Uterine scarring after C-section?

[HugosGoatee]

I had an ELCS for my beautiful baby boy on the 14th Dec. He was breech and I have a septum in my uterus which blocks off part of the uterus, meaning he had less room to grow and move around. He's fine and lovely

Anyway the section was fine until they pulled the placenta, apparently it was stuck to the septum and they had to pull and hack at it to get it off and out of me. I lost quite a bit of blood and am very sore post-op across my tummy.

Anyway I don't really understand exactly what they did, and I'm worried about possible scar tissue in my uterus meaning I won't be able to have another baby.

Does anyone have experience of a rough c-sec delivery and/or uterine scarring?

Would I be able to have a discussion with a surgeon or someone who was present at my birth who can explain what happened in detail and the likelihood of infertility? I'd been advised before the birth to have a 3D scan in a few months because of the septum anyway as it was only discovered late in pregnancy and they want to see if it's worth operating on - they said probably not due to the danger of creating scar tissue which can cause infertility, but now after the placenta being ripped off it I'm worried there is scar tissue there now anyway

Sorry for rambly post, thanks for any advice.

Don't have any advice, but bumping for you as sounds v worrying. Hopefully someone will be along soon who does know.

You can ask for a debrief appointment.call you community midwives who should be able to arrange appt with consultant with your notes (pref the one that did the op but not essential). Everyone has a scar that heals in their uterus after c section as the scar on the outside has to heal too. Some people have difficult to remove placenta post vaginal birth too so I expect it is all something the surgeons have seen before . Good luck with your new baby and be gentle with your recovery if it was a difficult op. Congratulations on your baby.

If you had a normal birth then you would go though your notes with someone, so I should think you should be able to do that. Have you got a follow up appointment with your surgeon? Who is the 3D scan arranged with or are you yet to do that?

Just to encourage you - I got septicaemia after my first birth, caused by an infection of the lining of my uterus from waters breaking early. Doctors told me then that the scarring left from the infection made it very unlikely i would be able to conceive again. But am expecting dd3 in two weeks time (and dd2 was an emergency section which caused even more scar tissue to form). Even if your uterus is covered in scar tissue they only need a little bit to implant! At the scan post birth they will be able to tell you what percentage of your uterus is now scar tissue and you should be able to get a follow up appointment with a consultant after that if you want, but from my experience even if they say its unlikely it doesn't mean much - miracles can and do happen! xx

Thanks all for replies, I'll definitely pursue a meeting with a consultant then, hopefully one who was at the birth. I don't even know how big the septum is, they misdiagnosed it as an amniotic band for most of my pregnancy [grr] I guess if it is only a small part of my uterus, it shouldn't make miscarriage an automatic outcome of future pregnancies, if the rest of the uterus is healthy.

Josie - that is really encouraging, thank you! I am so worried about not being able to have future babies.. even before I've got to grips with this little one!

Congratulations on the birth of your little boy. If you can afford it or have private medical insurance get yourself to Mr Lower in Devonshire St, London, he is an expert in uterine problems such as septums and scarring, and he will scan you during the appointment to look at both the septum and also any potential scarring. I think including an appointment plus scan would be about £400, a lot of money but worth it to have someone who really know what they are doing and to give you some impartial medical advise. I would suggest speaking to his secretary first as it may be you should wait for a few months before having the scan/ having an appointment.

Best of luck

Thanks helenlouisey - tbh I wasn't overly impressed with the misdiagnosis of my own hospital, but I was referred to Kings in London for a scan at 36 wks and I was really impressed with their knowledge and immediate info about my septum, the consultant was amazing there and she said to get myself a referral to go there for 3D scan in a few months. It's apparently the largest fetal medicine centre in Europe so I feel safe in their hands without paying private fees I just know I will worry until then, so wondered if there was anything I could do or find out now.

I had a botched cs which left me with problems.

I had an abdominal scan followed by a hysteroscopy but despite all the trauma the scar in my uterus was barely visible it had healed so well.

So although i know nothing about your particular problem, there canbe good healing. HTH

I had a very rough EMCS after a long labour.

The uterine incision was too small and both my uterus and surrounding muscle was badly torn when DD was delivered.

It was painful for months afterwards. And not being able to use my stomach muscles properly caused me problems with my SI hip joints.

I had physio (privately) which helped.

I have gone on to have another baby less than 2 years after my first.

This time I had an ELCS. My consultant told me afterwards that everything was in fine shape in there and there were no adhesions.

And now 5 months on I am fully healed and feel great.

So just because it's a rough first delivery doesn't mean future problems.

You could do as others suggest and have a debrief if you think it will ease your mind.

Thanks moss and skandi for positive stories of healing, it's given me hope I just feel a bit at sea without a debrief so will def ask for one. At Kings they did say I need to wait a few months post-birth for the uterus to shrink back to shape before they will scan me, so I'll try not to stew about it til then.

I had an emergency section with ds after a long induced labour. My external scar was always quite sore but I conceived dd reasonably quickly once we started ttc. I had another section with her and afterwards the surgeon came to see me to say he'd removed a lot of internal scar tissue caused by the first section. It hadn't been mentioned at my scans. So just to give you comfort it hadn't stopped me conceiving and my second pregnancy was completely normal.

I had 2 ELCS - both at scans. During the most recent one they discovered my placenta had grown into the uterine wall and they had to rip it out of me with the loss of 5 pints of blood and a very rough operation. I requested and received a debrief with my consultant who said that it would be entirely possible for me to conceive and give birth again. So that's the good news - the bad news is that the King's scanning dept should have picked up on the placenta accreta so they were prepared for it at birth but didn't.