Planned c section

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I have a planned c section booked due to baby being breach. However it is very close to my due date and I'm not confident I will get that far. My last dc came 3 weeks early. I know it maybe won't be the same for this one but I am already having twinges and it just doesn't feel like it will be too long.

I'm really scared that I will go into labour naturally and it will all be a big scary rush to get to the hospital. I don't want to give birth vaginally to a breach baby, I've been told due to positioning and health conditions it could be dangerous for us both.

Im happy with the idea of a planned section but if I go into labour before the planned date I've been told it'll be treated as an emergency which will obviously be a lot more stressful and risky.

Has this happened to anyone before? Could you tell me what your experience was like?

I have exactly the same situation, and am super nervous too! I'm due in three weeks, and according to my midwife yesterday am in early labour (just dull periody type cramps) but haven't had a show or waters, so hospital won't act.

Not had my section date yet as it falls on the day before Easter, so am really getting nervy!

I’m a ftm with a planned c section and also feel I won’t last until the date. My midwife agrees and thinks there’s a chance I’ll go early as my dates kept changing.
No advice other than everyone’s reassured me that it will still be calm.
I’d just make my way to the hospital and instead of waiting until my spot on the list, I’ll just be taken first/ sooner.
My friend just had an emergency c section and she said it didn’t feel like an emergency. Everyone was relaxed and she wasn’t rushed around even though she was in labour

They actually wanted me in a week earlier than the date they've given me but couldn't book me in as there are already people booked in :-(

I just feel really worried about and on edge about it. I highly doubt I will get to the week of my due date.

I've had two emcs. The first was a frantic crash CS whilst fully dilated. The second was while I was labouring but no distress for me or the baby. They're poles apart as experiences. In fact, with my second, I was happy for them to bump a true emergency ahead of me and I waited with some gas and air.

Just go in to hospital as soon as you have any signs of labour. Do you have a history of abnormally fast labours?

No I don't which is a relief I suppose. I guess I can only go with the flow and see what happens. A planned section offers the luxury of planning practically and mentally beforehand but I'm scared of going into labour in the middle of the night, having the usual panic with sorting other dc and getting to hospital.

With DS his planned section was for 38+6 but I went into labour naturally at 37+4. They still delivered him through a section (I was 6cm dilated at the time) but because it was ahead of the planned date he was categorised as an emergency. Staying still whilst contracting and then trying to insert the epidural wasn’t too pleasant though!

I think you'll find something to worry about regardless. Because it's having a baby and it's worrying, particularly if you're having a non textbook pregnancy and delivery. Whilst waiting to have my second, I just felt anxiety and kept replaying situations in my mind. In the end, I realised I needed to think differently about it as I was worrying about things beyond my control.

You could have it scheduled for bang on 37wks and still go earlier than that. You can't control when it happens but you can plan for what will happen if it's before time. Get your bags packed, make sure you have the car ready to go, consider what you might need in a rush ie where's your phone, is it always charged, do you have cash/a card for the car park, are family on stand by, could a neighbour step in as a stop gap if you need them at 1am etc.

Chances are you'll be fine but some planning around things you can control might help you feel prepared.

I had a planned section. Went into labour early and still had the section. It was relaxed and wonderful. Why do you think you’ll not get the section if you labour early?

@Qwill I'm just worried in case things progress quickly and there isn't time.

[quote biscuitbreak]@Qwill I'm just worried in case things progress quickly and there isn't time. [/quote]
But that can happen regardless of when they set the date. As per my previous post, you can't control when labour starts. And if you were 3 weeks early last time, what's the alternative? A planned CS prior to 37 weeks? Well that's also a risk for your baby. All you can do is be as prepared as possible. You don't labour fast so are unlikely to be in the position you fear.

How far are you from the hospital? It would be unlikely that you’ll go into labour that fast. I don’t really see an alternative unfortunately, they wouldn’t do an early section just in the off chance the baby will come early. I would get everything ready and then go to hospital as soon as labour starts.

If you dont labour abnormally fast , there is nothing to worry about.
You might go in to labour and then you head to hospital and all will proceed as planned before. Just a bit earlier and perhaps less peaceful as you'd imagined it would be.

The best thing is to visualize this whole scenario in your head every day from now on. So that it makes you calmer. It happens all the time that women go into labour before their planned c section. So it won't be like they've never seen it before ;)

Dont let the word "emergency"freak you out. Maybe even rename it in your head. That might settle your nerves.

Just think of it that your baby might wanna be born earlier as he/she can't wait to meet their mama.

Breathe op. You will get to meet your baby. That isn't scary. Just breathe if you go into labour. Smile as it will be your babies birthday and head to hospital. Breathe.

I was meant to be having an elective section this week but due to a complication found unexpectedly on a reassurance scan with my consultant (it was a high risk pregnancy), it was moved to that day. I had time to go home and pack a bag gladly(!) but it was deemed as an 'emergency' and prioritised on the list. It was unbelievably calm. I arrived back at the hospital and baby was born less than an hour later. It was a magical experience and I have been so grateful for the smooth physical recovery.

If you go into labour before schedule and you don't usually have super fast deliveries, you're going to be fine. It'll be emergency in name only, and proceed very much like a planned c-section except you'll be prioritised over other planned c-sections that day. It won't be 'emergency' in the same way that is for someone who has been labouring for 31 hours and their baby turning blue due to oxygen deprivation and heart rate dropping. It'll not be like that!

I had planned sections with both of mine and they both arrived before the planned date!

The first was very straightforward as I had a show and the consultant said we should go ahead with the c-section as we were close to the date. I was having mild contractions according to the machine but hadn't got to the point where I could even feel them yet.

With my second, my waters broke and I went into early labour before the c-section date but I just phoned the hospital, headed straight in and they performed the c-section. Medically it's classed as an emergency, but as @GinnyBee says it is not an emergency in our terms!

I had a planned c, it was meant to be at 9am but I had some complications with blood platelets that ended up needing more tests and a general. Which was all grand, but took until 3pm to get it all sorted so we had a bit of waiting round in the surgical bay outside the operating room. In that time my surgeon took loads of ladies who were emergency C's.

Just as I was about to go in, the nurse said one lady was breech and was in early labour and she was taken ahead of me as she was more urgent. It was all very calm and they chatted away with her as they were prepping her for surgery. It wasn't dr's running down the halls with beeping machines like you see on TV! Stay close enough to the hospital and hopefully you'll be fine.

I've had a planned section booked for around the due date. My waters went at 36w6d, so we've had the csection that day. It was an emergency, but it wasn't. I wasn't in distress, baby wasnt in distress, it was peaceful. It was no different to what a planned procedure would have been. (Had to wait for few hours before csection as I have eaten in the morning)
Obviously it does depend on how fast your labour progresses, in my case it was my first baby and I wasn't progressing too fast.
When doctors confirmed it was my waters that went, they gave me an option to go ahead and have a VB, but I'd wanted to stick to the plan.

I had a planned elcs and was nervous about my slot in case I went into labour. It was 39+6

I did go into labour beforehand.
The awful NCT woman had explained at length it wasn't like the movies and your waters didn't "just break".
So anyways... I was minding my own business and mine "just broke" in a gentle flood about 4 hours ahead of my planned admission.
After that contractions began...The contractions freaked me out a bit but I focused on breathing and staying calm.
Triage kept trying to give me an internal exam to confirm my waters broke. I told them I didn't want to risk infection and that i absolutely did not consent. Messed about there for 30 mins then was admitted.
I went in and was basically bumped up the queue for the day and was the first one of the new morning shift.

It was totally like a planned ELCS except they had to time putting in spinal block and stuff so it was in between contractions (which were not too awful)