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Giving Birth: The Caesarean Debate (6 Letters)
NY Times ^ | December 5, 2004

Posted on 12/04/2004 6:48:51 PM PST by neverdem

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1 posted on 12/04/2004 6:48:52 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

I was offered this option. They tried to induce me and I ended up having an emergency C-Section. I nearly died and so did my child.

I don't understand the point of this article. Should I have had a uterine rupture to insure a VBAC?


2 posted on 12/04/2004 7:00:29 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: annyokie
Both of my boys were born c- section. That's what happens when a small-hipped woman marries a man with an enormous cranium.

I don't see this issue as a political or moral one, IMHO.

APf
3 posted on 12/04/2004 7:11:08 PM PST by APFel (Humanity has a poor track record of predicting its own future.)
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To: APFel

My first was natural. The last two were C-section. Small woman, small hips large husband, there you go.

I get ticked with people who think it is politcal or moral, as you said. It's a health issue for mom and child.


4 posted on 12/04/2004 7:14:01 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: annyokie
I don't understand the point of this article.

I thought the point was evident in the linked article. Because the rate of uterine rupture during VBAC, 1%, was twice the rate they had thought it was, 0.5%, and the need to be prepared for emergency surgery was 24/7, many obstetricians, anesthesia folks and hospitals don't want to risk that emergency.

5 posted on 12/04/2004 7:28:30 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: annyokie

I was induced twice with my daughter. I had contractions for 12 hours with no dilation on the first day. They stopped it at 6 pm to let me sleep and then started it again at 6 am the next morning. At 2:30 in the afternoon of the second day my daughter went into distress and they had to do an emergency c-section. After all of that time, I only dilated 2 cm. I was furious that they made me go through that second day when it was obvious on the first day that nothing was going to happen.


6 posted on 12/04/2004 7:36:22 PM PST by SilentServiceCPOWife (In the smiling twilight of the new political morning, the unwashed told their betters to shove it.)
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To: neverdem

My rate of rupture was 90%. Pardon me for asking.


7 posted on 12/04/2004 7:36:39 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: SilentServiceCPOWife

Women who are able to birth without complications are blessed to my mind. I had 36 hours of hard labor with my first and then the other two were C's.

TG my OB was one of my best friends with my last. She stepped in and sent me to the OR before I ruptured and bled to death.


8 posted on 12/04/2004 7:39:50 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: annyokie
I get ticked with people who think it is politcal or moral, as you said. It's a health issue for mom and child.

The point of the article is the large number of unnecessary first birth cesaereans brought on by the legal tort industry, and the costs and risks these impose upon women and the medical system.

20% of live births do not need to be via cesaerean.

9 posted on 12/04/2004 7:41:43 PM PST by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: Hermann the Cherusker

Hermann, you have opinion about everything and I share none of them with you. When you birth a child, come back to me.


10 posted on 12/04/2004 7:51:13 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: annyokie
Women who are able to birth without complications are blessed to my mind.

Yes, they are. I have a friend who was in labor for two hours with her third child. She went home from the hospital the next day and took her older children out for a walk. I couldn't believe it.

I cannot even imagine 36 hours of labor. And you were very fortunate that your OB was personally interested in you with your third child. I'd hate to think of what would have happened if she hadn't been.

11 posted on 12/04/2004 7:53:16 PM PST by SilentServiceCPOWife (In the smiling twilight of the new political morning, the unwashed told their betters to shove it.)
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To: neverdem

A difficult issue. There are, of course, also risks associated with a c-section, which is major abdominal surgery.

I have seen both sides of the VBAC issue...a colleague induced for a VBAC experienced uterine rupture (due mainly to hospital negligence -- long story, big lawsuit $$). The child was seriously damaged. Induced VBAC's are becoming a thing of the past as they can lead to stronger contractions and a higher risk of rupture.

On the other hand I personally had two uneventful VBACs of 9 lb.+ babies after my second child was born by C-section (that one was almost a 10-pounder, born at 38 weeks!). I am very grateful that the option was open to me. The recovery time from a C-section was no picnic for me, although of course I would have done it again if I had been convinced of the necessity in my case.


12 posted on 12/04/2004 7:59:30 PM PST by GOPrincess
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To: SilentServiceCPOWife

My mom had my brother in the elevator on the way to the Delivery room. I was ready to kill myself after 24 hours of pushing. They finally gave me pitocin and eldest was born in about 20 minutes after.

You are right about my OB. She made sure to deliver my youngest on what was her day off (she had two year old twins at the time) because she had promised me. She was pale when she told me how strained my old scar was. I was only hours away from rupturing.

I had been on magnesium for three weeks already and the baby was still three weeks early.


13 posted on 12/04/2004 8:00:06 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: annyokie

You're very lucky. And I bet you'd do it all over again if you had to because you got the best reward in the world for all of that pain.


14 posted on 12/04/2004 8:06:58 PM PST by SilentServiceCPOWife (In the smiling twilight of the new political morning, the unwashed told their betters to shove it.)
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To: neverdem

My daughter was born with a midwife in our bedroom. My wife exercised, ate well and we did LaMaze together. Six hour labor. I think c-section is like many medical procdeures: they become necessary because there was inadequate preventative means used to avoid the condition, and prevention is not used because the doctors are ignorant of it themselves.


15 posted on 12/04/2004 8:10:06 PM PST by Rennes Templar ("The future ain't what it used to be".........Yogi Berra)
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To: Rennes Templar

Good theory. My wife and I did all of that preventative stuff, yet we had a c- section. Nothing medieval about it.

Apf


16 posted on 12/04/2004 8:12:18 PM PST by APFel (Humanity has a poor track record of predicting its own future.)
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To: SilentServiceCPOWife

I would. All three are lovely boys. The first and the last have made me gray. Eldest was born with a cleft lip (it looked like someone knicked him with a knife) and had to have surgery at ten weeks. The middle one was fine. The littlest was in the NICU for ten days on a respirator. That was the most nerve-wracking since he was on 5lb 13oz at birth.

Men don't get it that we would walk through fire on broken glass barefoot for our babies.


17 posted on 12/04/2004 8:12:49 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: Rennes Templar

Lucky you and your wife. Don't blame the rest of us for being healthy and having complications.


18 posted on 12/04/2004 8:14:27 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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To: SilentServiceCPOWife
Reading these posts I feel very blessed. My last two babies were home births. The reason why? My other three births were pretty easy. Except for my "false labor" for a monthe before. I got sick of going into the hospital with contractions only one minute apart, then having to leave because even though they showed up on the machine, they weren't progressive enough.
Anyhow, my last hospital birth was so easy I was ready to go home after the birth. While I was practically hopping around, I felt so sorry for my roommate who had just had her first baby via C-Section.
19 posted on 12/04/2004 8:25:51 PM PST by HungarianGypsy (We are the pirates who don't do anything....)
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To: HungarianGypsy

How are you feeling, Gypsy? Is Matthew sleeping alnight yet?


20 posted on 12/04/2004 8:28:36 PM PST by annyokie (If the shoe fits, put 'em both on!)
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