Was anyone else told they could not have a natural birth after a C section?

[meggymoo]

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Is this your GP? Take no notice. Hospitals are very keen on getting you to have a vaginal birth.

what was the reason for the section last time?

all labours are different, but if you have a problem which is unlikely to change then I can see why he may have said this... for example my aunt had an horrendous labour with her first which was mainly caused by the fact that her pelvis just wasn't big enough for baby to fit through,
so next time she had an elective section

Can't really help with your question, but I would definitely try to get a second opinion.

If your consultant is so firmly of the view that you'd have another difficult labour, he should have been able to explain to you why you'd have the same problems second time around and convince you that your decision should be to have a cs. The decision is yours, not his.

Have re-read your post, and wonder if you've seen gp or consultant? Can you get referral to consultant if you've not seen him?

Also, can you try 'Birth Afterthoughts' or similar at hospital? Midwifery service that explains what happened during labour and birth and can help to explore options next time around. Would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this to any mum who has any issues whatsoever around their labour/birth experience...

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i suspect - and I'm no expert and no fan of natural birth (!) - that you have every chance of a normal, more straightforward experience next time. Just ignore the GP. Gps are hardly experts on birth anyway.

in that case i see no reason why you shouldn't have a vbac if that's what you want.

Well a good straightforward vaginal delivery has to be the nicest way for all, but an elective section isn't nearly as bad as an emergency CS following a long and difficult labour (by all accounts - I've only ever had electives).

Your GP may well be wrong about the likelihood of another awful labour but it's something to think about.

sorry to hear that meggymoo. I had cs with ds1 when he got distressed so have some idea of what you went through.

However, your gp know pants in my opinion.

Do get better advice from consultant and midwives. In my experience, consultants very cautious - happy to go along with my desire for vbac but not now willing to go along with my desire for vba-3rd degree tear! You'll get more 'evangelical' natural birth options from a midwife who will explore with you your wishes.

(Don't mean this in derogatory way - I just take the view that midwives bread and butter is natural birth and that's what they do all the time and do best. Whereas consultants do the complicated medical stuff best and so their solutions are complicated and medical....iyswim)

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i had a shocking labour and ended up wtih em c/s. 2nd pregnancy at 29 weeks I was told I had to have a c/s as this one was bigger than 1st baby so would end up in same story again

Hi Meggymoo. The main concern with regards to a VBAC are uterine rupture but if you do the resarch you will find the stastics show the chances are very slim, less than 0.1%. If you want a VBAC there is absolutley no reason why you cannot push for one. I've been speaking to a lady tonight who is due to have a HBAC and she informed me that she is more likey (by 100 times) to develop breast cancer during pregancy than to have a uterine rupture. my advice to you would be to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible before making your decision, if you do a search on radical midwives you will find alot of interesting info. Also there are many VBAC support groups, if you need more info then feel free to CAT me. don't feel pressurised either way, look into the birth you want, contrary to what you have been told many health care professionals support VBACS. HTH

oh goodness silly gp.

I had a CS first time round (no labour - but waters broken - long story), but then had a (horrendous ) but worth every minute, labour with DS2 (which included me being induced........

However, I had a friend who had a 38hr labour with her DS1, fully dilated, baby in distress, all going horribly wrong - ended up with EM CS.

2nd time round - 5hr labour (from very first mild contractions), no time for ANY pain relief, and delivered a healthy 10lb without any problems, or assistance at all.

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I think exact procedure depends on your hospital - at mine, as a second timer you automatically get to see the consultant if you had a c/s the first time round to discuss why you had first one and what your options are for no2.

I too had a hideous first birth - induced, 30 hours labour, fully dilated, distress, trial of forceps and then section. As the junior Dr was stitching me up, the register came up to the head end and said I had a 75-80% chance of VBAC next time! I think I replied in my drug induced state that next time wasn't very likely but have since changed my mind.....

Saw consultant on day after c/s and she has promised me a c/s for next time! Not sure if i'll take her up on it. I think the reason for the first c/s is the key. Have you had a debrief with a consultant / MW to discuss first labour?

BTW, I would ignore GP - I had a very strange post natal with mine, wit me fully dressed and sitting in a chair! When I asked if my uterus had gone back down, he said "Oh yes, I am sure it will have done!" Didn't want to check for himself. There are of course many excellent GPs out there but yours doesn't sound like one of them.....

I wrote something which covered this a while back, CAT me if you'd like a copy.

I had an ecs about 6 years ago "it was hell" everything that could of gone wrong went wrong. It took me 6 years to finally get over it. But i fell pregnant again and was determined to stay active throughout pregnancy and birth. I had the very same worries "what if it all goes wrong again" but ya know what,the midwives laughed at my birth plan,I stated that i wanted to stay mobile, using the rockin chair walking around and stayin upright. They said you should be so lucky with my previous experience. But i had the easiest natural labour ever and i loved it, the feeling was amazin. If i was you stick it out, know what you want from the labour and dont be bullied into an epidural just get in that rockin chair girl.

I was told I could have a natural labour - struggled for 10 hours until fully dilated - then told not to push as previous c-section scar about to blow! So straight to theatre I went for another rushed emergency whilst desperately trying not to push! Wish I'd gone for a planned section, but a freind of mine managed an easy labour after a section - I'd still go on your doctors advise - but find out exactly why they say no....

I don't understand how they can say 'don't push' - I could no more not have pushed than I could have stopped breathing. In fact, my uterus seemed to be doing it all by itself.

Having just had an emergency CS, I asked my (independent) midwife what the implications were for a next pregnancy - and she said that I would have a good chance of a vaginal birth, as I laboured fully (fully dilation, strong expulsive contractions etc). As against, perhaps, someone who never reached full dilation. So I guess it depends on the reasons for the first CS.

Interestingly, someone at the hospital wrote in my notes that my uterus was 'atonic'* - which it most assuredly was not. Luckily I have my midwife's separate labour / delivery notes, as this could influence my decision next time.

• read - flaccid as a wet dishrag...

hi i had an emergency c/s with ds1 as was 3 weeks overdue and was induced got to 6 cms but ds heart was dipping after each contraction and taking a long time to recover and when they put the syntocinon drip up it made ds heartbeat race so they did a c/s. i felt like crap for days after and ended up spending more than a week in hospital.

with ds2 i was determined to have a vbac but didn't want to go overdue and be induced again, so booked a provisional date for an elective c/s on his due date, hoping that i would go into labour myself before then. A si it happened ds2 was breech from about 32 weeks and so ended up having my elective section at 38 weeks as they wouldn't do ecv because of my previous c/s.

i have to say that my elective c/s was fantastic, i went into hospital on the morning, after having had a good nights sleep at home feeling rested, walked down to theatre, had my spinal, had ds2, into recovery where i was on a high, up to the ward a couple of hours later, walking around my bedside by mid afternoon, no one else in my bay could beleive that i had had a c/s that morning!

although not ideal, elective c/s approached witht eh right frame of mind is completley different to em c/s. i do beleive that a lot of the reason why i felt so good was all in the mind, because i wasn't tired i knew what was happeneing, i was alert, awake, laughing and joking with the consultant and the anaethetist, and dh .

obviously the best way to give birth for you is vaginally as this is your wish, i would just get as much information as you can from the hospital, find out if there is a reason that would/could prevent you from delivering vaginally and get as much support from your midwife as you can. whichever way you deliver you can make it a positive experience.

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just wanted to say my first labour was 53 hours and painful for most of that, ending with emergency cesearean. my 2nd labour was 5 hours and only painful in last hour or so. i did tear but i was out of hospital within hours and recovered 10 times better than with the section.