As a veteran of three C-Section surgeries, I was surprised and disheartened to read this article on the Top 10 Signs Your Doctor is Planning to Perform an Unnecessary Cesarean Section On You. I wouldn’t wish a C-Section on anyone. It’s major surgery, there is a long recovery period, and there can be serious complications during the surgery and recovery.
Yes, a C-Section is Major Surgery
Wow – I had three C-sections, which were all done for very different reasons, and I never heard any of the things described in the article come out of my doctor’s mouth: “I just don’t think this baby is going to fit.” “I think this is going to be a big baby you should just have a C/S.” “You pushed for 2 hours.” “Hmmm, your pelvis is pretty narrow.” To name a few of the ten (actually eleven) signs mentioned in the article.
For my first live birth, I was sent down to labor and delivery to be induced because I didn’t have much, if any, amniotic fluid that could be detected on the ultrasound. I was 8 days past my due date. At this point, they did hazard a guess at how big the baby might be, based on thigh and arm bone measurements – the resulting guess: 7.5 – 8.5 pounds. Wrong! Soooo, so wrong.
After being induced, using Pitocin, and laboring for 24 hours (with a bit of knitting and playing scrabble thrown in for good measure), with nasty contractions that seemed to go nowhere, and an epidural, and no more than 4 cm of dilation ever, we discussed a C-Section. At that point I was willing to do anything to get that baby out of me! Jasper was comfortable in there and going nowhere! We decided to do a C-Section and a couple of hours later we had a 10 pound 2 ounce baby. He wasn’t going to fit through any birth canal without breaking something or tearing something. If it had been the 19th century, I would have died in childbirth. Instead, after an emergency C-Section, I had a healthy and beautiful 10 pound bowling ball, I mean baby. I also had a long horizontal cut across my abdomen, a long recovery period, and a surgery I wasn’t prepared for, physically or mentally.
10 Pounder
For our second baby, I wanted to try a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). Frankly, I didn’t want to go through another C-Section; the first one was so traumatic and unexpected for me. Or should I say, I was just unprepared for it. Mostly, it had never occurred to me that I might ever, in a million year, especially with these hips, need to have a C-Section. In any event, at around midnight the day before his due date, I went into labor with Bryce. At about 7 am, when my contractions were about 2 minutes apart, we took Jasper to daycare and then headed to the hospital. At this point in time, things seemed like they were going to happen naturally, NOT.
When we got to the hospital, the contractions subsided and the time in between them started to lengthen, not shorten. After six more hours of this, I decided to ask for a C-Section. I could see where this was going – nowhere good. I didn’t want another 24 hours of that crap! It took a little while to find the anesthesiologist, and then we could do another C-Section. One I was a little more prepared for, only in the sense that I knew what was going to happen during the surgery and what the recovery would be like. I was in much better shape and the recovery took less time, but it wasn’t any less painful. The result, another 10 pound baby.
Bryce being pulled out
With the third kid, we just scheduled a C-Section. From a statistical standpoint, it would be very rare to have a successful VBAC after two prior C-Sections. The risk of tearing the prior cut(s) was very high, especially given how big I had gotten. I was bummed, I wanted to have a child “the regular” way. These big hips had to be good for something…but it certainly wasn’t birthing’ babies.
The C-Section was scheduled for the day before McKinley’s due date and we chose to have a good friend do the delivery even though we had to trek to Walnut Creek where he practiced. This time, I was prepared for the surgery. I knew what to expect. I knew to expect that I would be ravenous after the surgery but only able to eat ice chips for hours. I knew my recovery would take a full 6 weeks. I knew I wouldn’t be able to lift anything for weeks.
The result, yep, you guessed it, another 10 pounder. McKinley was 10 pounds 5 ounces and I had only gained 18 pounds this time around. I was in very good shape (probably from chasing two other toddlers around) and I did yoga until the day before I had the surgery. That led to a faster recovery. During the surgery Doctor Jim had discovered that the prior C-Section scars had herniated so he cut those out and left a cleaner cut for less scarring this time around. Too bad he couldn’t have done a tummy tuck at the same time!
10 Pounds, metric…
The result of my three C-Sections was three healthy, ten-pound babies. As I wasn’t diabetic, I didn’t even meet the C-Section considerations listed in the article. What I found most interesting in the article was the stated reasons for so many C-Sections being performed: 1) the Doctor’s convenience and 2) the higher revenue earned from surgery rather than a vaginal birth. Don’t even get me started on insurance companies and their rules that interfere with individualized medical care!
While I totally would have preferred delivering the regular way… or in water or at home in peace, things just didn’t work out that way for me. I am thankful that I had three healthy children, but I wouldn’t have let any doctor talk me into an unnecessary C-Section. Surgery is a big deal and shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you think your doctor is at all coming close to saying the things in that article – discuss it in detail with your doctor or find another doctor, pronto!
