Pregnancy Info HOME

Hi perl, I have a small pelvic area and am actually overweight, so that just goes to show ya-lol. I laboured the first time for almost 24 hours and ened up with an er c-section and it was very serious for baby (weeks in ICU etc). My next 2 were planned c-sections. I also had other complications so pelvic size wasn't the only issue, but I never could push the baby out in the long run. Good luck!

Sorry to hear that your first one was a bad experience. So the emergency c-section was not what put your baby in the ICU?

Perl, I have a juvenile pelvis,( the size of a 10 yr. old) doc_mented medically after they did an x-ray pelvimetry during my first labor. I had been told at my first visit that none of my measurements were adequate. I was young and demanded I be allowed to try labor. Well, it was not meant to be. However, my baby benefitted from natural labor and the hormones he received prior to my fruitless 37.5 hour labor. Babies benefit from the stimulation of labor and it helps them to adjust to the outside world. There would probably be no harm in allowing yourself a trial of labor with set criterion on when to say when. Many many women have been told this and went on to have uneventful deliveries. This of course is if you don't have an obvious deformity or medical history. To be honest, I labored so long because I did not want the section and I was right to feel that way. My labor was so intense the medical school used my labor strip as a teaching tool for "abnormally hard" labor but I honestly preferred labor to the c-section. It sounds foolish in hind sight not to have listened to the doctors but my sister is tiny in the pelvis like me and delivered an 8 pound daughter successfully and without complications. So do what you and your doctor decide is best but remember, a little labor rarely hurts the baby ( there are a few exceptions) and you will at least know he or she was supposed to be born that day. I personally didn't find my very hard labor to be the worst thing I felt during my son's delivery. Also, the term emergency c-section scares a lot of women, if the baby isn't having major decelerations of the heart rate, meconium show or placental problems and the mother isn't spiking major fever, bleeding or high blood pressure most c-sections are a decsion rather than a true emergency. That is not to say women don't have true emergency sections, they do. Best of luck to you, either way you will do okay and pretty soon you will be holding your little baby :>)

Thanks djh, you're very informative and rea__suring. It turns out that my c-section was scheduled because we just discovered baby is in breech position, ECV is not an option because of position of my placenta and baby's head is already big and still growing. C section is in 3 weeks. I know that this is safer for him but I'm not looking forward to it and the recovery period either.

You are welcome Perl. I think you are naturally VERY nervous about your upcoming birth. It will help you to really try and relax. The plus side now is that you can prepare for cesarean birth. The night before you should eat a decent meal, pack and check off all the things you will need for your hospital stay. You should bring: brush, toothbrush, hair supplies, a comfy robe, your own slippers if you like, a couple magazines, a disposable camera for you to use when a quick moment comes up that you want NOW, your significant other can bring the hi-tech stuff and take it home at night. You also want to bring something loose to wear home, nothing that hits low where you incision will be, your own smaller maxi pad for going home, a cute baby outift hint: bring really tiny and a newborn so baby can get a good fit, your address/phone book if you have one.There's more but I can't think of it now, and if you don't bring hardly anything you will be fine too. Now, about the c-section day: you will have had nothing to eat for several hours, you will be admitted and they may take blood, urine, weight. They will put on an ID band and have you sign papers. The nurse will take you to your room,insert an IV, hook you up to the fetal monitor, BP cuff, and go over the cesarean procedure and this is where you ASK all your questions! (Make your list now, and bring it with you) Pay attention to the risks and answer honestly about things like vomiting, allergies, anything you have taken over the counter or Rx in the last few weeks, etc. They will probably do an exam and possibly one more u/s to confirm baby is still breech. Then the Anesthesiologist will come in and do his/her own a__sessment and ask you many questions about back problems, nausea, allergies, etc. Ask the anesthesiologist your questions then! Then you will be given a hair cover and paper footies and your DH or support person will be given their scrubs and covers. When the time comes they will walk or push you to the operating room and your SO will be asked to wait outside while they get you prepped for surgery. Inside they will have you sit or lay on the table and the Dr. will insert your spinal, they will quickly roll you over onto your back and may wedge a pillow under one hip (to keep the baby from pressing on your vena cava which caused you to feel breathless). This is when our hospital inserts the catheter. The anesthesiologist will be at your head and the OR team will begin a__sembling items for the surgery. You will have a screen put up in front of your face and your body will be draped. You should not be feeling much at this time. An oxygen mask might be put on now, and the surgeon will a__semble the a__sistants, your DH or SO will then be brought in and set near your head. The doctor will pinch you in various places and ask you if you feel it. When you are completely numb the surgery will begin. Your baby should be out in about 4-7 minutes! You will feel a lot of tugging and pulling (not really pain) and you may start to feel very nauseous, then you will see/hear your baby! The next 20-30 minutes they will be repairing your abdomen. After it is all over you will got to recovery and how things went depend on how long you stay there. Your feeling will come back slowly and you may get tremendous shaking from your body's shock of the surgery. They will put warm blankets on you and check your uterus frequently, this may hurt! After a time you will return to your room. You may have had your baby with you in the OR or the recovery room where if you are up to it you can try nursing. Depending on what type of meds were put in your spinal and in your IV you may begin to feel quite a bit of pain, or not. Take meds when offered and stay ahead of pain don't chase it! Do not try to eat or drink too quickly for you may vomit (ouuuuccch) or get tremendous gas pains (double oooouuuuucccch). The rest will depend on you, your body, your hospital, your baby and just your overall individual response to surgery and birth. Best of luck to you, I am sorry you have to have a c-section, I want to warn you, it can be pretty darn painful and just be ready for that. When you get home you may feel okay, until you try and do too much or go too long without pain meds (even ibuprofen helps) so be careful! People don't expect someone who just had gallbladder surgery to cook, clean, and do the laundry and neither should you. Have help for the first few days or a week. Get your rest, sleep when baby sleeps if you can and GOOD LUCK!!!!

Thanks for taking me through it step by step! You answered a lot of questions I had on my mind about the procedural part of it. I'd like to deliver v____ally but quite honestly I'm so freaked out by how incredibly huge my belly is and by how large my baby's head is already 9.5 cm side to side and 11 cm front to back and still growing.

Hi pear, I had a c-section last year due to a large baby, she was 9lbs 4 oz.. I was in labor for hours my contractions were coming every 3 seconds and thats when they decided to do an emergency c-section...And later I found out that I have a narrow pelvic area.. I was very nervous and it's perfectly normal to be nervous I've hear horror stories about c-sections and I was terrified being I was only 20 on top of it. But Everyone is diffrent with this type of delivery. I had very minimal discomfort after I had her The day I came home from the hospital I was out walking around the mall because it wasn't sore anymore.. And i'm still nervous because I have to have another c-section because of the problem so good luck and hope everything works out for you just think posotive =)

I have a small pelvis and ended up with an emergency c-section after 10 hours of labor. I was told I could not deliver more than a 5 lb baby v____ally. I only dialated 5-6 cm and the baby was born with a cone-shaped head. They actually had to push the baby back up inside me before they did the c-section, but I had an epidural by that time and did not feel anything. I am having a scheduled c-section this time.