my 24 week appt
was very interesting. My OB and I talked in depth about a vbac. She told me that they are encouraging me to do a VBAC b/c it's much safer for me medically. She said the risks to the baby increase but they are the same risks that any vaginally born baby has.
I don't know if any of you remember when I posted about how they only want me to gain a certain amount of weight, it was the other OB in the group that said it to me. Well this OB told me that with ANY birth, any weight gain of 25-30 lbs max, increases the risk of complications for mom and baby. She actually said something to me about slowing down my weight gain b/c I've gained 16 lbs at 24 weeks and she wants me to come as close to 25 as possible. They will still do the vbac, but she said my risk of having a problem with the baby (and needing a rcsec) increases with every extra pound I gain.
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Re: my 24 week appt
There is a study that said that excessive weight gain (not that your is excessive at all) decreases VBAC success. Sorry I can't make this clicky:
https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(04)01727-2/fulltext
This part bothers me. I don't think c/s are safer for mom or baby unless medically indicated. The complications from c/s are not just for mom, but baby too.
Thanks for sending me this! I started with a BMI of 25, so in my case (according to this study.) My success rate drops if I gain more than 30lbs. I want to give myself the best chance at a VBAC as possible so I'm going to watch it a lot more closely!
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Patiently waiting for little brother!
She actually made a point that most babies who have complications from csec's are b/c they are born too early. Vaginally born babies are "usually ready" which is why a mom goes into labor. RCSEC tend to have greater problems w/ babies b/c they are preformed before 40 weeks. Something their practice frowns upon unless absolutely necessary.
A csec baby isn't at risk b/c of the surgery itself. A mother is always at risk with a surgery.
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Patiently waiting for little brother!
I still don't think that is right. The surgery is a risk to the baby too. The drugs the mother is given go to the baby, the baby can get sliced (a plastic surgeon friend of mine got called in the middle of the night to go repair a baby's face because the OB accidentally cut the baby during the c/s), babies born by c/s have a harder time breathing because the fluid doesn't get pushed out of the lungs like it does going through the birth canal, baby has a higher risk of asthma later in life, babies born by c/s are less likely to be breastfed, etc.
I agree that c/s are riskier if done before the baby is ready to be born adn that there are more risks to mama than to baby, but I still think c/s have risks for babies (regardless of gestation)
the fluid not being pushed out is definetly a side effect of csec babies.
The less likely to BF'd thing I don't buy. Sorry but if you want you're child to BF'd you will do everything to make sure it happens. The percentage of women who truly can't BF'd is so much smaller than the amount who say they can't. Is it harder after you have a csec? I truly believe it is but if you are determined enough it will happen.
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Patiently waiting for little brother!
You might not buy it, but statistically it is true. The number of c/s babies who are not BFd can be reduced with baby-friendly policies, but not completely overcome (or hasn't been yet). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12000413 But no one is saying you can't BF if you have a c/s, it's just one more hurdle for a BFing mom.
The statistic is not my point. It annoys me to think that mom's who have to have csec's are basically discouraged from BF'd by being told that it's so much harder. If you want your baby to be BF'd you have to be seriously commited to it and make sure it happens no matter what type of birth you have. The majority of women I know who were unsuccessful didn't realize how much was involved csec or not.
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Patiently waiting for little brother!
I think the lower success rate for BF a c/s baby is true but my thoughts are that over half of the babies born by c/s are because of risks, emergencies, complications, ect... the other half are the planned repeat c/s. When there are complications and an emergency c/s the mother and baby often are not united until after a longer period of time, the babies may need more care in the nursery or NICU or the mother may not being in a healthy enough state to get a good start on things. NVM the pain from the incision that makes positioning the baby tricky.
Yes, I agree that it can be overcome with determination, I didn't get to hold my son for a few hours after he was born and I still went on to BF for over a year. But there are also the mental/emotional stresses involved in a C/S as well. Women who get PPD from the trauma of the emergency c/s or the feeling like a failure after it all. It plays a toll in those critical first weeks when you are trying to get started with nursing.
If you are not 100% set on BFing there are tons of "reasons" why a c/s can make it too much for someone handle. It's all in what you want as a mother (with the exception of those cases where babies just can't latch for some reason or you produce very little milk. But there is always the option to pump)