Are you planning an ELCS? You need to see this!

[k2togm1]

www.jentlechildbirth.org.uk/?portfolios=the-natural-caesarean

Ok this time it will work:
www.jentlechildbirth.org.uk/?portfolios=the-natural-caesarean

I remember reading this after my c-section, I thought it would take off but not heard much about it since.

Oh well, really not that much interest in this then?

looks great. After 2 emergency sections, one with GA this would be fab.

i had a lovely elcs 14 months ago. we welcomed our boy into the world with calm assurance of well-mannered professionals, our choice of music, gentle lighting and an air of love and peacefulness. it was so far removed from the blood and guts visceral (wonderful) nature of a natural birth, i'm glad i've had the opportunity to do it both ways, but i know which i prefer!

I got squeamish when they dropped the sheet on the video!
I was more than happy to hear him cry and then get brought straight round to me. Not for me I'm afraid! :o

I don't much care either way. I'm not squeamish at all, so I wouldn't care if I saw the gory details. OTOH, I'm not exactly very preoccupied with the idea of watching my baby being born. I'm strangely also not interested in being the first one to hold baby, see the baby etc. The whole process has very little meaning for me. As long as my baby is healthy, I'm reasonably OK and my pelvic floor isn't ruined, I'm happy.

I've had 2 ELCS and this doesn't do it for me. I didn't want anything even a bit "woo" or special treatment, I just wanted my babies out safely and for the surgeon not to be distracted, especially by something that would have been for my experience.

I think there must be some good in it for the baby's experience too though BagofHolly.
A c-section always seems such a rude awakening for a baby (to me anyway).

As opposed to getting squashed and sometimes stuck down a narrow canal with the sound of a woman, your mother screaming and swearing.
I often think the poor little things whichever way they get here is a rude awakening.

Totally, newbielisa! Or being sucked out by the head, or dragged with forceps!

I don't think this is just superficial, I really really wanted delayed cord clamping and skin to skin and didn't get either with my emcs

I just think it's important to get him out. I didn't get skin to skin but it wasn't important to me. I honestly didn't want all these choices: I wanted a healthy baby and I wanted to be around to love him. All the rest is gravy - to me anyway.

Unless either you or the baby is desperately ill after the section there seems no reason why you shouldn't have the choice of skin to skin even after an emergency section if you want it. I got it after mine: after all, they had to put him somewhere while they were stitching me up.

No but seriously, what really made my section a day to look back on with a warm glow, was the fact that even though it was an emergency, and potentially a serious one, the professionals never forgot to communicate with me and treat me as a real person; that doesn't necessarily slow them down or distract them, it's a question of mindset as much as anything else. (If being considerate of other people's feelings is something you practise all the time, it won't come as a major distraction; if you have to force yourself to remember it, it is of course a different matter and potentially distracting for a surgeon)

In my first labour, I had oodles of time, but a midwife who just didn't have that attitude at all- fortunately she went off her shift after the first few hours.

I had one of these! it was amazing.

Precisely Cori, I didn't get skin to skin because I was shaking too much and dipping in and out of consciousness due to pph, but the mw tried and there was no space anyway.
I had the same problem with a me in a hurry and at the end of her shift, she was so rough with me that I thought that she must be a consultant! Couldn't believe a mw would do what she did.

Glad you had one (previous poster sorry cant check your name in this phone) and that it was lovely!

A mw
And Aprillilacs.

I don't think this is just superficial, I really really wanted delayed cord clamping and skin to skin and didn't get either with my emcs

EMCS is not ELCS - there is a reason it is an EMCS and I think HCPs would concentrate on getting a live baby and mum before any "extra niceties".

2 ELCS here - couldn't fault the experiences and choices offered although I hose to just let the OB get on with his/her very important job rather than offering potential distraction/annoyance with my wishes.

Yes, but how often does skin on skin get in the way of a live baby? It cannot in the nature of things happen after the baby is out and unless either baby or mum is then in need of resuscitation it wouldn't actually get in the way at all, would it? Skin on skin isn't something that the doctors have to do instead of their job, it is just about leaving the mother and baby to get on with it at one end whilst the doctor are getting on with their job at the other end. They have to plonk that baby down somewhere, so why does it matter to them where they plonk it?

The majority of emergency sections do not actually involve mothers and babies who need resuscitation after the event; the fact that a few do is not relevant to the rest.

Sometimes I get the impression that any measure that accords with the wishes of the mother is seen as a frivolous concession that is bound to conflict with safety, even if no one is able to explain how it conflicts with safety.

You wouldn't be allowed skin to skin after a vaginal either if you or the baby needed resusc- so how is a caesarian different?

I agree with Cory.

I never understand how skin to skin and delayed cord clamping are seen as "woo" or "extra niceties" when they have clear physiological benefits to the baby.

I have looked into just about every type of birth in this pregnancy and my priority has ALWAYS been the health of my baby. In the end, what will be will be and like pretty much every mother, my prime concern is that my baby has a healthy delivery into this world.

However, having a calm delivery that assists the baby in clearing its lungs and increases the likelihood of successful breastfeeding is not some sort of out-there hippy experiential dream where the baby and mother are safe and not in a crisis. The same is true of most of these types of deliveries that people pour scorn on for being "about the mother's experience".

I am possibly going to need an elcs because of the baby's position and in that circumstance, if skin to skin was going to be a possibility I would want it. My last baby was delivered by Kielland's forceps and screamed the most agonising high-pitched scream for WEEKS, had terrible difficulties breastfeeding and generally had a pretty miserable introduction to the world. Yes, it's GREAT that he came and was healthy and I would take the same birth again if there was even a slight risk to my baby despite the long, slow recovery for me, the pain and even the ill-effects he suffered etc. But for my BABY I wish for a calmer birth and introduction to the world and all the health benefits of skin to skin and delayed cord clamping. It's not special treatment, it's allowing for some of our body's magic to do its work to protect us and our babies in the delicate few weeks after birth. How is it "woo" to want the best health outcome for your baby after birth?

You sound very defensive thunksheadontable. Firstly, how does a calm c section have any different outcome on the babies' lungs than a crash one??
And secondly, skin to skin is tricky with cs as the operating theatre is kept much colder than a normal room, so the baby is quickly removed from the warmth of its mother and wrapped up, NOT placed shivering and naked across her collarbone.
And thirdly they want to close ASAP, from an infection pov apart from anything else, hence less emphasis on waiting for the cord to stop pulsating. And also to get you into Recovery where you can THEN have skin to skin, breastfeed etc.

How is it "woo" to want the best health outcome for your baby after birth?
No one is saying that. And it's rather silly and patronising to suggest it.

The evidence for the benefits of delayed cord clamping is not as clearcut as some would like to have you believe.

I discussed the option of dropping the sheet to let me watch with the consultant, and decided against it, as I found it more beneficial to ensure a safe working environment for both anaesthesist as well as surgeon, especially in the worst case scenario of needing to be put to sleep in an emergency than trying to glimpse a view from a position where I wouldn't be able to see very much in the first place.

What do you mean re the evidence of delayed cord clamping? Everything I have read on the subject has been positive.

Just google "delayed cord clamping risks". It's not all good.