Hip problems: requesting a cs

[Catz]

I'd be grateful for any advice on arguments to make on requesting a cs and how likely they are to work! Details below.

I'm posting on behalf of a friend of mine who is pregnant wih her 2nd child. She has fairly serious problems with her hip and is going to have a hip replacement op after the birth (though she'll have to wait several months). She feels that the (vaginal) birth of her 1st child made her hip significantly worse and her consultant for her hip suggested that if she had any more children she should have a cs. She saw a consultant obs early in the pregnancy and he was very dismissive of a cs and said a vaginal birth would be fine provided she kept to certain positions.

My friend is really worried that he's dismissing her concerns, that the mw on the day might not be able to deal with it, that restricted positions might make birth more difficult and an em cs more likely etc etc. She's seeng he obs again soon and is prepared to listen to his views but wants to know what arguments she can use to get a cs if she's not convinced and how easy it'll be to do that. Any tips would be great.

Can she not get a written report from the hip specialist? Surely the obs consultant would then be in a tricky position if he disregarded the advice of another consultant (ie, he would realise it would be very easy to sue him for negligence if something went wrong during a vaginal birth on his advice and against the mother's wishes)?

She is going to have a fight on her hands, if she has a consultant like i did. He would never agree to the C section for my SPD, even though physio had suggested it might be best. He said i would be ok in cetain positions, which is true, however I ended up labouring on my back witha midwife and dh holding a leg each, while doctor kept insisting i needed my legs in stirups which would have caused major problems
Im still seeing physio and having trouble but hey least i didnt have to recover from C section which in my opinion is worse

Good Luck

Catz, your friend should be able to get her hip consultant to write/phone her ob consultant to discuss a care plan. its not acceptable for her ob consultant to dismiss her like that. She also has the option of a second opinion from a different ob consultant. She should not be bullied into a vb although a cs is not an easy option so perhaps a first step would be another discussion with ob consult to determine exactly why he isn't keen.

Thanks for the replies. There has been some communication between the consultants but I think she feels that the Obs isn't taking it seriously enough.

I know cs can have awful recovery (and she does too) but her hip also causes quite a bit of pain and mobility problems already and she can't have it replaced for 6 months after the birth (something to do with blood clotting) so she says she'd rather have CS recovery than worse hip problems for that long. Her worst fear is going through labour, damaging hip further and then having emergency CS because of the limitation on her in labour - then she'd have to deal with both consequences together with a toddler and newborn

I know there isn't a right to demand a cs but does anyone know whether there is some kind of 'official' guidance than she can refer to to pursuade them?

Thanks again for the replies