EMCS - experiences please

[strangerjo]

I'm 32wks and fearing labour, specifically what would happen if there were complications with a vaginal delivery - would the hospital act quickly enough, what if the baby wasn't getting enough oxygen etc. In particular, what if I need an EMCS but there aren't any available doctors or anaesthetists? Would the wait for someone harm the baby? Any experiences or things you've learnt would be welcomed!

It would never occur to me that there would be no docs / anaethsetists. I'd be amazed if that ever happened if not in a midwife-led unit.

I had an EMCS after s 36 hour back to back labour, failed epidural, the works. My EMCS was organised within minutes of the doc taking the decision, I signed the consent form and we were off! I think I signed at 7.15pm, DD was born at 7.44pm.

The EMCS was blissful! I was so delighted to no longer be in agony, the child was a bit of a side issue for me! off my tits on all sorts by then. I haemhorraged about 1.2l as well but tbh I didn't even notice, apart from them taking ages to stitch me up.

I loved my EMCS. Recovered really well, walking dogs after 7days, in a Zumba class after 15 days.

Good luck and having said all that, I hope you don't need one.

Wow, that's good to hear, thank you!

My emcs was similarly quick and such a relief after a long, non-progressing back to back labour. I don't live in the UK but the stats for complications here are similar.

The difficult parts were the cocktail of drugs I'd been given that had me shaking from head to toe and of course recovery. If you do have an emcs (odds are that you won't), please take things very gently in the early days.

I had what was described as a 'urgent' rather than 'emergency' c section. I got bumped from top of the list 4 times - why? To allow more urgent cases where the baby was under threat go first.

My babies were OK so they held me back. So you see, doctors are always available when needed.

My Cs was very calm, everyone was very nice to me and my DH and I didn't feel a thing.

Please don't worry.

I can agree with what pp's have said. V slow back to back labour, drip, 2 hours pushing, failed ventouse, cat 1 emcs. I am very hazy on things due to diamorphine and sheer bloody exhaustion (I don't remember signing consent forms etc) but DH has told me that once the decision was made, everything happened very quickly and very smoothly. Spinal went in, baby came out.

As others have said, chances are you wont need one but, if you do, they know what they are doing and there are enough staff to do it.

And it can't have been that bad because I'm pregnant with dc2!

Yep I agree with the previous comments. Literally less than half an hour between the decision being made that it was needed and ds being borne. Very calm and relaxed in the theatre and really not in any way traumatic.

I had a 31hr labour, 8hrs of pushing, failed ventouse, failed manual rotation, cat 1 emcs. The caesarean itself was quick and not scary at all. No painkillers, up and about within a couple of hours and discharged after 12hrs.

Second emcs was a lovely, positive experience too.

It isn't scary. If it happens, you're in such positive, professional hands. I found it fascinating.

Where I worked a "category 1 emergency section" bleep meant they wanted the baby out in 20 minutes. You were expected to run to it. Everyone did. No one was left waiting ever.

If the baby needs to come out then by God they'll get it out sharpish.

But that's quite alarmist really. I had an EMCS myself (just for failure to progress, no big panic) and it was totally lovely. Everyone chatting and fussing around, lovely happy atmosphere in theatre, baby out in jig time to smiles all round. It was great!

Awful EMCS here. I was terrified and recovery was a long road of infections and struggling to move. Desperately hoping to avoid this time round!

However, given the positive accounts above, it's different in each individual case. I'd say just prepare yourself mentally for the possibility - something I didn't do, which added to the stress. Fingers crossed you get a lovely, non-eventful vaginal delivery!!

I've had a Cat 1 proper emergency one under GA and a bog standard one with spinal for failure to progress.

I recovered pretty quickly after both but was very bruised after the first one.

It often gradually becomes apparent that an emcs is needed, it's quite unusual for things to go wrong very suddenly without warning.

They can ALWAYS magic up doctors and anaesthetists for emergencies, which is why you often end up waiting for routine epidurals etc.

I loved my EMCS. Recovered really well, walking dogs after 7days, in a Zumba class after 15 days.

This is not typical, and however you feel you absolutely should NOT be doing anything like Zumba
It's major surgery.

But there are plenty of doctors around, and everyone's so scared of litigation that you're far more likely to go for a section before you need one than too late. So don't worry.

Thank you all for your stories. I feel a little better hearing they'll react promptly.

I had a Cat 1, they were shouting 'brady' and running. It was fine, baby and I unwell afterwards but soon sorted. They're not so bad, honestly. And you probably won't need one anyway.