When to have an elective c-section

[Kizza2]

To anyone who has had an elective c-section-

1. how did u go about choosing the date?
2. when does the OBGYN start discussing it?
3. is the date chosen by the parents, the doctor or a compromise of both- e.g. does the doctor say- "right, i have these days available, choose one"??

We are due December 28th, but the baby will be taken out before that but we are conflicted about the date-

we want it to be as far away from December 14th- thats my dads birthday and for the rest of the babies life he/she will have my dad crowbar himself into any celebrations which we dont want

We dont want- December 4th, 9th or 15th or 18th (family birthdays) and not the 8th- 8 is considered very unlikely and we are not keen on 7th (know some not so nice people born on that day).

we were told by the midwife that they can take baby out any time after 36 weeks which leaves 30th Nov and first week of December available- which is great but if the baby is doing ok, then is it better to wait till 37 weeks?

we are very conflicted, as wonderful as December is, it is very popular.

It depends on a huge number of things. Have you discussed it with your Dr?

You sound very, um, detached from the process.

The consultant will advise. Will probably be around 38 weeks and they may only work a couple of days a week on elective c sections on NHS ( if you are an NHS patient). The consultant will do what is best for the baby within their schedule; I am afraid they won't take into consideration other birthdays in your family or superstition.

I believe it is better to leave it as long as possible, unless for some medical reason ie distress, signs of pre-eclampsia the baby needs to come out before. DD2 for the moment has been pencilled in at 39 weeks. My surgeon plans his CS for Friday mornings. I guess each of the consultants in this hospital have a specific time when they reserve the operating theatre.

He will decide in the weeks leading up to the birth if he wants to bring her out a week or two early, depending I guess on how the pregnancy is going.

I'm not in the UK but if I suggested days that wouldn't be convenient for me for reasons such as family birthdays I'd be laughed out of the place to be honest. DD1 ended up being born on the one day of the year I really didn't ever want to celebrate (violent XP's birthday). Now she's here it really doesn't matter in the scheme of things.

You might be lucky enough to get a choice though...

We were told a date (NHS) at 39 weeks. I seem to remember there was some evidence about elective sections / breathing difficulties before 38 weeks that they cited but can't remember the details exactly. We were also told that if there were too many emergency sections that day we would have to go home and come back the next day. Having been one of those emergencies the time before I had no problem with this.

My dc3 was born 1 day before her due date - as she was due around Christmas / New Year and the hosp was close to electives over the festive period then they had to catch up so we had the first available date after the busy time.

Dr said no earlier than the 39th week though (here in Oz) but dc2 (born in the UK) was also born in the same week he was actually due.

I do think that you are thinking too early - I thought drs like to wait as long as possible

My son was born at 27 weeks due to severe PET so with this pregnancy my doc says it is unlikely they will let me know to term, esp since my blood pressure hasn?t been all that great.

Which case, I do imagine they will be discussing dates with us.

As for choosing dates- I think you will find doctors do take it into consideration-My brother didn?t want his daugheter to be born on his sister in laws birthday on the 19th and requested the doctor hold off for a day- this was a c section at 38 weeks- and the doctor agreed. Same with many people whom I have spoken to whose family priest have suggested dates- the doctors have to compromise provided there isn?t any immediate danger pending to the baby or the mother.

I know of a Chinese couple who wanted their daughter to be taken out two weeks early so she was born in the year of the pig, not the rat and the hospital agreed- this was a London hospital and part of the NHS.

I think its part of equality and diversity practice.

I am truly hoping we we our date- which we are aiming for december 3rd- which is a monday, although i have a sinking feeling our doctor only works on tuesdays which is when she took our son out.

I am totally Gobsmacked !!!!! Surely Best for baby rules over everything else !?

i agree- but if there is no pending/imemdiate harm....then, wouldnt u want to choose?

No I wouldn't, really wouldn't bother me...but then then is just me

My hospital wouldnt dream of doing an elective c section a single day before 38 weeks for the babies sake unless there was a serve medical condition that made early delivery the safest option (which is why my ECS was brough forward to 33 weeks but was originally planned at 39).
My surgeon does a lot of private stuff and only operated for NHS on Monday morning and he would operate when is best for the baby not what dates suited me and I would of rather waited (for elective) for MY consultant as he knows my history and pregnancy better than anyone!
To plan a babies birth around other peoples birthday and days you just dont like I find a little detached and forgetting whats best for baby which is as near to due date as possible

I think it's unlikely that your consultant will offer dates before 38 weeks unless there is a presenting medical condition that supports this. Really, the longer you keep the baby in you the better he/she does. Their lungs are pretty much mature from 37 weeks but they lay down their brown fat stores in the last three weeks of pregnancy so are more robust at full term. Pulling he or she out before 38 weeks is not going to do any harm but it's better all round if they're in for the longest possible. Plenty of babies come this early or earlier and are fine but it's down to medical conditions that make continued gestation risky or life threatening for baby and/or mother, or down to spontaneous (premature) rupture of membranes.

I think a consultant will take on board your date preferences but at the end of it all, there will be a finite number of days. Plus your list of 'no' days is quite big. I appreciate that we all have our preferred dates but, ultimately, a consultant is going make his decision based upon what is best for the baby and the theatre schedule. You could always ask for a 39 week elective caesaran which would take you to December 21st, which you don't list in your 'no' dates. As you already know that you will be having an elective at least this way you can be sure you will get on the theatre list with plenty of notice and will therefore get a preferred date.

I'd be fluid. December is often viewed as not the best month to have a baby due to Christmas, but that's the lottery of reproduction.

If it helps, I had an elective caesarean scheduled for my twins at 36 weeks (due to placenta praevia and repeat bleeding -I was in hospital on bedrest from 30 weeks) on the day of my birthday. I was fine with it but my husband asked for them to be the day after as he wanted me to have a separate day, which the consultant agreed with, albeit grudingly. In the end, they came at 35 weeks due to a big bleed, which was a complete bind as they were very tiny and very feeble and couldn't feed properly for weeks. I'm now a big convert to keeping babies in for as long as possible. Robust babies tend to feed well and babies that are full of milk tend to sleep well. Happiness all round!!

Good luck with it all.

Sometimes it is nice to share a birthday with a relative especially if they are much older than you. A) they tend to remember your birthday and you get extra pressies and B) as you get older, your birthday celebrations tend to be more low key and it's nice to have the excuse to vicariously celebrate with / or by spoiling a younger relative.
Unless you phyically live very close to the relative in question then its unlikely to be a factor at all unless you chose it to be.
I don't know what PET is and I am none the wiser after googling it, but if your previous child was born at 27 weeks then I presume you are both under some pretty serious observation. Nonetheless, they are likely to want to keep the baby inside you as long as it is safe to do so, so I think you should probably prepare yourself for a distinct lack of choice in time or dates. Recent medical recommendations are to treat any child born before 39 weeks as a premie and not to take the 37 weeks as a safe date for convenience purposes.
To go back to your original point, I would definitely leave it as late as possible, def into the 37 week if you can, would personally avoid Christmas Day :) and remember that whatever date you pick, first and foremost in the future it will be your childs birthday and anyone elses will be secondary. Best of luck !

Babies born by ELCS before 38 weeks are more likely to have issues with breathing and their breathing monitored- of course if there are other health concerns eg. pre-clampsia, placenta prevaria etc then it may be safer to delvier earliest.

The main thing is to take the advice of your doctor on when will be safest for your baby to be delivered, not choose a date that fits in with family birthdays which is incredibly superficial.

I have an ELCS booked for 39+2 (39 weeks would be a Saturday so its the Monday after) and the consultant TOLD me when I would be having it, he didn't ask when was convenient for me and i wouldn't have expected him to.

Ok - I would not mention that long list of dates that you don't want to your consultant as I would imagine they would be a bit . It's one thing making allowances for equality but not sure they would think the reasons were valid enough. Plus most of the dates you mention would probably be too early anyway.

As others have said you would want to avoid anything before 38 unless you can help it and then just negotiate a date that doesn't have connotations for you, whilst realising that you could be bumped out for an emergency anyway. I had my DD at 37 weeks, because I had to. She was tube fed and has asthma so personally I would want it to be as close to the date nature intended as possible.

Have to say i think my consultant would take a very dim view if i said a date was unacceptable for such trivial reasons - not believing the day is lucky!! I mean seriously, WTF!

I am having an elective in this pg having had an induction resulting in a EMCS, the induction was due to gestational diabetes which I am likely to get again (am 16 weeks and already showing signs being tested at 18 weeks), my child is due 5/1/13, so my ELCS will be between 37-39 weeks (37 as GD can cause placenta to break down especially in 2nd/ subsequent pg). I was obviously concerned about christmas and have ben told that other than christmas day my section could be any day... Im not thrilled as christmas spent in hospital (due to Recovery times) would be horrid but at the end o the day babys health comes first not your schedule!

Kizza I do have a bit of sympathy about trying to get a 'right' date when there seems to be a choice. In practice there will be less choice than you imagine unless you are going private.

We chose to have DD2 delivered not on the same day as my birthday as I had shared my birthday with my DF and didnt want to inflict that on my own child. Other than that there was a public holiday to avoid (emergencies only that day). Then I was fitted into the lists.

I am shocked by this thread. Surely all the faffing about over getting the perfect date is pointless?? So what if your baby is born on the same date as someone your son is very keen on? Or shares a birthday with another person.

You sound like it will be an inconvenience, rather than your child's birth.

The mind boggles.

They like to schedule ELCS for the week before term, because any time before that is increasing risks to baby, and any time after term is risking spontaneous labour and increased complications to both baby and mum (not to mention an emergency CS!)

DS was ELCS at 39+1: I was given a choice of 39+1 (Monday) and 39+5 (Friday) but they weren't happy about 40+1 for that reason (DS was extended breech so normal birth could have damaged his hips as could ECV). I decided on the Monday because I would be in during the week when there's more clinical support in case of complications.

I'm really surprised you can choose. With health complications they still aim for 39 weeks. My next will be born at 36+? for genuine reasons and that will be after extensive scanning and lung testing and I assumed that was standard. Don't rush into it, please ask advice from your dr.

Another shocked one here, you sound as though you are trying to book a hair appointment!

When I had DD the consultant looked in the diary and gave me one available date, at 37 weeks. It meant she was an end of August baby instead of September but that was tough shit. With natural deliveries you don't get any choice in date - do what's best for the baby.

I've had two elcs.
first time, they only did sections on Wednesday and Fridays.
He opened up to diary and said" when do you want it?"
Second time, my dd was 18th May, so they said 11th May.
It is not as if you can turn around and say that's not convenient, what else have you got on in your life that's so important?
My two sections have all been from 39 weeks, unless there is some medical reason, they probably won't deliver earlier.

There's still a long way to go for you yet. Your plans might have to change.

But i'd like to see the face of the obstetrician when you say you don't want that date because of the trivial reasons you have given.

Unless of course, you are paying then choose your date!

I would bet on a 22nd December baby, is that too close to Xmas for you?!

I was told that they did them in the 39th week. I wanted mine just a few days earlier as previous dc born before 39 weeks and didn't want another emergency section. They refused.

You may get some element of choice (I was able to choose which day in the week DS2 was delivered by elective section, our hospital just uses a big diary to book them in) - but you have a huge list of 'no-no' dates and fairly flimsy reasons why they are 'no-nos'. I'm not sure whether your 'want to avoid family birthdays and dates associated with not very nice people' would quite hold up in terms of hospital diversity/equality considerations! I'd be wary of reeling list off to your consultant to be honest - he or she would probably be appalled - perhaps just ask whether it might be possible to deliver on this or that date. At the end of the day, the safe delivery of your baby is going to be paramount and you are going to have to go with the advice of the medical team looking after you - and if you end up with one of your no-no dates you are just going to have to deal with it to be honest.

Should add that like other posters our hospital would not do an elective section before 39 weeks unless there were specific complications / medical reasons. So the choice I had was literally a choice of 4 dates - the Mon/Tue/Wed/Thur in the week between 39 and 40 weeks.

I was given the go ahead at 34 wk consultant appointment (due to previous birth trauma and 3rd deg tear issues). The registrar listened to me, took her notes to the consultant who agreed to do it. A nurse/mw (can't remember) then came in with a diary and told me the date and time. 39+1 as 39 was a Sunday. There was NO choice offered at all.