Could I ask for an elective cesarean at 37 weeks 5 days?

[walkwithme]

DC1 was an emergency cesarean and DC2 a VBAC (forceps delivery).

I am expecting DC3 and am keen on another planned c section. The midwife reckons that I qualify for this (due to previous section).

So, how much can prospective parents determine the date of that planned section? (I would really like to have the child end of August... So that would be from 37 weeks onwards... would the obstetricians allow this?

if you have any advice on this that would be great!

If you plan to educate in England there is an absolute advantage to your child to be a September birthday not an August one.
There was some recent research which suggested not great for babies to be born earlier than 39 weeks except obviously for overwhelming health reasons.
So my advice would be to go further than 37 weeks tbh. Why do you want to go so early - did you labour earlier with the other two?

Agree with pp - rates of respiratory distress syndrome are increased the earlier an elective cs is done. 39 weeks is optimal.

The risk of breathing problems fir baby significantly reduces after 39 weeks so unless there's a medical reason I don't think you'll get one earlier or actually see why you'd want one earlier. I will be 38+6 when I have mine and that's only coz my doc isn't available the following day.

They will only do it from 39 weeks here. Why so you want an August rather than September born baby? I would be desperately trying to hold off, to ensure a September baby!

oops, why do you...

I do hope the OP tells us why August - am bursting to know!

Can anyone link to research re respiratory rates improving at 39 weeks? My consultant has said I will be having a elcs at 37 weeks in mid august. Am a bit worried now

Agree with Northern - huge advantage to being a September-born child rather than August-born in the UK.

i dont think you can book it in to fit in your diary no.

I had a baby last year with a due date in Sept. I was told that they could schedule an elcs from 39 weeks, even though it was highly likely that I'd go into labour before then. They'd then just change from elcs to slight emcs, though not really an emergency iyswim.

As it was I wanted to hang on for Sept and attempt a vbac. Waters broke on Sept 1st.

I really wouldn't! based on the very scientific group of babies I knew born around the same time as DS, the ones that were a bit early but not prem all struggled a lot with feeding, weight gain, all that and were big worries for the first couple of months, the ones born on time or after fed well, gained weight well, and didn't cause their parents to loose any EXTRA sleep! every week makes a MASSIVE difference IMO to babies at that stage. A neonate nurse friend of mine says so too, she says that the babies that barely qualify as prem often do worse than the more prem ones.

I'm considering and elective CS but do not want one before my due date

respiratory distress syndrome - this sounds very scary... thanks for letting me know.

I was thinking of an August birthday just because of the educational implications... just because I would be assuming that DD3 would be used to being with older kids and might be bored in nursery until she is 5.... but I can now see how shallow my thinking is and would not risk DD3's health because of this..

DC2 was born at 37 or 38 weeks because I had OC in my previous pregnancy... she was fine, no lung problems.. Because of the OC I might go into labour prematurely anyway or will be getting an "early" section at 37 or 38 weeks because of the serious risk to the newborn if born after 38 weeks (if mother has OC).

IME they won't schedule the ELCS before 39 weeks now, I've just been through this.

I wasn't trying to get them to do it earlier, just some confusion over my dates as apparently these days they go by your 20 week scan dates, whereas previous pregnancies they went by your own dates unless the discrepancy was a week or more.

I agree this sounds very scary. Am not bothered either way about a
August or September birthday but really all these extra problems at 37 weeks??

Whatever - you have particular reasons for that though don't you? I thought the research was covered in some decent papers but a quick google has only thrown up an article in the DM which is too awful to be linked. Does mention though that this in babies who are low weight for their age.
Nothing is risk free and everything must be weighed up against everything else. For the OP of this thread it appears that this is an elective section whereas you may be having an elective but due to the medical background. Your decision making and the advice you get from your consultant will be very different from that which the OP is, I assume, dealing with.

x posted - see the OP has medical factors too.

Babies born at 37 weeks through vaginal delivery have less chance of RDS because the birth forces the gunk out and away. They don't get the 'squeezing clean' with a section and some find that tougher going than others. So 37 weeks is not the ideal for a purely elective section but that isn't waht either the OP or whatever are talking about.

OP - I would go for 39 weeks as a plan but not stress if medical reasons mean otherwise.

Bless you Northern yes there is a specific reason but it's actually more to do with that the consultant believes I will be so anxious by 37 weeks that that's the goal and it will be best for me to deliver then. She is prepared to go earlier if necessary. But if there is really solid research that I am potentially risking anything by going early I would rather know all the facts and weigh up if I can grit my teeth for another 2 weeks. They also really dont want it ending up with an emcs because I've gone in to labour early as it will be 2 sections in under 12 months.

Sorry for hijack op

this is from my MW not research:
labouring massages and stimulates the babies lungs, and being pushed out vaginally gets all the gunk out, CS babies tend to be quite bunged up for quite a while after the birth, DS was (he was fine, but very bunged up, needed cot blocks to tilt it to help him at night). So a baby born earlyish vaginally will find it easier to breath than a baby born at the same time by CS

Everything I can find from the recent study seems rather tainted by one pressure group in the US who are working to reduce the munber of sections before 39 weeks so I'm not too keen on that.

this is from 2007 re an article in the BMJ which showed higher rates of respiratory problems. I think it's useful to know about this BUT it's a higher chance not a guarantee and may very well be outweighed by other medical factors.

I wanted DD whipped out in August at 38 weeks so the DC's would only be one academic year apart. My consultant said they didn't do ELCS's until 39 weeks as SCBU admissions plummetted from that week. So 39 weeks it was and she is a Sept baby.

FWIW my DS was an EMCS at 37.5 weeks (he was perfectly fine) and I was terrified that DD would come early. I was just told that if I had any sign of labour to call ahead and they would get everything ready for a semi-emergency c-section.