TTC after EMCS

[ToTTCornotTTC]

Hi ladies (and gents),

For context, I have an 7 month old who was born via EMCS in the summer. It went and healed well. I was told to wait until having a second baby for the scarring to heal fully but I wasn’t given a specific time frame although I’ve seen different suggestions online (eg a year, 18 months, even two years). I’m 35 now and I know I’ve still got time but I’d have loved to have the option of having 3 DC so I’m keen to start at least thinking about when we might start trying for Baby 2. (It would be when my DS is 1 at the earliest.) I also know I’m so lucky to have one healthy baby who arrived safely. In an ideal world, I’d really love to have at least one more DC and have a vaginal birth although I will obviously do what medical professionals advise is best and safest for me and my baby.

I have a few questions if anyone with experience can answer any of them please?:

1. How long were you advised to wait to start another pregnancy by a doctor? Why, if relevant? Eg Did you say you definitely wanted a VBAC so they recommended longer? I’d really appreciate honesty here so if an obstetrician explained any specific risks, I’d actually like to know. (I’m trying to get in touch with my own OB for his advice specific to me too.)
2. How long did you actually wait before having a second baby after an EMCS with your first? It’d be so helpful to hear if you then went on to have a VBAC or ELCS and how it went, your reasons for your decision etc. It’d also be helpful to hear the reason for your EMCS with your first baby as I’ve read that this can affect the kind of birth you go on to have with a second baby. Eg if it was due to failure to progress which happened to me.

Any insight will be appreciated! Any advice about age gaps between children more broadly too! Thank you in advance.

Some of the latter questions are probably best placed in the other forums, such as larger families and childbirth forum sides - more like to get responses there.

To answer the first Q, I had an EMCS in May 22. Doctor advised that minimum wait should be a year, but ideally 18 months. I have conceived 2nd bang on 18 months after, this wasn't necessarily intentional - I just held off TTC conceive as I knew I wouldn't be eligible for OMP due to job changes.

I had a first midwife appointment last week and mentioned I wanted VBAC, the clinician did ask me "are you sure?". But other than that, my EMCS hasn't been a major issue and I'm guessing it's because 1) I've sufficiently healed and 2) I still haven't had a scan to determine the viability of the pregnancy (2weeks from now). My trust suggested they would bring in a specialists for a discussion closer to due date (some time in July).

Beyond this my experience is limited, but to attempt to address your other Qs; I do have a cousin who had an EMCS and a VBAC 13 months after. She said it was fine, and that she found a trust and clinician that encouraged and supported.

As far as age gaps are concerned, I think this is down to your circumstances (age, health, baby temperament, income, space, etc). My cousin seems to coping okay as she's a SAHM while I know those that do work have a different experience.

Thank you. That’s really helpful. Congratulations!

I had an EMCS (failure to progress) in summer 2021. I wasn't given any advice on waiting a particular amount of time before TTC again but chose to wait until DC was 18 months.
We got pregnant on the second cycle of trying but it ended in an early miscarriage sadly. We took a break for a few months and were lucky to conceive again quickly so there will be a 2.5 year gap when this little one arrives, all being well. Hope this helps!

I was told to wait 12 months after DD1, I waited 12 months, conceived straight away, then had to be induced with DD2 and some of the midwives/doctors were a bit concerned that my previous section was less than 2 years ago, so maybe 15 months would have been better!! (FWIW, DD2 was also an EMCS in the end, but I don't think that was because of the previous section, I had to be induced at 36 weeks for medical reasons so I probably just wasn't ready to give birth.)

I can’t answer your first question as honestly nobody ever gave me any advice about how long to wait 🫣 I had an emergency c section with my first. Honestly the whole labour/birth/hospital stay was traumatic and I was sure as hell I would never, ever go through it again. I wanted a second but I was never going to try a natural birth again, I was in labour for 3 days, had a high temp, threw up constantly, didn’t eat or drink much for days, had to have a drip, eventually I was told his heart rate was dropping and I’ve got to have an emergency c section, ergh it was a horrible experience. Then afterwards we stayed in hospital for 3 days due to his temperature fluctuating between being eger so slightly too high (by maybe 0.3 degrees) and normal, so they gave him antibiotics (unnecessarily) and we stayed until we had blood results saying he was fine.

Anyway fast forward 2 years and we started trying again, I finally fell pregnant when my first was 3 years and 1 month old. I can’t say waiting that long made much of a difference as it was a horrible pregnancy. I was still in so much pain, sick every single day and I hated every second of it. Not that it was down to previously having had a c section, but waiting 3+ years didn’t exactly make my body feel any more ‘ready’ shall we say?

So I had my elected c section 3 years and 9 months after my emergency c section and the whole thing was great. The recovery was much tougher as again the aftercare was shocking and they didn’t get me up and moving until 24+ hours later, it was horrific and I couldn’t wait to get home, I pretty much forced them to discharge me because they did an appalling job of taking care of me. They left me lying in a hospital bed with a catheter still in for 24 hours. I couldn’t reach to change my pad, my wee bag was constantly almost bursting. When my partner came the next day and I could finally rely on his for some help I could barely walk, fainted whilst on the toilet and I remember asking for a wheelchair to help me get to the car outside when leaving and the midwife chuckled under her breath and looked at me like I hadn’t just undergone major surgery, I was so glad to be out of there.

But like I said the c section itself was so nice, so calm, so quick and everybody involved in the theatre was beyond kind, caring and so unbelievably lovely.

I have now in the last couple of days surprisingly found out I’m expecting our third but this time I only had my last c section 12 months a go so I’m a little apprehensive but from what I’ve read online people have waited much, much shorter times and it’s all been completely fine.

If it helps at all I have a friend whose first birth was very similar to mine and she went on to have a successful natural birth with her second! 😊

Hi!

my obstetrician said once your scar is healed, it’s healed. There’s apparently no further healing that can take place over years.
I got pregnant 4 months pp after CS (3rd baby), and no issues. I chose a section again and it went smoothly - probably easier recovery of all!

I’d say when you feel ready. All the best!

I’m really sorry to hear about your miscarriage. All the best for this pregnancy; congratulations! Thank you.

Thanks for sharing this as I wish they’d tell us this alongside the typical advice to wait a year - especially given how common induction is. I was also induced and I’m sure I will be again, possibly as I’ve never had a spontaneous labour - although I’m not sure if this makes it more likely to happen in future. It’s just something I’ve heard! Glad both babies arrived safely. That’s all that matters, isn’t it? That and hopefully a complication-free delivery anyway.

First baby was induced at 41+6, however due to fetal distress was delivered by EMCS.

I was told to wait a year, did so and got pregnant immediately. Everyone was happy with my decision to have a VBAC, and I even managed to arrange to have it on the Midwife Led Unit (Labour Ward was on the floor above so felt safe enough) though got some pushback from the consultant on that decision! Midwives were happy with it though, and statistically I was more likely to have a VBAC on the MLU than the labour ward.

I wanted a VBAC due to the recovery being easier with a 22 month old toddler at home. Not being able to pick him up for 6 weeks when my husband only gets 2 weeks paternity leave seemed a recipe for disaster!

Second baby, I went into spontaneous labour at 41+3 but when the waters broke she had pooed so upstairs to the labour ward I went! Then she went into distress so had another EMCS.

Only 2 weeks postpartum now but enjoying it so far! Toddler is coping well during the day, nights are tricky but at least my husband is there for those. Baby is still in the sleepy newborn phase though so it may all change…

Oh, that sounds dreadful! Sorry to hear you had a tough time more than once. I’m not against the idea of having an ELCS because of accounts of childbirth like this.

Congratulations on finding out you’re having a third! I’m sure all will be fine, especially if you want another ELCS minimising any risk of rupture further, I assume. And one year seems to be pretty typical guidance to wait. My friend who’s a bit older than me was told by her GP (so not quite an expert but still medically trained) she could try after a little earlier than a year if she was so keen to get going with TTC as the uterus doesn’t do much stretching in the first trimester. But she did say ideally a year. Maybe it was considered that TTC wouldn’t be successful straight away too, so it’d actually end up being a year or more anyway.

This is what also worries, me though: what’s the point in planning like this and putting things off it it takes a long time of TTC? We were very lucky first time round but I have friends with unexplained secondary infertility. I also have friends who struggled TTC first time so tried very early after Baby 1 then got pregnant straight away so have Irish twins! Sod’s Law.

That’s so interesting you were told that by an obstetrician as others (in real life!) have been told by midwives that the internal scarring takes much longer to heal. I wish there was consensus among medical professionals. 😂

Wow - four months! I’d be reeling to find out I’m expecting again now, a few months on from that really difficult age in my experience. But I’d love that age gap more and more as they got older. Yes, you’re not the first person to say that an ELCS recovery is much easier.

Thank you.

Aw congratulations! I look forward to newborn cuddles again one day. It’s such a tough time too of course (with just one!), so all the best with your two. Glad your second arrived safely, despite it not going to plan exactly. Your account reminds me how unpredictable childbirth is - and parenthood in general! I had this list of birth preferences which all went out the window. I naively never imagined I’d have a CS as I had a fairly complication-free pregnancy. It took me a small amount of time to come to terms with how different my birth was to how I imagined but I snapped out of it when I reminded myself I had a beautiful, healthy baby.

I know, I have been told that by midwives before too! I did have my scar scanned at 6 weeks and again 10 weeks pp and all fine 😊 hope you are able to have a more positive experience next time!x

I went into labour 41+5 with my 1st but ended up with a EMCS due to her heart rate dropping and not recovering. Needed a short stay in neonatal. Whilst still in hospital I had a doctor come round - they'd reviewed my notes and couldn't find any indicators that would have warned them. They advised me to wait at least 1 year but that I was a good candidate for a future VBAC.
Currently 31 weeks and seen a consultant once and due again at 38 weeks. They are happy for me to continue with the VBAC so far

My friend had two c sections 14 months apart with no issues but I guess everyone is different.