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

[fruitful]

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 ...

i wasnt told anything before either c/s

First cs was an emergency and due to have 2nd baby by el cs on Friday as do not want to go through same experience again. DD was completely stuck and was never going to be able to be delivered normally, only took them all day to realise this despite a labour that hadn't progressed for ages!
Was not told anything post delivery re complications for future pregnancies/deliveries, in fact staff never came near me as I worked there, even though I'm not a mw and could have done with a bit more help/info!

I'm another whose first section was a crash - I wasn't allowed even to read the consent form and recovery was difficult. I conceived dd2 when dd1 was 16 months, and had a planned section due to her being breech. I got pg with ds when she was 18 months and I wasn't trying for another. Had another section. The planned sections were much easier to recover from and no-one can stop you having more. I got so p*ed off with being asked if I wanted to be sterilised, like I was a bloody cat or something.

Lol trinity, I'm obv a cat too. I had a quick google after the consultant suggested it, and the only thing I found out was that a sterilisation performed at the same time as a cs is more likely to fail than one done on its own. Great. I think I'll send dh for the snip.

lol, as if I can remember anything they said to me at that stage!!

I don't remember being told anything about this, only knew from reading stuff subsequently.

They had plenty of time to tell me as my cs was planned weeks in advance - one of my twins was transverse and had no hope of moving round with her much larger sister on top of her. No option though, other than cs, so probably not worth mentioning!

'Elective' CS with DS1 as he was breech, discovered when I was in labour. Can't remember signing anything but suppose I must have done(14 years ago now). Do remember wishing I had read the chapter on CS a bit more carefully.
Then went on to have 2 vaginal births with no problem. Glad I didn't have access to the interent then as there was very little info on potential problems in my local library. Think I would have been petrified if I had known what I know now.

Fiofio, I wasn't asked about sterilisation until about an hour before my last section. The woman consultant clearly thought I was off my head for not agreeing.

when they told me they were poppiunbg my womb back in i told them not to bother i wouldnt be using it again - they still didnht offer sterilisation

I think lecturing about risks with ds would have been quite cruel as I had zero choice. I imagine they were on the consent form. I just wrote all over my consent form that they were NOT allowed to perform a hysterectomy or sterilise me or anything at ALL unless I was actually dying on the table.
It is reasonable to be explicit with FACTUAL warnings and relative risks if the person has a choice about how they give birth.
I don't think women giving birth vaginally are given a great long list of things that could go wrong, mind.

I agree Aloha, in an emergency situation the risks become a bit of a minor point.
When the anaethetist was reading through the consent form with me before my first section I remember saying "I don't care what you do, just get her out now!" Before signing god knows what. I really didn't give a shit whether they did anything else at the time. After the event then of course I would have been deeply upset if they had had to remove my uterus etc, but at the time I thought my baby was going to die and so I didn't give a stuff.
With the elective section, I was making a choice and I am glad I was given all the information to make an informed choice.

my first was all text book normall. my second however was emergency cs(10 weeks early),doctors running around like headless chickens and me just sitting there saying "what the @**!! is going on". dh was given forms to sign and i was told nothing.

this is the first i have heard that it can cause complications for later pgs..i am trying now for my third and its not happening as quick as the others....maybe this is why!

SueW - they were very very negative about trying to deliver vaginally as she was feetfirst (also first baby, small, too little fluid). They were worried about cord prolapse, didn't even want me to go home that night. Having looked into it since, I would have made the same decision. But it rankles that I was just told what was best for me - womb-on-legs, no brain!

FioFio - the sterilisation suggestion is cos of having placenta previa and a scar rupture last time. And a low implantation this time. But if it all goes well I'm reserving judgement on number 4!

Aloha - absolutely. My second cs was much easier for me, in spite of being an emergency and losing loads of blood and ds going off to NICU, because it was so obvious that I had to have it. I guess I just think too much. Information is fantastic but right now I'd probably be much happier in ignorance!

But quite a few women do have a choice/decision and it seems that a lot of us are given the impression that we are choosing between a risky vaginal birth and a perfectly safe and consequence-free cs.

Taragon - the 2 caesareans can make a difference to your chances of conceiving but I don't think they have as much of an effect as the 2 children. They can really slow things down!

I got a lot more "facts" when they wanted to talk me out of an elective caesarean than I did about the vaginal birth I foolishly though was going to happen.

Remember that those guideline are written with the view of persuading more women to have vaginal births. Harldy my idea of unbiased medical fact.

And, I don't having a section reduces your chances of getting pregnant again. However, I think placenta previa is more common in women who have had previous sections... Wonder why?

And of course the scar is a risk.

But lots of thigs on those scare monger lists are not exactly undisputed medical fact.

FioFio - when I was in waiting to be induced with dd1 there was a woman who'd just had her third section. We had breakfast together and she said, 'I've been sterilised too, 'cos they don't like you to have more than three'. So when I was in with ds I knew it was coming and just kept saying, no thank you, yes I am sure over and over. It must be hard if you aren't prepared though.

Eleusis - I couldn't agree more. The induction I just mentioned began on the Wednesday night. By Friday moring I'd been in agony with contractions yet my cervix hadn't budged. I asked for a section and got all the scare stories (but none about what an induction could lead to of course.) I was so tired and so frightened I agreed for the induction to continue. At midnight they found her oxygen levels were low and they had ten minutes' to get her out. Her apgars were 1 and 2 at birth, she needed resussitating and had a collapsed lung, her brain scan was abnormal and her kidneys weren't working. By some miracle she only needed a short stay in NICU and made a full recovery, but it meant I never managed to get bf right with her and I got very anxious after her birth. I am so angry now to think they risked her life in order to make their c-section rate look good.

When I was pg with dd2 the middle-aged, male consultant that I saw questioned my choice of a second section with, 'Don't you want a birth experience?' Then when I explained what a near-miss dd1 had had he said, 'Oh, I don't expect it was that bad, she was probably just a bit distressed.'

I am utterly at 'Oh, I don't expect it was that bad, she was probably just a bit distressed.'

And I would have responded with something like "See, now condescending remarks like that are exactly why Iàm inclined not to listen to you either."

What a tosser.

When they questioned my desire for an elective I said "Convince me I don't want one. I'm to listen and be convinced. But, tell me something I donàt already know." She managed one point I didn't know yet, and that was that your organs can get a bit rearranged from the shuffling around that happens during surgery and I thought hmmm... and.... so what? I asked why that was a problem and she didn't have an answer.

Now, I do think it's different for someone who is having their first baby. But, I had already had a section and I knew full well what I was in for.

Rearranged organs... I never would have noticed!