Anyone ever hear of a brow delivery?

[christie1]

I had my baby last year and ended up with an emergency c-section. As I sit here with a sore and itchy scar, I can't help but feel it was unnecessary. The doctors said it was a brow delivery that the babies brow was stuck on the pubic bone and would not move even after they used the vacuum to try to pull her down. Any midwives out there know how common this is and was my cs necessary? I was too traumatized at the time to ask these questions but it does bug me from time to time that I felt pushed into this operation ( I had normal deliveries prior to this one).

I knew this must be your thread... How awful to have to wonder if you needed to have the operation nearly 14 months later. I hope that you get some answers that will help. I do think that the other events surrounding your delivery have made the whole thing really hard to deal with emotionally and that you should write a letter to the hospital to let them know how the entire event has made you feel. (It looks as though there are some helpful posts on here already. I love MN for that!)

Forgive the subject change: Hope you had a lovely Chritmas! We sure miss you. (Our computer is acting up and we can't access our email account (hence the lack of contact). New York is not at all what I imagined. The kids are loving every minute of being here; they think that it is very like London only really friendly. I will give you a call on the week-end (free long distance on Sat and Sun.)

Further to what everyone else has said, I had a face presentation with dd (my 3rd - after a difficult forceps and a difficult posterior 'face to pubes' ie face up position). I am convinced I have a weird shaped pelvis and god knows what will happen with no.4 - due in exactly 1 week!!! No midwife or obstretician can give me any indication of whether it will happen again or not.

Dd was diagnosed when they broke my waters at about 8-9 cm and she was sucking the mw finger! It was confirmed by ultrasound and most of the hospital staff came in to have a look/feel! Quite rare - less than 1 in 100 I was told. The consultant told me she was presenting chin first (with her head flexed backwards) rather than brow, and wanted me to deliver vaginally so I had an epidural (bliss!) and luckily could feel to push. I was managed very well by two very senior midwifes (unlike ds2) and only had a tiny tear - her poor little face was absolutely navy blue. My sister is a mw and told me that apparently brow presentations are almost always delivered by CS as they are wider.

I'm no mw myself but your CS sounds reasonable - I wish they could have given you more info, I had lots during labour but no-one can tell me if its more likely to happen again this time. A ventouse sounds like a bad decision but perhaps they didn't realise she was brow/face first?

They did not explain it all very well and, as explained I was too shocked by it all to ask proper questions but, ready your posts merrytissmas and snafu, that is what happened, the babies head was the right way but her head was flexed so her brow stuck at my pubic bone. The bruising was horrible, the size of a large baseball. It was very upsetting to look at although they assured me it there was not real damage. I feel better just reading your posts. I like the debriefing idea too. I have spent a year thinking it could have gone differently, but it seems like it was likely just one of those things. It just needed to be explained to me better. I do actually feel much better. The scar really does bother me, it never healed correctly due to infection setting in after. I am posting at odd times, not crazy, but have been traveling and not back on regular times and with christmas and all. Oh, the baby is absolutely fine. She is such a joy and I would do it all again to get her, just wondered about it because of the high cs rates. THanks, you don't know how better I feel.

I was thinking about you cadmom today too. You know how we talk about how we get answers to questions on mumsnet and, again, I got the information I needed here. Glad your christmas in New York is going well. I can't wait to hear all about it when you get home.

I am so pleased that you are feeling somewhat more at peace. I cannot imagine that I would feel much better in a similar situation. (I am firmly convinced that my ObGyn does not even know that there is a human being sitting behind the stack of notes on his desk.) With the high incidence of CSs at the moment you are right to question the need for the procedure.

We are furiously looking for a place to rent as our time here (in this appt.) is up on the 9th and I can't fathom going back to Ottawa only to face endless lonely days when life here could potentially be so much easier. My next appt at the Civic is on Jan 16 so I will likely be back to pack up shop around that time. Would love to be able to meet up but would love even more to be able to welcome you here anytime. PLEASE, please come! Your DH is right that it is amazing here!!!

Am really glad that we've been able to help and you're feeling a bit better about it all, christie. I can quite understand your worries and I completely agree about the CS rate. You're absolutely right to always question things. It's just such a shame that you have spent so much time worrying about something that should have been explained to you properly at the time.

Isn't MN great? Have a happy new year

mumsnet is amazing. I can't believe I can actually explain what happened to cause the c/s now. What a relief. I feel like I can close that door on this and move on. Thank you all, so glad I got up the nerve to ask the question. I thought maybe someone would tell me I was crazy.

we will definaetly visit cadmom once you are all settled. You have my e-mail so please keep in touch! I miss you already.

I actually googled "Brow presentation" and there was lots there. Most of the people that posted here have covered much of what I read. The one interesting point is that a brow presentation with an average head circumference measures 11.5 cm and attempting to turn the baby is only recommended if the baby is not showing signs of distress.

Our laptop is on its last legs and will not access any secure sights (including our email) so I may be out of contact until back in Ottawa mid January. We are busy looking for places to rent that cost less than $3500/month that are not infested with cockroaches. Should I just hold on to the dream or do you think it might actually be possible?

That should read 13.5 cm and besides, I just read my post and realised that it doesn't make much sense. Sorry, pregnancy brain and all that! Here is one of the sites.

Thanks for links Cadmum - was very interested to read about my face presentation and OP 'face to pubes'!