Scar rupture- how common is it? Anyone has a vbac 13 months after cs?

[Shootingstarsandcomets]

Am currently 28 weeks pregnant with my second dc. I had an emcs with my first and my consultant has advised that I have an elcs this time as it will only be 13 months since my last cs and he says the scar won't have healed properly and is at risk of rupture. But.......I really would prefer a vbac as I can't be out of action for so long especially with ds to run around after and a newborn. I'm changing hospitals so will see my new consultant next week but just wondered if anyone had done a vbac so soon after a previous cs. I don't want to put my new baby or myself at risk but don't want to have another cs of I can help it, part of me thinks that these dr's can be a bit knife happy and I don't want to be sliced open without very good reason!

My son is 15 months old and I am a day overdue waiting for labour to kick in for a VBAC. I think it depends on the reason for the Csection, my son was breech hence caesarean so I have bee consultant led in this pregnancy. It means I have had more scans and if labour does begin I will be more carefully monitored as in have the baby on the heartrate monitor so will be slightly more prohibited in movement as in no water birth or swinging around plus I will have to have a cannula in my hand for the slight chance they had to do an EMCS. I have been told and have researched it myself, a VBAC is fine in the vast majority of cases, even with a short time inbetween as scars rupturing only happen in a miniscule number of cases. Again, just depends on the medical reason for the first section. Am sure you will be fine either way, good luck!

Thanks starlight, my cs was due to fetal distress so no medical reason I should need a cs this time other than scar. I thought the dr here was being rather cautious about it as of heard the risks were pretty minimal too. Hopefully this other consultant that I'm seeing will be a bit more pro natural delivery.
Good luck with your delivery!

The risk overall of scar separation (the term 'rupture' always seems a bit overdramatic) is something like 0.2%-0.5% of VBACs, but that includes any separation at all, not just catastrophic cases. Having a VBAC less than 2 years after your CS does increase the chance of separation but I don't think by very much as the risk of occurrence is already terribly small. The NCT have some very good evidence based reports on VBAC and scar separation so have a look there.

I had an EMCS 5 years ago (only reached 10cm after 48 hours labour, 24 with syntocin, so described as 'failure to progress') and am very keen on a VBAC this time. All of the medical professionals I have spoke to are very supportive, even though I want to have a home birth (which they have also been supportive of). I have had midwife led care, although I have been given the option of seeing a consultant if I wanted.

The consultant midwife I saw said that even if you did start to experience scar separation it is usually a slow process and there are warning signs. If you labour in the hospital I don't see how it could really pose a risk, unless no one is monitoring you properly.

My hospital has wireless monitors so you can move around and go in a birth pool (they used to have a policy that if you had a CS before you weren't allowed in a birth pool but thankfully have dropped that). Their policy is to advise to have a cannula inserted in case you need an EMCS but they do not insist or pressure you as it can be put in pretty quickly if need be. Your new hospital may be similar.

I think it is a bit easy for doctors to advise a CS because to them it avoids the most obvious risk (although not all risks because CS have their own which are not to be underestimated). But having a baby is not like having your appendix removed, it is a highly emotional experience. Also, with any other form of major abdominal surgery you would have weeks of bed rest afterwards, whereas unless you are very blessed with help most women end up carrying on looking after baby and other children plus housework, cooking etc, from the day they get home from hospital. I found recovery from the CS very difficult which is another reason why I am very keen on the VBAC.