Natural C-Sections offered at queen Charlottes Hospital Hmm

[JingleyJen]

Hmmmm

link

thanks VS that is so interesting - some things were done without us even asking - screen was lowered for baby coming out and Dh found out the sex of the baby - I just wish I had known I could have asked for skin to skin contact immediately

Same here, my first was an em cs whilst I was already under anaesthetic for something else, but my second was an el cs and I didn't know, I got to hold DS straightaway, but didnt know about skin-to-skin etc.

I had an elective section, vaginal birth wasn't an option & I discussed many of the things mentioned in the article with the dr & midwife beforehand.

I had a wonderful experience - I saw my baby being born, he was delivered onto my tummy, dh cut the cord, we had skin to skin in theatre & recovery (ds actually fed in theatre), I asked that everyone was quiet and calm & not chatting about golf etc while ds was born. The midwife made sure there weren't any bright lights shining in my face, little things like that that make you feel like a human being not a slab of meat.

I think the term 'natural' caesarean is unfortunate, I'm bloody glad it wasn't left to nature because ds & I wouldn't have survived. Why shouldn't women who birth by csections be allowed to do these things? I sometimes feel that people feel skin to skin, delayed clamping etc should be the preserve of the natural birth only as if csection mother & babies have lost the right to the exciting/bonding bits of birth as a punishment for taking 'the easy way out'.

This is very interesting VS. Do you, or anyone, know if babies are routinely taken away while mothers go into recovery (is that what it is called- where you are kept from some 30 mins to see if your blood pressure etc. is ok?). They brought her back to me to the recovery toom, I'm guessing some 15 mins later and she latched on without a problem, but I was so unprepared for her to be taken away. And as you said, I was not in a very good position at this momenent to stand my ground. I'm likely to have another c-section (if I every get pg again), and would not want to have this repeated.

Well, personally, when I had my el-cs I held DS straight away, they wrapped him in something and put him straight on me, though my surgeon did know how desperate I was not to have a cs and that I was petrified baby would be poorly (dd was born at32 weeks, touch and go, and I didnt even know she was going to be born so it was tough). DS was taken away from me for about 5 minutes whilst he was checked over and cleaned up, as I was transferred to recovery so when I got into recovery he was waiting for me.
I then had skin-to-skin and fed for the first time.
So although he was taken away from me for a shirt time I had about 15 minutes with him whilst they stitched me up, I'm sure that time could've been used for skin-to-skin.
I think it depends on the hospital/surgical team tbh, but women need to know that just as with a natural birth, they are entitled to choose how the delivery of their baby goes.

Thanks VS. I think my situation was similar to yours with ds - only that we were apart for a bit longer.

I've just realised that I can't remember that much about my cs - I fell asleep pretty much as soon as I had seen my dd - only knew that she stopped breathing when my dh brought her back to me to tell me she was okay - I know that I bf in the recovery room just can't remember whether she was with me or dh when I was wheeled thorugh - will need to ask dh tonight. Oh well - if it happens again, I will know what I can ask for - thanks VS

This is interesting as I am quite likely to be having a section at QC next month.

I think that the 'natural' aspect of this style of CS is not the fact that he includes things that are normally thought of as belonging to vaginal births, but the fact that he allows the baby to be pushed through the incision by the natural expulsive efforts of the uterus itself. That way the baby experiences some of the compression that it would not have if he lifted it out in one go. Babies born vaginally get this compression, and it helps to clear their lungs.

When we were preparing for ds2's birth we knew he was likely to be a big 'un, and so we also thought about what we wanted to do should I have to have a CS. I told dh that I wanted the screen lowered and I wanted the baby to be delivered straight onto my chest. I didn't care about blood or anything else, the baby was coming straight to me unless there was some very good medical reason otherwise. It never occurred to either of us not to try and make the experience 'ours', and I know that dh would have stood up for me in the OT should it have been necessary.

I cannot believe the baby is pushed through the opening by natural efforts of the uterus - a surgical incision cuts across the muscle fibres and would effectively stop the highly coordinated wave-like contraction of the uterus. Plus if a woman is contracting during a section, then I very much doubt it is a planned section (and qualifies for this au naturel approach).

The baby is just not pulled out as fast as it is normally: the baby is lying in a freely bleeding abdominal incision, there's nothing remotely natural about it.

Knew you wouldn't be able to resist...la la la la laaaaaaa

but if it feels more natural the mother feels more in control thensurely thats not a bad thing?

I saw an article about this is the observer a few months ago. It's an interesting idea.

I held my baby for the first time in recovery but then the maternity unit had its own theatres.

surely the abdominal muscles would cotratct from being cut?

How do you mean, lissie? It's not abdominal muscle that contracts to push a baby out - it's uterine muscle. And a muscle that's just been cut can't work in the way it's supposed to - it's been damaged.

The baby can't be pushed out of the uteus this way, it still has to be lifted out, just more slowly. The lung secretions might get more of a chance to drain because it's still a fairly tight fit if the baby ids half-in and half-out, but it's really not the same as being pushed through the birth canal.

i knowits not the same but for some women this is as close as they can safely get to a natural delivery.

thanks for clafifying onthe muscle contractions btw, was a confused

was a bit confused

I agree that if it makes a CS a better experience for a mother and baby, then this can only be a good thing.

i think its great that they are doing it like this so people who have to have cs`s dont feel they are missing ut on the giving birth experience if you know what im trying to say

unfortunately just not in Holles St, Amy!

This kind of scenario should be available in every hospital if you know what to ask for.
The only thing that is different is how quickly the cord is cut, if I am reading it correctly.

I had 2 sections my first being an emergency wasn't the nicest experience I'd had, didn't get to hold DS for over an hour, didn't get a glimpse of him for over 15 minutes (doesn't sound long but it felt like an eternity), my second csection was lovely, the lights were dimmed, much calmer than the first, they lowered the screen for me and we saw my DS's head popping out, then they gently pulled him out and placed him straight into my chest, it was beautiful. They even left a length of cord on so my husband could cut it, and as this is our last child it was the closest we will ever get to a natural delivery.

agree with snaf and spillage21, c-section isnt natural it is a medical procedures, the cs rates in this country are way too high already! we need to normalise vb not c-sections.

Is it fair to say that vaginal birth is best where possible and that there are too many c-sections done in this country but that where a c-section is unavoidable an effort is made to make it as good an experience as possible for baby and parents?

It seems to me that we are having two different debates here, although if c-sections were less popular more of them would be emergencies IYSWIM, with maybe less scope for this sort of slow birth.

For me a c-section is a very last resort (oh, ok, wait for me scream for one towards the end of my first stage next month )but if say i had a genuine placenta praevia and had to have a c-section I would want one like this.

MCM, I totally agree, I think if possible a vaginal birth is prefferable, and am desperate for my VBA2C this time round, but there are a lot of complications going on and if I can't get it then it won't be an emcs it will be an el cs so I'll have planned it all out to be as much like this as possible.
I still think that women should know more about the choices they have when having csections, too often they believe that once it is agreed it will be done that way the choices are all out of their hands but they aren't!!