Crash caesarian - tell me your story, I have always wondered ...

[DaphneHarvey]

I had one nearly 7 years ago, at Kings College Hospital, London. A big teaching hospital with a huge maternity wing. They said to me at the time that only about 10 births per year ended up this way at Kings (out of 5,000 iirc).

Did you get a de-brief? did you get an explanation for why it happened? what did you decide for subsequent births? was there a happy outcome from your crash caesarian?

I don't dwell on it a lot, but its on my mind tonight. I know others on this site have had the same. Are you all alright now?

Bumping. I realise this thread title only applies to a few of us ...

mine was an emergency section rather than a crash in that I was compos mentos enough to sign the consent form etc, but it was still an ordeal as it was not how I imagined my birth to be.

The Ob came to see mw on the ward the next day as I had been in quite a lot of distress (I'd been awake for 72 hours and in labour for 24 and I wouldn't let her do the op until she'd shown me her C-section scar and my mum got there) and I asked her then to go through my notes.

I was basically ignored by a relief MW as mine was called to an emergency. She sat at the end of the bed and wrote up her notes. when i told her i felt the urge to push she dismissed me, but it was so difficult and I did all i could to stop pushing. I wasn't examined for another two hours and they said there was a rim of tissue but that I could push past it. four hours later I was taken to theatre as DS had moved round too far and was wedged up against my pelvis and the rim of tissue had gone knotty and hard. the consultant explained that my pushing when not actually fully dilated probably caused this rim of tissue to harden and cause my DS to get stuck. DSs heartrate through all of this stayed consistent and there was no sign of distress so i was able to stay awake through the op thankfully.

That was 5 years ago. I've had a DD 18 weeks ago and after much umming and ahhing, went for an elective cesarian. I was told that if I was induced there was an 80% chance of needing an em CS and that they couldn't guarantee the the rim of tissue wasn't caused by a mechanical fault with my cervix and as such would happen again. I didn't want to go through another 48 hours of labour only to need another c-section, although my gut instinct was to attempt a VBAC. Anyway I opted for the elective so will probab;ly be stuck with another c-section if I ever have another.

I do dwell on it a lot, and I had quite bad PND afterwards. I do feel that I have missed out by not having the birth expereince I imagined, but the calmness of my elective with DD almost makes up for that.

Are you OK? and have you looked at lulu's birth trauma links? I did and found it to be quite helpful.

what does crash cs mean?

Nappynipper - what you say about the peacefulness of your DDs birth really rings true with me! I didn't hesitate to ask for an elective for my second child's birth. It was a fantastic experience compared to the first! So although I have felt that I missed out on not experiencing vaginal birth (less so now that the dcs are older) I do at least have one very happy birth experience to look back on.

Yes, I am alright now.

Moljam - crash caesarian, in my case, meant having c/s under general anaesthetic because the doctors felt the baby was in so much danger there wasn't enough time to wait - about 15 minutes - for a spinal block to work.

The difficult thing to reconcile is not seeing the baby for an hour after she was born. The not being "there" during her birth.

But am not unduly traumatised by it now. Just frustrated and regretful that I missed her first hour.

She is fine, btw.

My Sister had one with her first. She passed out and her DP was told to "sign here" or risk them both. She was whisked away and given a GA and her DS was delivered without her awake or his Daddy even in the room. She struggles now to remember her first sight of him. Our Parents saw him before she did which is tough on her.

She elected to have another c section for DS2 which she was awake for and DH (as he had become by then) was there for it too.

When I had DD last year I had a fear that I would end up the same, the Midwife thought I was nuts asking loads of questions about GA and Cesareans! I was lucky and had a natural Birth but it could go either way for any of us!

A crash c-section must be very frightening indeed Daphne, as my ordeal was scary enough. I'm glad everything worked out for you.

I have a good fiend who went for an AN appointment at 38 weeks, and was sent straight to the hospital for a check as she was measuring small for dates and the babies HB was erratic. The hospital monitored her on the CTG, and after 10 mintes told her she needed to go to theatre straight away as bub was in great distress.....they were undressing her on the trolley down the corridors to theatre and she was screaming in terror cos she was there on her own. Her DS was born weighing 4.5 lbs and her placenta was on the verge of failing. She still has nightmares about it all. Thankfully he caught up with his peers and is a lovely happy healthy little boy.

thats what i thought.with dd(first child) i couldnt push her out and they decided to do emergency cs but they couldnt numb me so was put to sleep.i felt awful for ages after that id missed first hour of her life and was so dopey for days after.i had an electice cs a year later and then another 4 years after that.i chose to have csection as id developed pnd after dds birth which i think wasnt helped by feeling id missed out(unfortunatly i still had it with ds1)and felt much better for it,it was my choice,i was awake and knew what was going on.i loved the experience so much id love another baby!

I had one 6.5 years ago and have a gorgeous ds to show for it. tbh I don't remember a debrief, but I know why it happened - sudden onset pre-eclampsia. So it was a 'one-of-those-things'. Throughout my pregnancy, my platelet count and BP were OK. It was just in the last few days that they started to get dodgy. So on my last checkup (Tuesday - day before due date) they decided to induce me, but let me go home to get my bags etc then be back by the evening. Waters broke lunchtime on Wednesday, got to 3cm but my BP was rising very fast and platelet count was dropping so a crash section that evening - sign here NOW please. DS born 23:59 - so just on his due date and avoided sharing his birthday with my FIL. When I woke up I had about 6 different tubes and a catheter (sp) and this baby with jet black hair - god knows where that came from.

Three years later I had DD - I was willing to give VBAC a go, but then I was told no water birth, continuous monitoring etc so after talking to the consultant (I had picked the hospital to get this consultant) I said I wanted an elective, she did try to persuade me that there was no reason for me to get pre-eclampsia again and could we decide at 36/37 weeks.

I kept a very close eye on my platelet count results throughout my pregnancy as since my mother had pre-eclampsia/high blood pressure with both of her pregnancy's I thought my chances were high and I did not want to go through another crash caesarian. Again my platelet count stayed within the guidelines - but only just.

So when I saw my consultant at 36 weeks. I had definately decided on an elective. That was booked for 38+4, the day before my elective I had to go in for my last blood tests, I had just squeezed in as my platelet count had dropped to 95 and the anethatist (however it is spelt) said I was lucky as he would not give a spinal once the platelet goes below 90. Actually my consultant and the anethatist both said afterwards I had made the right decision and picked the best day. As any later it would have been a general for my caesarian and if I had tried for VBAC it would have gone as pearshaped as last time.

I don't wish other people had done things differently as ds & I would have died, and dd never got the chance of life. Actually it was very close for me even with all the intervention and therefore for ds as well

Maybe it helps that I am very pragmatic by nature, so don't regret not having a 'natural birth', just happy to be alive.

Sorry, this ended up quite a long post.

oops I meant friend obviously

I had a client who had a crash section (g/a). I was with her partner whilst they did the operation and as soon as the baby came to him I got him to do skin to skin and I took lots and lots of photographs including when they weighed him. This was so that my client could see his first hours.

Acually, I think DH was more upset by my crash than I was, he was waiting outside the theatre got handed this bunch of towels with a head poking out and they wouldn't tell him how I was. So he was left wandering the corridors for another hour, before he was allowed in to see me or told how I was.

Mine was five years ago now. I had a long labour, ds was back to back and unfortunately for me, the contractions were very regular and a nasty pain from the very start; and I had 50 hours of it. From the 'nasty' pain they got truly horrendous - and after 24 hours of coping at home, I went in to Hosp to find myself, hopefully, at least 6cms dilated; nope, 3cms.

The midwives treated me as not in labour because of this, despite my real agony and lack of rest; anyway to cut a long story short, after 40 hrs I got an epidural, and when they monitored me for that they found that ds oxygen levels in his blood were dangerously low, and it was literally a 'run the bed along the corridor' situation, knocked out with GA, DH not allowed in the room, and ds born - thank goodness, all well and healthy.

I couldn't hold him for ages as had that shock reaction where you shake violently in recovery. Lip was masively swollen where they had whacked in the tubes. Stomach, the next day, SO swollen that it was bigger than it had been with ds in

It was a brutal experience, very traumatising. I didn't have a de-brief, not offered, but I did go to my old ante natal teacher to talk it through and that helped.

Why it happened - not really given an explanation, I've just assumed it was the back to back labour that made it so long.

As time has gone on I see things much more clearly; bonding between me and ds, absolutely fine; adored him and was smitten very quickly. But I think the trauma, and the exhaustion, and the effects on ds, and lack of support from hosp, conspired to make BFing not happen. At the time I was ok with that, but since, I am not at all ok with that and I really regret it.

I'm not having another; but not because of the birth. There is a bit of me that will always be sad not to have the experience of a normal birth.

good thread, daphne. Why is it on your mind tonight do you think?

Probably not much help, but the girl in the bed next to me on the post-natal ward had a crash section; shortly after arriving on the labour ward she was found to be 9cm dilated and baby was in breech position, and she was starting to have the urge to push, so they decided there wasn't time for her to have an epi, but had to have her section right then under GA. I think she had a debrief - I remember surgical staff coming onto the ward to speak to all the ladies who had had sections. I didn't keep in touch with the girl, so I don't know how she felt long-term.

Its funny, after I started this thread I went for a trawl round the boards and found another one that had kicked off about whether women who have had c/s have given birth "properly" or not!

I never seem to have an original thought when it comes to Mumsnet.

Don't know why its on my mind tonight, Honoria. Sometimes it just is. Most of the time not. I do think about it every day, though. As I guess we all do.

Am very very thankful for the NHS and grateful to the team of 10 who were in the theatre and saved our lives, but I don't know their names and can't remember their faces. Its just plain odd, I guess.

Daphne...I read some of the early posts on that thread, and I must say, your OP was far more intelligently put than the other one, even though the sentiment is similar.

Honoria, you can still get a debrief if you feel you need it. AFAIK you can contact the patient liaison service at your hospital amd arrange for a copy of your notes and someone to decipher them for you.

PS I was posting as thenappynipper earlier...this is my true guise on MN!