didnt dilate first time, any chance i will this time?

[jojo76]

Just wondered if anyone had an experience like mine first time round....
waters broke at 11pm, 1cm dilated, started contractions which went away by midday, had muconium, had to be induced,had epidural, still didnt dilate any more in 24hrs and ended up in emergency c-section due to feotal distress.
I really want to try for a vbac this time round, but feel so panicy about the whole thing, what if were sitting around and nothing happens again? I am going to try to go without epidural this time, but im worried that then if i need an emergency c section again, that they will have to knock me out and i wont see the birth.
has anyone out there had a first birth anything like my first, but had a better experience with second? Please put my mind at ease, i still have seventeen weeks of worrying to go!!!!!!

Not been in a similar situation, but no reason that this time should be the same.Sounds like your baby just wasn't ready to come out last time when your waters broke. Talk to your midwife about it, have a plan and then just wait and see what happens. At the end of the day it isn't how your baby arrives that is important, it is how much its loved once it is here. Try not to stress too much about what may never happen

Please go to this website . Gina and Debbie have years of experience with helping woman who want to VBAC. If it had not been for them I would not have achieved my VBAC2 December 2005,

Do you mean you're worried that you'll have to have a general anaesthetic if you have a cs this time? That wouldn't necessarily be the case.

My personal experience: First time round, I only got to 3cm (after having an epidural) and had an emergency cs due to fetal distress & meconium. Second time round, I tried for VBAC. Didn't have an epidural. Unfortunately I only got to 1cm (despite v painful contractions 3 minutes apart for several hours), and dd2 was in distress so they did another emergency cs. They gave me a local anaesthetic. Although I'd been aiming for VBAC, the 2nd cs was a positive experience and I felt much more in control than I had done during my first cs, because 2nd time round I knew what to expect.

I'm glad I tried for VBAC because I hadn't tried I would always have wondered 'What if'. But I also wanted to make the point that even if you have another cs, it may be a better experience than your previous cs iyswim.

yeah, melpomene, i'm worrying about having a general and worrying about everything else, its not really rational, im just in a bit of a panic really! I think youre right though, if i have to have another cs it wont be as scarey and actually it was a bit of a relief by the time we had the cs last time, to finally be getting the baby out, iyswim!!
Thanks for the replies everyone, and you are right, it doesnt ultimately matter how the baby gets out as long as were both ok at the end of it, its just i try to think about what to put on my birth plan, and what to ask the midwife and all that and it sends me into a bit of a "what if" panic!

JOJO my feeling is that you would have probably made it ok if there hadn't been a rush on. As it was they needed to get things moving. There are many factors that might have stopeed dilation 2 that spring immediately to mind are 1) Your body was pushed to do something it wasn't ready to do
2) You were frightened and under a great deal of stress and this can also lead to the body not being able to open up.
Without the presence of meconium things would I'm sure have progressed differently.
This time when you go into labour try to stay as relaxed as poss and stay at home for as long as you can. have you considered hiring a doula? if you can afford it I would stronggly suggest that you look into getting one. They made all the difference to me and would be able to keep you calm and reassured during whatever labour you end up having. Good luck.

hi jojo76, my first baby was born by emergency c-section, I had to have a general anesthetic unfortunately. This was due to the fact that I had pre-eclampsia, I was induced and didn't dilate, then my baby was in distress causing the emergency c-section. My second daughter, born only 19 months later was born VBAC only due to my insistence. All the way through my second pregnancy the doctors scared me by saying my section scar would rupture and they kept advising me to have another c-section. I was adament that wasn't going to happen, so I stuck to my guns. My 2nd daughter had to be induced, but I pleaded with the lovely doctor to give me more time to dilate and he did . I went on to have two more sons VBAC, with no problems at all. Wishing you a lovely easy delivery .

jojo76 - basically last time you were a failed induction of labour. That means that your body did not respond to the drip to get you into labour. If you want a VBAC then you are best to wait and let labour start itself. It would be highly unlikely for the same thing to happen again. If you laboured without an epidural and needed a C/S it is most likely that you would be given a spinal anaesthetic which works faster than an epidural and means you are awake for the C/S.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I do feel that if I had been able to stay at home without being induced things might have turned out better first time, and i feel that I got so stressed at the thought of the baby being in distress and not liking the midwife, that maybe this stopped labour from progressing. Kittywits, I have been thinking about hiring a doula this time, as it felt so out of control last time, and having someone there who could be an advocate and a calming influence on me and my dp would be a huge improvement on last time, which ever way it turns out. I have been looking at a website for one near me who looks good, im going to discuss it with my dp later and see how our finances lie....! thanks again everyone, it helps to get some other ideas!