Refuse C-section at 34weeks and revoke my consent to a sterilisation

[Twigsnroses]

Hi everyone

im currently 30+0 and today my consultant said she would schedule my delivery for 1st March. I’ll be 34+2. I am so scared of having a being unwell when I’ll be poorly too. The consultant repeatedly said baby while be fine, will be in special care 1 or 2 days. But this isn’t always the case obviously.

I have complete placenta previa and placenta accreta with possible bowel interference. So 34 weeks is for my benefit.
50% chance of hysterectomy, bladder repair, catheter in for 2 weeks, stents in urether, a sterilisation in the event that I keep my uterus, haemorrhage.
The section will be under GA due to all the work they need to do. So baby will come out poorly in terms of breathing anyway due to GA.

In the appointment today I didn’t object to the day even though I really would like to go to 35+2 which is just the following week. I did not object to a sterilisation if i was to keep my uterus even my partner would get a vasectomy or would be sure to not fall pregnant again. i even signed a consent form. Now I feel so stupid for just saying yes to these things.

Would it be silly to phone to question these again, revoke my consent for a sterilisation? And explore moving C-section to allow baby to bake more?
The consultant did mention that the entire team availability is also important, but i just feel that the outcome for me is grim and same anyway so I’d rather have her stay in longer.

im also shocked and disappointed at myself that i just nodded to everything. Absolutely everything.

I recommended Pat O'Brien and if you are able to I would try to get an appointment with him purely because he has an amazing bedside manner and went through everything with so much patience and kindness.
I also had private cover but by the time I had confirmation of accreta it was too complicated to switch to private.
I hope it all goes smoothly as it did with me...

You are incredibly high risk; I'd advise you to allow yourself to be guided by the experts. They are trying to save your life. Even a week is more than enough to cause a disastrous outcome.

OP I'd think long and hard before going private given the complicated nature of the conditions you've cited. Private in this country is good for straightforward procedures etc but does not have the infrastructure for complex acute stuff. Some people who have opted for private maternity and have complications end up transferring to nhs anyway.
I'm not saying don't go down that road, it's your choice but I'd be asking am awful lot of questions about what happens if any part of the operation or any subsequent complications went wrong.

I don’t need to switch to private. Like I said my consultant would be the lead for still. So I am already under the right care/team.

@Salacia thank you so much for your incredibly informative and well expressed post.
OP, please take the careful advice of your consultants. Hope everything goes really well for you and your baby.

I thought I would post an update to my accreta story.

The delivery plan is the point that sent me spinning, I was 32wks when I made this post.

I did ask to deliver at 35wks, no other reason besides feeling 34wks was too early. My consultant was able to plan for delivery at 35wks. I also didn’t get sterilised, other measures put in place. The consultant mentioned that it’s likely that I’m looking for a sense of control over what’s coming.

It was a big struggle to mentally prepare for the type of delivery planned, I couldn’t even start my maternity leave- just kept working. Eventually I stopped 3 days before delivery.

Delivery day
Multi disciplinary team, GA, urethral stents. Surgery took 6 hours!! I was under for 2 hours before baby was out as they did a lot of prep work such as the stents. I lost 6L of blood, cell salvage and transfusions during surgery. I woke up in HDU with bakri balloon, stents still in situ, abdomen drain & central line. No hysterectomy, baby delivered via a cut to the top of uterus and a resection to the area of invasion. I had a classic incision as they didn’t want to risk cutting through the placenta.

Recovery was tough. The first 3 days were something else, I couldn’t move due to the foreign objects and also due to the epidural that was being used for pain management. I was in hospital for 2 weeks with a catheter still in place due to some bladder damage.

Grateful for all the care I received and my child. Lots to unpack mentally but we will be fine.

I remember reading your post at the time OP, thank you for updating. What a difficult experience you and your family have been through. I’m so glad that both you and baby are doing well and I hope that in time you’re able to unpick the mental ordeal of it all. Congratulations on your little one.

Congratulations! 🎉 🎈

I have worked in NICU listen to this poster. I have never seen a baby " poorly" from a general aneasthetic the team are highly skilled. At 34 weeks your LO should be just fine, from what you have said she might be ready to go home before you are ! I can't speak to your obstetric complications and the risk of delay, but I would expect a 34 weeker to do great ( guessing they will give you steriods to mature her lungs too)

Sorry just seen this. Congratulations. Wishing you both a speedy recovery.

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your little one. That’s a huge op to recover from and I hope it continues to go well for you. I’m glad you were able to find an acceptable compromise.
It may be worth considering getting some counselling, as the impact of the whole situation may impact your mental health.

Of course you can change your mind, but the beat interests of your baby lie with you surviving the pregnancy and so the whole team being there for the surgery is pretty vital. They aren't doing this for fun.

What an ordeal OP, well done. I hope your recovery is going smoothly, go easy on yourself. Congratulations on your baby!

So glad to read that you and your baby got through all that . Hope your recovery continues to go well - the full debrief can be helpful to make your peace with what myst have been a very frightening time.

Well done OP and congratulations!

Recovery after my placenta praevia experience was tough. I also had a bakri balloon and a lot of other stuff. I was anemic for 6 months after all the blood loss(eventually diagnosed with endometriosis which I was sure I had since a teen). Mental recovery was hard - but I had no warning, the ultrasound missed that I had praevia so they tried to induce me, I haemorrhaged and 7 mins later my by was delivered by crash section. It was very traumatic for me and it’s ok to work through that.

When you’re healed, if you can afford it, get yourself to a private woman’s physiotherapist. It’s 100% the best money I’ve ever spent on myself, and really helped me physically and mentally heal from the section.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby OP! I remember your post. Going through something so huge will hit you at different times in the future and that’s ok to be floored by it still.

Congratulations and I’m so happy to see your update.

It’s a lot to deal with mentally. I found after my son’s delivery continuing to meet with the hospital psychiatrist was extremely helpful to go through everything I had experienced. I also met with my consultant to get a full debrief on what happened on the day of my surgery. Both of these I found really helped for me to process it all.

Hope your recovery continues to go well, plenty rest and plenty cuddles from your little one is the best medicine you can have.

Wow OP what an ordeal. My best wishes to you and your little one.

Your description of your surgery and the interventions you received are a lesson in the miracle of modern obstetrics. You lost more than your entire blood volume but both you and your baby were saved. Wonderful but also a lot to come to terms with.

OP, I am so pleased to read your update. You have a lot to process but the key thing is that you're both alive.

I hope that you really enjoy your baby after all you have gone through.

Congratulations op on the birth of your child. Look after yourself x

Congratulations on your baby, OP. Take time to process what happened. It is hard to do that when you have a baby to care for I know.

I had a 34-weeker. She was very small and struggled at first but caught up eventually. I didn't have the extensive surgery you went through but I'd been planning a home water birth as I have a hospital phobia, so a c section with a full paediatric team in the theatre was pretty traumatising for me. It took me a long while to mentally deal with what we both went through. All I can say is that time does eventually heal.

D'oh hadn't seen your update! Congratulations