By the time my kids start school, my birth choices will matter about as much as my O-level results.

[beansprout]

Is the conclusion that a friend and I came to over lunch yesterday. And I say that as someone who is 22 weeks preg and deliberating over whether or not to have a c-section or not.

Anyone have a view on this?

Just wanted to say that myself, my brother and my sister were all born by cs. I was emcs and the other 2 were elective. We have had no problems afaik related to being born this way. No problems with suppleness etc.
The c-sections and her treatment at the time did cause our mum a lot of upset for years though. We didn't realise just how traumatic and upsetting she had found the deliveries until years later when she contacted a cs support group and broke down in tears when they acknowledged her. I don't think she followed up their contact but it helped her come to terms a little with what she had been carrying around for years.

((((((((Juules's mum)))))))))) I'm glad to hear that you all seem none the worse for wear, Juules.

I look at my DS and am grateful that he seems to have no obvious behavioural problems, apart from being a teenager, so in our case the only thing that could be attributed to his brow presentation labour is the suppleness. But then that could just be hereditory as we are so alike it's uncanny! LOL

I say it again, don't dwell on your CS births and the possible effects (cos we don't know for sure) but it may help to explain things and perhaps certain more holistic therapies may help, if you are that way inclined. And this is something that intrigues me, which is why I'm discussing it. I know others will think it's a load of tosh, and that's their prerogative! (sp)

Don't know if it's in the archives, Klaw but I'm happy to tell you!
Ds1 was breech and in the hospital I attended a CS was automatic for breech babies. I was badly sewn up, even the outer wound felt tight and the wound itself became infected. Took a long time to heal but I didn't know any better, thought all CS's were like that!
Forward 2 years to ds2. My consultant encouraged me to go for VBAC and said there was a success rate of 70%
However the reality was different. When I went into pre-labour, dh strapped me to a TENS machine as per the instructions. However in the antenatal ward, they seemed hell bent on getting me to take showers, so I kept having to take the TENS machine off and was not sure it was being put back on properly. When I went into full labour, I was brought to the delivery ward and immediately a monitor was put onto ds2's head. This completely hindered me from walking around so I ended up lying on the delivery bed for most of the time. The contractions came faster and harder and eventually a doctor was called to examine me. She advised that I was failing to progress and arranged a synotocin drip. This made the contractions harder and faster again. After a couple of hours with each contraction I felt a very sharp pain in the area of the scar. I pointed this out to the MW and student MW. They gave each other a look! The obstretician was called, found I was still only 1cm dilated. I was in horrendous pain by then and a CS was arranged and I was very glad to hear it. In fact I screamed at the dr because it was going to take half an hour! Got to theatre and instant bliss when I got my spinal block! Ds2 was delivered!
Afterwards the obs came to my ward and told me that the scar had ruptured and that there was meconium leaking out and that it would be inadvisable for me to try VBAC again.
I think if it were now rather then I would have tried to find a more sympathetic obs and done my homework a lot more. The ironic thing was that in my antenatal class for people attempting a VBAC we were advised that synotocin should not be used. To this day I don't know why I didn't question it's use, I suppose I assumed that they knew what they were doing. Also if I had the time back again, I would have dragged myself around the ward, monitor or no monitor and allowed gravity to assist. I know how NOT to go about a VBAC, the knowledge is not much help to me now but might be useful to other people!

Chipmonkey, what a fascinating story!

Well the first CS for breech is common place now because of a flawed study on breech births which said it was unsafe to birth vaginally. We know it's flawed now but unfortunately the skill in breech birth has been lost and there are few mw such as Mary Cronk who are willing to attend a breech birth.

Your fist VBAC attempt sounds appallingly mismanaged and unsupported. You should not have been forced in the shower if it was not what you wanted. Yes, a nice warm shower hitting the small of your back sounds bliss and can be such bliss, but if it was important to you to use TENS that wish should have been respected. So, why did they place a Foetal Scalp electrode on baby? Did they have to rupture your membranes to do it or were they already broken? If so, were they mecomium stained?

Yes, syntocinon or any form of chemical induction is not recommended for VBAC. It can put too great a strain on the scarred uterus. You're lucky that the small window you had did not unzip all the way whilst you were waiting for theatre!

Try not to worry too much about not questioning things, if only I knew then what I know now I would not have had a CS and then a VBAC with forceps, which means I would not be the person I am today. And I would certainly not have met the many wonderful women I have now as friends because of my VBAC journey and training to be a Doula.

You can tell others of your experience, of your learning and reading since and your DIL will have a MIL who can inspire and encourage them to birth normally. Silver lining?

They did rupture the membranes. I don't think there was meconium then, as far as I remember the fluid was clear. I was told the foetal monitor was essential for a VBAC.
Funnily enough, the whole breech issue was a very distressing time. I was told at 36 weeks that ds1 was breech. I was sent from the antenatal clinic to the "breech clinic" where the doctor in charge told me that breech babies were more likely to have "problems in the first few years of life" When asked for specifics, he nonchalantly mentioned cleft palate, deafness and neurological problems. He followed all this up by saying "Some people think we shouldn't tell you this"
Well, being the type I am I went straight to a medical bookstore and looked up breech babies, couldn't find any reference to what he was saying. My own obstretician tried to reassure me but I was already very worried.
My mother told me of a friend of hers who had seven breech babies, all naturally and they were all fine. I didn't really listen, what did my mother know!
My obs was close to retirement age and seemed quite keen that I should attempt natural labour but the problems was that once admitted to hospital, he was no longer in charge. (Won't go into the 3-tier and frankly weird system we have here for delivering babies)
So my waters broke one night and 12 hours later I was in theatre with no real attempt at allowing me to labour. Didn't even make it to the delivery ward.
At the end of the day, my babies are all alive and well and will grow up into good human beings. So there's my silver lining!
As to being a MIL, I have already decided best policy is to Butt Out and Mind My Own Business when it comes to DILs. If they go for elective CS's at 8 months and formula feed from the start I will have to bite my tongue! Largely because my own MIL does not bite hers and I don't want to repeat her mistakes!