If my mum’s pelvis was too narrow to birth naturally does that mean mine will be too?

[Spockrates]

As my due date nears I’m getting more and more excited about the big day and have planned for natural birth, my mum also planned for natural birth but needed a c section, my sister also tried for a natural birth and had to have an emergency c section as her pelvis was also too narrow I really don’t want a c section as I’ve heard the recovery is so hard, anyone else had relatives with narrow pelvises and managed to give birth naturally? Also is this something I should mention to my midwife?

It does tend to be hereditary. My mum actually had 5 vaginal births, but my 3 sisters and I have all failed to give birth naturally. But it's not a definite that you won't be able to give birth vaginally

I can’t comment on your case but I’d like to reassure you a little about c section recoveries. Obviously emergency sections are different in terms of speedy operating and subsequent recovery but my elective section was much quicker to recover from than my first birth which was a vaginal birth.

what have the midwives, consultants said. Do they know your family history?

I gave birth twice, I much preferred the c-section! My recovery was much quicker, both mentally and physically.

I would tell your midwife.

Same here my C-section recovery was easier than my VBAC, neither horrendous though. Try not to stress yourself out in advance, if your pelvis turns out to be too narrow it's out of your control and c sections are very common.

I've had one difficult vaginal birth (shoulder dystortia) and two planned sections. The sections were far easier to recover from (including emotionally).

You should discuss this with your midwife, you may be referred to a consultant to discuss.

I will say you should try to discuss it now as a planned section and an emergency section are very different.

I'd have a read of the positive birth book. She has a really good section on things like the best possible c section and when things don't go to plan.

She has some good information about how to plan for a c section so that you still feel in control even if it's not what you wanted.

When it comes to birth, considering the options in advance and feeling included in your care are really important.

I think a straightforward vaginal birth may be easier to recover from than an emergency section but this often gets generalised, and isn't true in the case of vaginal births that go wrong and planned sections.

I've had one of each and found the planned c section much easier to recover from physically and mentally. Speak to your midwife about it.

My mum was also told her pelvis was too narrow. I wasn't going out the standard route so ended up as a csec.
I am bigger built than my mum, but I also ended up with an emcs as I failed to progress. Waters went well past due date, then nothing but sporadic contractions. Induction started and nothing after that for me.

Emcs was uneventful luckily and I healed really well.
Went on to have a planned csec and healed well from that too.

Can you compare your sit bones to your mum's? You would sit on a piece of tin foil on top of a carpeted surface (stairs are good) and your sit bones leave two imprints in the foil. Measure between them and look up the average for women and compare to each other? Might give you an indication of whether you have similar pelvis sizes, though I wouldn't totally rely on it!
Cyclists use this trick to determine what saddle width they need. Although I imagine it relies on not having too much erm padding in the derrière department 😳

Lots of women were told their pelvis’ were too narrow for birth back in the day, but it’s not something which would likely have carried through a genetic line if it made birth improbable (it would have died out).

Keep active, upright and moving in labour as much as possible to help optimise your baby’s position. Some mamas will need a c/s for all sorts of reasons and I agree with the other posters to look at positive c/s as part of birth prep, but you may well go in to have a straightforward vaginal birth!

I had a very narrow pelvis too, unlike my DM who gave birth really easily.

I had VB and C section and I honestly found every aspect of the section less painful and quicker to recover from.

Good luck!

I really wouldn’t worry about this - there’s lots of reasons vaginal birth doesn’t progress as expected, usually because of the amount of medical intervention eg epidural and induction.
https://evidencebasedbirth.com/friedmans-curve-and-failure-to-progress-a-leading-cause-of-unplanned-c-sections/
Best thing you can do is educate yourself on choices, know you can say no to certain interventions eg induction - and use different birth positions to open up your pelvis. I’d bet your mum was on her back which isn’t great for creating space for birth.

My mum had two nightmare labours - both ended up with interventions. My brother's was forceps and episiotomy, mine was an emergency c section. She also suffered multiple miscarriages.

I had two straightforward pregnancies, both carried to full term, and two quick, easy labours. Second labour was a home birth as the first had gone so smoothly. These things are not necessarily hereditary.

I agree with a pp that a lot of women were told they had narrow hips / pelvises as an easy excuse for "that all went tits up but we don't want to go into details with you, so we'll just say it was down to your bone structure, no arguing with that".

My thinking was that my lifestyle meant the baby was less likely to be well positioned than it would've been in the past. I took mat leave at 31 weeks for DD1 so I could focus on birth prep for at least 8-10 hours a day - like a job essentially.

All was well. She was born at 40 weeks in the birth pool. Lots of pressure but no pain. 18 hours total labour with 12 at home which seemed normal for a first.

DD2 was a little more complex as I had PGP which limited my physical birth prep. Her birth was more painful and I needed gas and air. It was a lot faster though at only 12 hours. The pool was still filling when she arrived! I was on all fours on a birth mat for her.

I agree with this.

I've also had 2 straightforward vaginal births whereas my mum had a Emcs and a forceps delivery.

If it was so strongly linked then midwives would ask about it at booking and refer on to an obstetrician, but they don't. It's also very difficult to predict which babies and women will have cephalopelvic disproportion... Look at how inaccurate growth scans can be!

This was something I was worried about when I was pregnant with my first. As my grandma, mum and sister all ended up having c sections. With my first I had forceps delivery 25 hours after my waters had broke. But with my daughter I had a completely natural birth. I think every birth is different. Try not to worry too much.

No. My mum had 2 emergency sections due to very small pelvis.

I birthed my DD vaginally in 6hrs with no tearing.

I suppose it depends on whether you inherited your pelvis from your mum’s family or your dad’s family, also.