Emergency ceseareans, where is baby? placenta delivery,,,,,lots more!!!

[Angeliz]

Hello everyone

Went to my first antenatal class last night and a few things stuck out. (Is my second baby but thought i'd refresh my memeory).
The midwife went through what would happen at an emergency C section, (am a little worried as this baby is any position but the right one, even midwife wasn't clear last time so want to know all scenarios). Anyway, she was saying in case of emergency fathers aren't allowed in. That's ubderstandable but then i asked, if all went well and baby fine and healthy, is baby then given to father and was told that they like to keep baby with mother, (but surely the mother is under anasthetic for a few hours!!). I didn't push the issue but wanted to know have any of you been in that situation as i would like to know that our baby is bonding with one of us if possible!?!?

My next one is, she said they give you an injection to get the placenta out, i remember this from last time. She said if there were 2 midwives that as shoulders were being delivered then they inject the womans thigh. Now , is that just for speed and doesn't it pass through the baby? If it is purely for the speed i'll put on my birthnotes that i'd like to wait till baby is out and cord is cut.

and i thought i was pretty chilled this time!!!!!!!!!1

dp was allowed into our emergency (and looked lovely in his scrubs too). He got to hold our ds initially but I was awake so I could see him too. I don't think too many c-sections are done under a general, as it would all be a much bigger deal. A lot would depend on hospital policy, so may be worth looking into? Good luck!!

Thanks beansprout, yes she meant under general anasthetic.

Well that was a bit confusing for you....I had an emergency C-section and my dh was certainly allowed it. It was not under general anasthetic, but just with an epidural. when dd was born they tried to give her to me, but I couldn't really get my arms to her, so they showed her to both of us and then they had to whip her off to neo natal - (she was very premature). When I had a planned C-section, dh was also there and he got to hold ds in the theatre while they were stitching me back up.

On the placenta thing, that is more for VB and I can't really comment, but believe me, they'll get the baby out of the way before it gets overtaken by a placenta coming out......

I think your midwife might need a communication course

My emergency cs was done with an epidural, not general (think that is only used in a real emergency IYSWIM). DH was with me the whole time. DD was handed to DH briefly for us both to see - and to stroke her face, etc. - immediately after being delivered. She was then taken away for her checks - 5 minutes she was gone (to do the check at one minute, and the next at five minutes). DD was fine so after that they brought her back to Dh to cuddle, and me to see and hold with him, whilst they finished my op. Once out of the op theatre - in recovery, Dd was washed and dressed by MW (DH was doing th telephone calls!) and me helping as best I could. And I was then able to feed her myself and cradle her.

I slept with her in my arms all night too.

Helooo! i had emergency c/section with a general and ds was given immediately to dh. It wasnt until later that evening i had any recolection of any thing when recovering from the aneasthetic.(ds was born at 3.50pm)
Ds did say that he was left holding ds for maybe 1.5 hours while they sorted me out and took me back to the ward.
They then attempted to latch ds onto the breast while dh stayed with me at all times, the three of us were together very quickly and stayed together even though i was out of it.
So that was really good.
Cant tell you about the injection in the leg as it didnt happen to me.
HTH

Sorry, meant to say that dh was not allowed into the theatre during the c/section as is the hospital policy but waited outside and was given ds very soon after birth...apparently!

I was prepped ready for emergency c-section, DH in scrubs ready, but my epidural was given only minutes before I went in to theatre and at the last minute, DH was told that I needed a general and that he couldn't come in. Once DD was born, they took her into a side room and DH held her whilst they finished me off. I was so out of it when I came round that I couldn't hold her for about two hours afterwards. But she slept anyway (must have been the effects of the anasthetic).
She breastfed with no problems and we never had any issues with bonding.
No idea what happened about the injection in the thigh!

jab in the leg bit, well there were two midfwifes present with my birth and the jab went in after DD came out.

Angeliz, I'm sure someone like mears will be along soon to give you the definitive on this, but I think the injection is given at that point because they want to do it as early as possible (to minimise risk of haemorrhage) AFTER the baby is definitely delivered. Once the shoulders are out the baby is pretty much out and therefore the drug won't pass into him/her. Possibly (but this is me guessing) they also like to do it then because it is more intrusive (to you) to do it once the baby's born and you're bonding?

But you should discuss this with her. Some women choose not to have this injection at all so it's obviously negotiable.

re the syntometrine (which is i think the injection to speed up placenta delivery). My MW told me last week that it would take half an hour for this to cross the placenta, and since it only gets administered as the baby is making an appearance, there's very little chance of this happening.

i think last time influenced by rather batty active birth instructor i asked for them to wait until the cord had stopped pulsating before they administered it, but MW seems infinitely more reliable than henna'd lady in hand-knitted leggings, so i'm not bothered this time. i do remember i barely noticed it at the time, as i was rather overexcited about meeting my very own baby

('it' being the jab in the leg)

Thanks everyone, i did mean under general anasthetic, that's the situation she was talking about.
It's reassuring to know that the bays CAN be given to dads! She did make it sound like that wasn't hteir preference at my hospital, i'll have to make sure they know it's MINE
I just started worrying last night ,(as you do when labour is pretty imminenet), about all the what ifs........

I also did mean the injection for Vaginal delivery.

With my 3, I had the injection after they were out, when the cord was clamped. Each time they also asked me again if I wanted to have it. But mine all came out extra quick (DDs notes say 0 minutes for that stage ) so maybe they didn't have a chance to do it earlier with me?!

Message withdrawn

...not sure but maybe they give the injection at this stage coz with everything else going on you're less likely to feel it...would certainly help me to do it then as I have a bad needle phobia at the best of times!

I have to say that emergency c/section with a general anaesthetic was in my experience not bad at all.
I had also got to 10cms dilated so went through the whole thing almost so can safelly say that i experienced at least the majority of both worlds.
In the end i am grateful that my little chap was delivered safely and in a controlled environment. "emergency c/section" throws up images of mad dashes and running through coridoors with Drs shouting out orders ER style and it really isnt like that at all. The whole thing was very calm and although there was urgency,i was made to feel safe, cared for and calm.So what im trying to say is try not to get yourself tied up in nots and go with the flow, it will be ok.

depending on the emergency - my dd1 was an emergency caesar and dh was with us the whole time ( as I had an epidural rather than a general) - I think it is only if you need a general and it is more like a crash caesar that your dh will not be allowed in with you. Dh got to hold her and see her etc before she was whisked away to intensive care ( another story) I was able to see her but not hold etc. SHe was in ICU and then SCBU for three weeks and there were no bonding issues for us.

Hi there

Generally you would only have a General Anaesthetic in a 'crash' Caesarean which is only 2% of Caesareans. Otherwise 'Emergency' really means 'unplanned' and is done at a more leisurely pace! Most hospitals don't like dads to be in in the case of a General. It is a good idea to make a Caesarean birth plan in case you end up needing one which can take account of what you want to happen to dad/baby in case of these events. (dad can still give skin to skin contact if mum is knocked out).

With the injection - It is up to you when/if you have it. There are pros and cons to this which I could go into if you like. If you decide you would like the injection then they give it in the thigh as the shoulders are born - like others said because then they know the baby is out. The reason the baby has to be safely out is that if the cord is not tied and cut then as a result of the injection the baby would get a massive gush of blood down the umbilical cord which would cause jaundice as the babys body tried to deal with it.

If your placenta is retained then you don't have an emergency Caesarean - its into theatre with an epidural (if that is your preferred pain relief) and peak practise time! Dr's with gloves go in to manually remove it! This happens in a tiny minority of cases - and the likelihood of it happening is the same with or without the injection. Very very very very occasionally the placenta will not budge and I have heard of women at this point having hysterectomys, I also have heard of a women who refused this and they left the placenta inside and the body reabsorbed it! (the human body is amazing isn't it!?)

All women who have Caesareans will have the injection at the same time (as the babys shoulders are born) but mostly are unaware as their legs are numb/or they are unconscious.

Hope that helps
Becky

Thanks all
So Rebecca, if i said i'd like to wait until the cord was cut before receiving the injection that would be just as good?

Hi there

Yes, that would be absolutely fine. You can have the injection any time once the baby has been born, so you can wait til the cord has stopped pulsating and cord cut which is the best of both worlds, isn't it.

I would let the midwife know before, or put it in your birth plan though otherwise you might find it difficult to mention as the shoulders are being born!!

Becky