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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

how many of you were warned of the risks to future pregnancies before having a cs?

55 replies

fruitful · 21/08/2007 16:28

Just wondering. I had an "elective" cs with my first baby as she was coming feetfirst. Elective implies I had some choice although it didn't feel like it at the time! Since then I've had 2 pgs complicated by placenta praevia and thin scar tissue.

NICE / the NHS publish a booklet called Caesarean section: Information for the public. The appendix (p46) lists all the things that may result from having had a cs. Like, increased risk of having no more children. And placenta praevia and a whole host of other stuff.

It annoys me (still) that none of this was mentioned to me. I knew there were immediate risks to having a cs and considered them but I didn't think of my future children.

Sorry this is turning into an essay. Obviously if you're having an emergency there is no point discussing the consequences of cs. But don't you think they should give you a chance to consider it for an elective? And now I think of it, mention what things like induction and epidurals and continuous monitoring can lead to ...

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Original poster

fruitful · 21/08/2007 16:31

I hasten to add that caesareans are fantastic lifesavers and my son and I would be dead without my 2nd cs. (although I guess we wouldn't have been in that situation without the first cs)

OP posts:

crumpet · 21/08/2007 16:37

were you asked to sign a consent form?

MrsPuddleduck · 21/08/2007 16:38

I had two c-sections, one emergency and one "elective" (breach baby).

The appendix makes grim reading and as I remember the only risk I was told about was damage to the bladder and that was approximatley 10 minutes before I had the epidural and as I signed the consent form.

nipplesonfire · 21/08/2007 16:40

I was told 'you may die on the table or your baby may die' but nothing else

But I suspect they don't tell you before a vaginal delivery: 'there is a risk of having a flabby fanjo which will look like a car accident afterwards' either

Wheelybug · 21/08/2007 16:49

I definitely think these things should may be stressed more for an elective. I had an emergency c-s due to IUGR, growth stopping and failed inducement complicated by high blood pressure so I had to have a c-s in the circumstances.

However, I did panic reading that about increased risk of no more children particularly when I am struggling to conceive/ successfully conceive a second time round. However, in context the risk according to those stats are 4.2% compared to 2.9% which isn't a great difference (perhaps I am trying to convince myself !).

Interesting reading though.

magaddict · 21/08/2007 17:06

I had an emergency c/s first time round then an elective - I would like another baby at some point though, but have been told that more than two is not recommended so I should reconsider - does anyone have experience of three or more c/s? I wasn't told of specific risks to future pregancies/births at the time of my last ones...

ProfYaffle · 21/08/2007 17:08

My 1st c/s was an emergency and by the 2nd I wasn't intending to have any more dcs. Was told if I got pg again I'd have to have a c/s but that's all.

Roskva · 21/08/2007 17:15

The only thing I remember about the consent forms was telling the anaesthetist to 'bl*dy well get on with it' , and I would probably have signed anything at that point. But that did seem a lifetime after the obstetrician said 'we need to get this baby out NOW'. My biggest concern at the time was that my baby might not be OK. She was absolutely fine, and that is still the most important thing to me.

NAB3 · 21/08/2007 17:16

I can't have any more children and it is because I had a section for my first delivery. Not that I had a choice. And I wouldn't be without him.

Cloudhopper · 21/08/2007 17:18

I wasn't told that it can limit the number of children you can have, as you can't have limitless caesarians.

Bizarrely, that was one reason I went for VBAC - because if you could give birth naturally once you could have as many children as you wanted, but after two CSes you could only have one more safely (they said).

Now I actually have two, I realise that I am NOT going to have 5 or 6 children!!!

I suppose I just didn't want to rule it out at that early stage though.

aloha · 21/08/2007 17:19

Yes, I had a long list of warnings with dc2. But I can't really remember with dc1, but it would have been pointless as both he (for sure) and I (very likely) would have died without a caesarean (complete placenta praevia).
Also, as I demonstrate, you can have pp completely spontaneously.
I conceived my second child instantly at the age of 40.
I think someone on MN has had seven children by cs!

Wheelybug · 21/08/2007 17:21

NAB - do you mind me asking why having had a c-sec means you can't have any more children ?

Original poster

fruitful · 21/08/2007 17:54

I signed a consent form but was in no state to read all the tiny tiny print so I don't know if this was there. Dh was sitting reading the small print for my second cs when I realised what he was doing, snatched it off him and signed it. That cs was a no-brainer.

Magaddict usually it is "not more than 3". This will be my third. Although the consultant has suggested that I get sterilised at the same time!

I think I'm just annoyed because I'm sitting here bleeding my way through this pg and whenever anyone has talked to me about cs, they've only ever considered the current pg.

But I guess that is because it is pretty pointless to worry about the future when the life of the current baby is at stake.

OP posts:

CorrieDale · 21/08/2007 17:58

Yes I was. Well, I was told that it might cause me problems in future labours, rather than future pregnancies. Or lack thereof. But since I wasn't at that time planning on having any more children, I didn't really listen as well as I should have done. Mind you, I was woefully unprepared for labour/CS the first time - I really didn't have a clue and didn't clue myself up either.

Oddly, the hospital antenatal classes I did were a lot more forthcoming about the risks involved in induction and epidurals than CSs.

Hulababy · 21/08/2007 18:01

I have no idea if I was told about anything before my c section. It followed 50 hours of failed induction and was classed as an emergency section. I believe I signed some paperwork but TBh I was so shattered, and probably still not fully with it after drugs, that it could have said anything! Mine you there was little I could do about it - it was the only way DD was going get out so the alternative wasn't there.

TuttiFrutti · 21/08/2007 19:27

This wasn't one of the risks I was warned about, but I think it was amazing they managed to warn me of any risks given they had 5 minutes to get the baby out alive. Doctors were running down corridors saying "This could cause haemorrhage, hysterectomy, sign here please..."

Second time around I chose to have an elective, having thoroughly researched it myself so I didn't need to have it spelled out. They did still warn me though of all the medical risks surrounding the operation, but not the possibility of infertility. Don't blame them either - the risk is very minor and questionable whether it even exists: the figures don't necessarily show cause and effect.

Aitch · 21/08/2007 19:32

well it's certainly classed as a risk factor for ectopic pregnancy, as is an abdo op.

Aitch · 21/08/2007 19:32

as is any abdo op.

Highlander · 21/08/2007 19:37

I chose an elective CS for DS1 so I was well aware of the risks, just as I was well aware of the risks of a vag birth. DS1 was oblique with a big head anyway, and I reckon with hindsight that the elective was better than attempted vag and an inevitable crash CS.

I think midwifes and the NCT do a good job of being melodramatic about how awful it is to have a CS, and about the 'appallingly high' CS rates in the UK. Funny how their classes never show childbirth with tearing, women being stitched with barely-there anaesthesia, women being interviewed about how traumatic childbirth can be etc etc. it annoys me that all of this tends to be glossed over.

youpeskykids · 21/08/2007 19:44

Had emergency c section with DS1 so went for elective c section with DS2. Was repeatedly advised of all the risks - expected it really.

But what I was shocked at was the narrow minded attitude of a rather young midwife who saw me on a routine ante natal appt at the hospital who informed me that "should I have another child then did I realise that I will HAVE to have another c section". Very matter of fact, as if it were the LAW. Surely this isn't what 'they' are teaching young midwives?

Thankfully I found, through some great supportive posts on here that VBA2C are possible and worth going for.

LittleBellatrixLeBoot · 21/08/2007 19:47

No, with neither of them (both elective)

tissy · 21/08/2007 19:55

I had an elective section, due to a large fibroid which would have obstructed labour, if not known about I would at best have ended up with an emergency section, and the worst doesn't bear thinking about.

Don't recall being told the risks, but tbh, i had no choice.

i did get some nerve damge as a result of the spinal (some pins and needles in my left heel, which are still there 5 yrs later, so probably permanent), but I am alive, and so is dd, so I don't care.

NAB3 · 21/08/2007 20:40

Wheelybug
My scar wasn't sewn up properly, I then had a VBAC with retained placenta and a second VBAC where my scar was more painful than the contractions and the staff were preparing me for a crash section as they thought it was going to rupture. Baby and I could have died. Luckily I am good at pushing and got baby out in 7 mins. Too risky to try for another.

Wheelybug · 22/08/2007 09:11

Thanks NAB - so it was more that you were advised not to have more because of the risks rather than the fact it meant you couldn't conceive (maybe thats what the stats mean anyway.... hmmm... not that I am now obssessed by this fact now !!)

RedFraggle · 22/08/2007 10:04

I wasn't told specifically before my crash section - no time! But it was discussed with me afterwards that i might find it harder to conceive a second baby. (I didn't have any problems though)
Before my elective it was all discussed with me and problems conceiving was discussed as a risk fo having a section.

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