Terrified of going into labour early - ELCS

[inky1991]

Hi there.

So I am pregnant with my first (25 weeks) and have long-standing tokophobia.

From the get go I have requested elective c section due to my severe phobia of vaginal birth. I've been lucky in that I've had no push back and had my telephone appointment with the consultant the other day. I asked what happens if I go into labour early and she said to call up and I'll go in to the maternity unit and wait my turn in the queue for a section. Obv emergencies go first, so when I get my section would depend on how busy it is.

She did however tell me that if the baby is coming out I.e I'm starting to push then I will have to give birth vaginally. I understand the reasons for this, but I've come away from that convo feeling terrified that that's their way of saying I'm not guaranteed a section.

I know it's extremely unlikely that my first baby will come early and quickly, but the worry is now keeping me up at night that I will be this unlucky.

Can anyone give me any words of wisdom or experience to help me relax about this? I also have a fear I'll have a preterm baby and that if he comes very early they won't allow me a section either. I know I sound ridiculous, but my phobia of VBAC is off the scale, had it since I was 12. Didn't think I would be able to have kids until I knew ELCS were possible. I wish I wasn't like this.

Many thanks

I'm the same as you . Not pregnant yet . Here to hand hold!

No advice but just wanted to say I feel the same. I'm 11 weeks tomorrow!

When is your ELCS?
Anecdotally a friend can’t give birth vaginally for medical reasons, and she went into labour about a week before her section date. She still had her section. You have a medical reason for not giving birth vaginally. They have to give you the worst case scenario but I think they’re covering themselves. That’s not to say there’s zero chance of being expected to have a vaginal delivery but I think it’s fairly slim.

It's booked in at exactly 39 weeks. Like you say, I'm sure they are saying worst case scenario and are covering their backs incase I am an extremely rare case of a super fast first birth.

I'm not technically counted as having ELCS for medical reasons, as don't think tokophobia counts. So they won't see me as priority at all if there's a lot of emergencies that day (completely understand why).

Just got to hope and pray everything will be fine and will work out I suppose.

@inky1991 🙏 💐

I was booked for a section for my second. Went into labour in the middle of the night a week before the date. When we got to the hospital, they’d taken an emergency to theatre and my baby came so fast, he was born by the time they came back an hour later. There was only one surgical team on in the hospital overnight and the woman ahead of me had a more pressing need. So no, ultimately you aren’t guaranteed a section although I’m sure they’ll try their best.

My friend has a fear of giving birth, went into labour early but it progressed so fast she gave birth vaginally.

I had a section booked but went into labour a week early and still had the section in the middle of the night.

The reason they don’t offer sections before 39 weeks for maternal request is due to baby’s lung development. Mine was classed as a maternal request even though I was advised by doctors to have an ELCS due to baby size.

I wouldn’t push for an ELCS date before 39 weeks due to this (I’m not assuming this is what you’d want but just anecdotal advice). As this is your first baby I’d be very surprised if they arrived before 39 weeks. I only have one friend whose baby arrived pre 39 weeks and that’s because she fell down the stairs and it seemed to trigger her labour!

As others have said, if you go into labour you will automatically be put forward for a c-section unless baby is literally crowning. Would it help if you had a back up plan for an absolute worst case scenario situation where it wasn’t possible to proceed with an ELCS? It might be worth discussing your fears with your midwife and seeing if you could come up with a secure plan for what would happen if by chance you went into very fast early labour.

I think they’re correct in saying you aren’t guaranteed a section. If your baby comes before your planned section then unless it’s a slow labour it’s possible that you won’t be able to have a c section. Emergencies will take priority and you will have to wait until the end of the queue, which could be a few hours. My labour was very quick and I wouldn’t have been able to wait even for one c section ahead of me in a queue. You need to prepare yourself that this is a possibility and nothing is guaranteed in birth.

I had a section booked at 39 weeks and went into labour at 38 weeks. Didn’t get the section, labour ward was too busy with emergencies and not enough staff.

I opted for an ELCS in agreement with my obstetrician at 21 weeks, due to a medical condition. I had an ELCS booked in for 39 weeks (this was booked late on in the pregnancy, not at 21 weeks).

My waters broke at 37 weeks (first baby, so they can come early!). I went to hospital at 10pm, was having contractions but not dilated. They kept me in overnight and delivered my baby by ELCS the following morning at 10am.

I had other obstetricians try to persuade me to have a natural birth during the pregnancy. However at no point did anyone make out that I would be a higher or lower priority than anyone else or that my wish to have an ELCS would be disregarded.

I know 2 people that have had a ELCS booked but ended up having to give birth vaginally as they came earlier than the section date and lack of staff/emergencies taking priorities meant there was no time. My first baby came at 38 weeks and was relatively quick. I'm not saying this to scare you I promise, but just so you understand it's not massively uncommon so it's good to have a back up plan. Could you speak to your midwife about your concerns? There could be options for counseling around this?

@inky1991 I was in your position 10 years ago and 8 years ago with my kids. Horrific tokophobia, mentally, pregnancy was really hard for me.

I was granted ELCS both times and was told that my request would be adhered to as far as possible and only wouldn't go ahead if the babies were literally about to crown. But the women in my family have a history of very fast labours, so I was terrified if they did come early, I wouldn't get the sections.

Fortunately both times they stayed put until 39 weeks and everything was as I hoped. And I think that is far more likely to be what happens for you as well. There is a small chance that it may not; is there anything that you think would help you in that situation?

I'm so sorry you're going through this- it's incredibly tough. Keeping everything crossed for you that all goes to plan!

I've asked for positive stories/advice to calm my nerves, not comments like this which obviously don't help someone with tokophobja.

Thank you, I appreciate your response. This is more the kind of thing I need to hear

When I went into labour before my maternal request section, they did it for me earlier instead. I really hope that happens for you.

I had an ELCS booked for medical reasons. There was an issue with the booking date, so I ended up booked in at 39 +3. At around 4am on that day I woke up having contractions. By the time I got to the hospital at 8am they were more regular but still relatively mild. A lady was taken into theatre for forceps/emcs before me and I was in theatre for 9.30am, baby delivered by 10.30-ish. The midwives/surgeon etc were pleased I was in labour as it meant baby was ready, but there was no question of me not having the section.

different reasons to you, but 2 of my kids were booked for elcs and came early. labour is usually a good few hours, so when i got contractions i went to hospital and got emcs's instead. yes, emergencies go ahead of you, but you'll take priority over the elcs ladies booked in that day. i know a lot of people who've had elcs's and none have 'accidentally' given birth naturally. good luck!

I suppose another way of looking at it for me, is that if for whatever reason I have a hugely quick labour - there shouldn't be many complications? Is a quick labour usually a sign that it all happens fairly easily and without issue?

Any sort of labour is terrifying, but a quick uncomplicated on would be preferable (obviously). Please correct me if I'm wrong here

I can well imagine your list of fears as mine were the same. And getting the c-section dates, whilst really good, wasn't the magic bullet I needed. I then just began thinking of all the things that could go wrong, so:

-Very early preterm babies. I was told that they wouldn't be able to do a CS if they were quite early, I can't remember the exact dates I was told though. But this isn't likely to happen.

-Going into labour before the date and labour progressing too quickly for the CS to happen/ not having capacity in the hospital for a CS. This was a big worry of mine due to family history of quick labours. And I'll be honest there was nothing that could really help except trying to block the thought of this out. And Mumsnet! I actually found Mumsnet when googling tokophobia and there was an ongoing thread at the time about it. Other women in the same situation were a great support.

I think on my better days I was able to remember that there was a higher chance of things going to plan than not. On my worst days, my mind went to some very dark places.

I genuinely wish that something could help and that there could be a guarantee of everything going smoothly. I just wanted to offer solidarity and very very best wishes that all goes as planned xx

I opted for an elective c section with my 2nd DC. I went into labour naturally and spontaneously 4weeks early. All that happened was they had to pull him out of the birth canal a bit to get him out through the sun roof. The surgery took 45mins from start to finish and was one of the most chilled out and surrealist experiences of my life. They told me they're not a fan of forced births so no reason not to give me a c section. And his was an accelerated labour. As a first time mum yours would be much slower and they'd have loads of time for the op.

Have you got good support IRL too? My mum was amazing. If the worst had happened and I'd gone into labour early I would have only wanted her there. I didn't really have any other thoughts on what could help if they came early though, other than knowing my mum would have been the only person that could have got me through it.

This happened to me and I’m delighted in retrospect that it how worked out as it did. Had ELCS scheduled for 39 weeks and went into Labour at 37 weeks. When I got into hospital I was told I would be brought to theatre in a couple of hours for a section. Baby was born 30 minutes later. It was fast and furious and absolutely amazing. I had a brilliant recovery and such an uncomplicated positive experience went a long way towards helping me get over my fears around birth.

Thank you so much