they needed SCBU space they didn’t have. Baby was born at 36+2 when I was upgraded to a cat 2 as my CTG indicated something was really wrong. I know it’s horrific waiting with all that anxiety around your baby and I really sympathise. I just wanted to let you know that the second they were really worried with me they got her out in less than an hour. Oh and they found space in SCBU (they always keep one cot free for sudden admissions). I would be asking for a CTG as often as you feel you need it for reassurance. I personally would also ask the consultants what you’ve posted here. Even if it’s just so they explain to you why they are happy for you to wait. It might be a totally reasonable answer when they take the time to explain.

Terrible, immoral advice.

I had a c-section because my son was breach. It was referred to as elective even though I would much have preferred a natural birth.

I agree with PP's that it's the terminology that is unhelpful.

I've had a cat 1 - all hands on deck, lots of rushing about etc - and i've also had what was termed an elective.

However, that was for a transverse/unstable lie. DS was flopping around all over the place! I was on the ante natal ward for a week for monitoring. If my waters had gone, it would have immediately become a cat 1. So, even though I was technically an elective, the Doctors may have wanted me dealt with sooner because of the potential for things to go wrong very quickly.

Hope things get sorted for you soon OP

Oh bless you. It's hard. Everything at the end of pregnancy is crap and to think your baby might be at risk and you're just waiting with nothing happening is complete torture. And to have things sprung on you can be very upsetting as well, especially when you've been planning and preparing for one thing and suddenly in an instant it's all going to be different. It will be OK. One of mine went breech near the end and I found some comfort in reading MN threads about preparation for c-section and what to expect.

Please do talk to someone (medical) about your worries, they should be able to put everything in context for you, it's probably both true that it is urgent but not THAT urgent, but perhaps some clarification would be helpful. Definitely explain what you feel about worrying they are waiting for the CTG to get worse. They should be able to explain to you what has caused the alarm, what that means, what they are looking for with the CTGs and how long they can safely wait plus how long they would aim to wait (these will probably be different).

When you've had something in mind (e.g. low risk vaginal birth) and suddenly they are saying that is high risk and you'd be best off with a c-section it can be difficult because you can be stuck on that original vision of the low risk calm low intervention vaginal birth, so it can help to instead of comparing with that, try to compare the idea of a high risk vaginal birth going wrong with the very controlled, calm, safe c-section. It can help to make the option that previously seemed like the "bad" option feel and look better. I heard this described as "Don't compare with an idealistic idea of perfection, compare with the reality of what would happen if you chose that option" and I find it helpful, maybe it will also be helpful to you. It's also OK to grieve that vision of the "perfect" birth, even if you know intellectually that it might not have gone like that anyway, sometimes you just need some space to process that.

Even an emergency section, should you need that, as I understand isn't practically any different from a planned one - you're still awake with a spinal block, the only difference is that it's happening within the next 15 minutes rather than the next 24-48 hours.