WWYD - choosing my due date (edited)

love22

So ultimately I would prefer to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section).

My Dr., who just retired last week, and the practice does not induce for vbac births as they almost always fail and end in a c/s.    I'd love to go into labor on my own but I worry about going over and then just ending up having a c/s a week after my due date.  He said we could schedule a c/s at 40.5 weeks BUT I'm due on December 21st and at 40.5 weeks is Christmas Day.  I'm sure there is some wiggle room but with a toddler that just makes me sad.  So, what would you?

ETA - My old and new Dr. have both said I'm an ideal candidate for a VBAC.  I dilated great and pushed well but DS was having problems with his heart rate. 

My two concerns are going over due and having the baby close to Christmas and waiting a week after my due date being miserable and ending up needing a c/s again just because they don't induce people who have already had a c/s.

tri_bride05

I'd probably try to schedule the c/s for 12/26 or 27 (I'm sure your dr. probably doesn't want to do it on Christmas Day either :-)) and just see what happens. If you do go into labor on your own Christmas Day you can always pretend Christmas falls on the 27th or whatever day you get home from the hospital this year (beauty of toddlers not being able to read a calendar!).

hersheykiss

I agree with the PP. I would schedule the c/s for the 27th.

On a side note: My mom used to have to work (nurse) on Christmas Day so Christmas was always before or after the actual day. It never bothered us.

fricksgirl

I wouldn't even try for a VBAC and I would schedule that sucker for as soon as they'd let you, which should be like the 18th or 19th?  The earlier the better, then you can all be home for Christmas with the new baby. 

I had 2 scheduled c/s and not sure of your first was scheduled or emergency, but if it was emergency please know that having a scheduled is a whole different ball game.  Like a trip to the spa, I always say. 

Get that baby here for it's first Christmas!! 

Good luck with whatever you decide.

ETA:  My dr let me schedule any time after 39 weeks, which is why Simon was born June 1 even though he was due June 7.  I took the first appointment available!!

EmmieB

Given that I'm going to have to have a c/s next time, I'm going purely on dates, here. I would schedule it for either 41 weeks (the 27th ish) or 39 weeks - and then coming home for christmas with a new baby would be a nice gift, and you can all settle in over not one, but two holiday weekends (which may give some wiggle room on mat/pat leave?)

whatever happens - many wishes for an easy delivery and an easy recovery!  

ladipale

I would probably schedule it for the 27th.

I know what its like to not want a 2nd C-section and to want a chance to try and labor.

I would also wait as long as possible to put the C/S on the books. Will having the deadline make it worse for you? Can you wait and schedule it at your 40 week appt? (I would even go so far as to have my husband call and schedule it but not tell me that its already on the books. But I'm a weirdo and probably an extreme case)

Even though they won't induce you, they might let you go past your due date. You can ask for NSTs to make sure baby and uterus, etc are doing OK. It just might mean that if they decide you've gone too long, rather than induce, you go in for a c-section. But I'll want as long as they'll give me before agreeing to a RCS. 

StefandTodd

tri_bride05:

I'd probably try to schedule the c/s for 12/26 or 27 (I'm sure your dr. probably doesn't want to do it on Christmas Day either :-)) and just see what happens. If you do go into labor on your own Christmas Day you can always pretend Christmas falls on the 27th or whatever day you get home from the hospital this year (beauty of toddlers not being able to read a calendar!).

I agree with this!  Especially because your docs (old and new) both said you're such an ideal candidate for a vbac.  Lots of luck and well wishes to you, whatever you decide!!  So soon!!

kittylove

I just had a friend who delived 4 weeks ago via VBAC, I will se if she can come give her 2 cents. But basicly she wanted a VBAC but also didn't want to get her hopes up. She ended up planing for a c-section and as the date got closer she pushed it back to try to give her body more time. She delivered a few days before she had planed the c-section and had a wonderful VBAC.

I know for me the c-section felt like failure and if we were having a 2nd and I was a canidate for a VBAC I would go for it, but I also understand not everyone feels the same way.

Meritage

fricksgirl:

I wouldn't even try for a VBAC and I would schedule that sucker for as soon as they'd let you, which should be like the 18th or 19th?  The earlier the better, then you can all be home for Christmas with the new baby. 

I had 2 scheduled c/s and not sure of your first was scheduled or emergency, but if it was emergency please know that having a scheduled is a whole different ball game.  Like a trip to the spa, I always say. 

Get that baby here for it's first Christmas!! 

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Everything she said!  But I had zero desire for a VBAC and zero regrets about having a c-section so I guess I'm the wrong person to be giving advice.  :-)

NorcalLinds

Yikes thats hard! 

Is a VBAC more important to you than having a Christmas baby?  or

Is a VAC less important than having a Christmas baby? 

 

 

AvaLikeLava

Honestly, I wouldn't stress it. If this was your first delivery, you wouldn't be trying to set an induction date now, so just let it happen on it's own, since you're hoping for a VBAC.

If you were still on the fence, then it's a different thing.

I had my c/s planned the day after my due date (so 40w1d). S2 was due Thanxgiving week, and I wanted him to choose his own b-day, even though I knew we'd end up in a c/s (more or less). However, he came on his own 3 weeks early so you never know

RevJG

Ugh, it's such a tough call!  I really wanted a VBAC (not necessarily for the birth experience, I just didn't want to have surgery again).  I wasn't a great candidate-never dilated on my own after waters broke and baby's head was lodged in the canal in a less than ideal way (forehead was engaged rather than top of head).  My OB and I agreed to schedule the surgery for 39 weeks and just see what happened.  For a whole host of reasons I needed to get the baby out as soon as I could (more for my psychological well being than physical), and at 39 weeks I wasn't dilated at all so we went ahead with the c-section.

I am sure it is so different for everyone, but I did not find a scheduled c-section to be any easier than an emergency one.  If anything it was worse.  The first time I was so out of it that I slept through the majority of the surgery and had no real idea what was going on (48 hours of labor, almost 3 of pushing-I was dog tired and full of all kinds of drugs).  This time I was acutely aware of what was going on and it was no good.  But I have some anxiety/clausterphobia issues, so I may be the exception and not the rule.  My OB could tell that his head was engaged in the same way, but he was an entire pound smaller than my first, so who knows if the VBAC would have worked.  

My recovery was really, really hard and so that makes me wish we had at least tried, but there is a lot to be said for being able to schedule things around a toddler.  I guess there's no good advice in all of that, I just wanted to share a different perspective on the scheduled section.   Good luck whatever you decide.