Consultant Appointment to discuss Birth Options

[mendipgirl]

I am 17 weeks pregnant and had an EMCS last time and so have been booked in to see a consultant to discuss this birth.

What happens at these meetings? Do I need to go with an idea/decision of what I want? Will all the decisions be made at the meeting? Or do you have subsequent meetings?

Just want some advice from those that have been through it.

it depends on the consultant and the hospital. Mine went along the lines of 'so, EMCS last tme, it's really up to you this time' ME: 'I'll have an ELCS then please' - consultant: OK, let's book you in. Obv I had thought long and hard about this before and was determined that I did VBAC. My 'meeting' lasted all of 5 minutes.

I had one last week and it was very useful. I had a traumatic birth before and had a series of specific concerns. I wrote a detailed 1 side of A4 which outlined everything and also said what I did want. The consultant thanked me for doing it, read it and then we worked through addressing each point. It was reassuring and we came up with an initial plan (not the one I thought I wanted but I liked her new solutions) and are having another meeting at 34 weeks to discuss it again and see where we are at. She has said we will then write up a plan that everyone has to follow and I will have a copy of. Very happy with that (so far!).

Hi there,

I am 32 weeks and had a similar meeting at 20 weeks, having also having had an EMCS last time.

I really wanted an ELCS as last time it was a real emergency and was horrendous. I am a very small person and there was zero cervix action (DS in distress etc) so I wanted to take the emergency out of the inevitable c section this time.

Consultant at 20 weeks was really nice and said that since I had already had one c section they couldn't force me to try a VBAC. She WAS keen for me to try but said that the onus was on her to convince me, not the other way around. However, she wouldn't book it there and then, but made an appt for me to come in at 36 weeks. She said they physically couldn't book an ELCS until nearer the date.

I was really nervous about waiting until then and possibly getting a 'no' (you will most likely see a different consultant at the next appt) so I made an appt for last week (pretty easy to do over the phone) and this consultant agreed and has made a date.

Meantime, I found out that there is a good chance I can get it done privately. This is worth looking into if you have private medical insurance as you can get ELCSs done on insurance if there is a medical reason (the NHS consultant told me that a previous c section does constitute a 'medical reason').

I do think it depends on the hospital. Friends have struggled to get ELCSs before (after having EMCSs previously) at other hospitals, although most have got it in the end. It helps to look very informed. I too had a one sider of paper with my reasons on it and had done some research.

I am assuming here you would prefer a c section, which not everyone does of course! If you want a VBAC I can't imagine you would ever need to fight for it at any NHS hospital, unless there was some obvious medical justification that pointed to a c section only, but if there were I would imagine you would already know about it.