How does it work if you go into labor before your scheduled C-section?
I know that may sound silly. 
Today we scheduled my c-section for 38 weeks as we are having twins and we have a breech baby. I am currently 33 weeks 3 days along, and my OB joked that she didn't think I would make it that far as I am already 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. I know that means little as people go pretty far, if not past their due dates with much more going on. So what I am curios about is this- If you go into labor and have to go to L&D before your scheduled time what is the procedure before they get you into the OR. I did not get a chance to ask this today, as I started thinking about this after I left. I was just curious if they monitor you for a certain amount of time, or like to see if your going to dilate or? Obviously they would monitor for contractions, I'm just curious to know how long they "watch" you or whatnot until they get you in. I'm sure a lot of this has to do with a lot of factors like when you last ate, if they are crowded and what not.
Hope this makes sense and doesn't sound too silly.
Thank you!
Re: How does it work if you go into labor before your scheduled C-section?
Or maybe I should ask if this happened to you, what did L&D do once you got there up until the point of taking you into the OR time line wise.
Thanks Again!
I work in L&D...we do a labor eval..put you on the monitors, check your cervix..let you walk around for an hour, and recheck your cervix..if you've made any change...we would go ahead and move up your c-section to whenever we can get our crew together..usually within an hour or two at the most. (unless you are pretty far dilated, then we would go ahead and do it right away)
If you're not making change, most drs will send you home..but some will still decide to move up your c-section to later that day if you're contracting very frequently and are term
I asked this, as my dr was going on a 10 day vacation very close to my EDD and I wanted to know what happened.
He said they would check you in the hospital and if you were in active labor, they'd perform the c-section immediately. He said it would probably be a half hour (or less if it were a true emergency situation) by the time they had the baby out. They can assemble a team pretty quickly.
My first was an unplanned c-section (but not emergency-it was for failure to progress) and from the time the dr came in and suggested a c-section to the time I was in the OR and they made the initial cut to get baby out took about 30 minutes.
I'm an L&D nurse...this is what we do at our hospital. If your before 34 weeks, they will try to stop your labor. After 34 weeks, if you think your in labor, go to triage. They will check you and then recheck in an hour. If you make pretty significant cervical change (say from 1-3cm) they will prep you for your c/s, because cervical change in an hour would equal labor. It kinda depends on the situation...but if your in labor they will keep you.
To prep a patient you get an IV, foley catheter, blood work and consents. Anesthesia will come to you about the surgery and type of anesthesia they will use (usually a spinal, or general anesthesia if the spinal doesn't work). At our hospital anesthesia will prefer to have you wait 8 hours after you ate to do the surgery, but they would not make you wait if your in labor. An example of this would be like if you went to the hospital and your water broke but your not in labor.
Here is what just happened to me- I was scheduled for a c-section on 10/3/11 because my baby was breech. I would have been 39 weeks and maybe 3 days. I also thought there was a chance that I would go into labor before then, but my doctor didn't seem too concerned with it since I'm a first timer. Well, what I was worried about pretty much happened. My water broke at the office where I work around 4:30 in the afternoon. I live in the suburbs of Chicago and commute into the city by train to my office. There was no way I could really take the train home to the suburbs and then head over to the hospital where I was supposed to deliver so my doctor's office told me to go to the nearest hospital.
I went to the ER- was checked out by the ER and then was transported to the labor and delivery triage where I was again checked out by the nursing staff. They hooked me up to the monitors to check the baby and the contractions and then checked my cervix. Because I knew baby was breech they also brought in an ultrasound to quickly check and confirm. Then the nurses "mobilized the troops" up in the labor and delivery floor and I was taken there while they prepped the OR for me. I progressed really fast and my DD was delivered a little over 3 hours after my water broke. I was actually really nervous and scared that they wouldn't be able to get me into the OR on time due to being swamped or because I had eaten within the past 6 hours. I could tell that the nurses were frustrated with the anesthesilogy dept. and that it had been a very busy day for emergency c-sections at the hospital from the snippets of conversations I could pick up in between contractions! However, once the OR was prepped, it went really fast and everyone was top notch (even though I couldn't remember any of their names afterwards because so many people had introduced themselves and it was also shift change when I came in!).
As soon as my water broke, I did not eat or drink anything. I believe I had a spinal and not an epidural, but the details are a bit foggy. I just know that it took effect really quick and then a few minutes later they were starting the procedure.
It happened to me. DD2 was breech, I was 38w5d, and my water broke around 11 p.m. We had a version attempt and/or c/s (if the version didn't work) scheduled for the day I hit 39w.
We called the hospital to let them know we were coming, and headed to the hospital after some friends of ours arrived to stay with our toddler. I got hooked up to monitors to make sure DD2 was okay, the doc did an u/s to see if she was still breech (yup) and we waited for another doc to arrive from home (they want two there for a c/s), I got prepped for surgery, DH put on scrubs, and there was basically quite a bit of lag time before I got to the OR, then waiting for the spinal to take effect, etc. DD2 was born at 2:29 a.m.
It kind of sucked, because contrax started within 10 minutes after my water broke, and I got to about 4 cm -- but I couldn't walk around or do much except breathing to deal with them, because a) I was on all the monitors and b) they didn't *want* me to speed up labor. It wasn't exactly an emergency, but it wasn't something that could wait indefinitely, either, since they don't do breech births and I didn't want to attempt one anyway.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
I was initially scheduled for c/s at 39w5d.
I went into PTL at 35 weeks with DD2. They stopped labor during my overnight stay in L&D and placed me on bedrest and meds. Took me off both at 37 weeks, and at 37w6d I went into labor again. By the time I got to the hospital (4pm), my contractions were about 2-4 minutes apart. They monitored me and at 6pm scheduled me for surgery at 8. My contractions weren't thinning my cervix, but they found during surgery that they were considerably thinning my uterus and it turned out to be a very good thing they did the c/s when they did because my chances of rupture were going through the roof.
Went into the OR at 8pm, got all numbed and prepped and had a much more slow and calm c/s than last time. DD2 was born at 8:56pm if memory serves.
Joe and Ashley ~ June 16, 2007 ~ Olivia Rae ~ May 12, 2008 ~ 9:06 pm ~ 8lbs 4oz ~ 20.5 inches ~ Miscarriage of twins ~ April 16, 2009 at 6 weeks. ~ Surprise BFP 6/23/09 13DPO ~ Eleanor Rose ~ February 18, 2010 ~ 6lbs 15oz ~ 20 inches ~ Caroline Ruth ~ February 19, 2013 ~ 6lbs 12 oz ~ 19 1/4 inches
Our family is complete!
DD2 was supposed to be born via scheduled (repeat) c/s at 39 wks. She apparently didn't like the date and I went into labor at 33 wk 5 d. I went into the dr's since I didn't know I was in labor, just that something was wrong - had pain that wasn't getting better after lying down & drinking water. They hooked me up to the machines and saw that I was in the early stages of labor contractions about 7-10 min apart and I was dilated 1cm. Since I was that early, I was sent upstairs to the maternity floor where they tried to stop the labor, but were unsuccessful. The doc told me that if I reached 4 cm, they'd do the c/s. So once I reached 4cm, the nurses called the doc and prepped me for surgery. It was only partly scary b/c I knew it was early for her to be born, but otherwise, they were not freaking out - everyone was just doing what they were supposed to do. They had NICU nurses in there with us and I was talking football with the anesthesiologist while he did the spinal.
Honestly, considering DD2 ended up in the NICU, it was actually a good experience - in regards to the c/s and recovery. The NICU part obviously sucked.
Since you're having twins, it will be somewhat different. When they were trying to stop my labor, they were monitoring DD2 to make sure she wasn't in distress.
I'd call the doc's office and ask, just so you know what to expect. GL and I hope you're able to bake those babies longer!!
oh - you might want to post this on the multiples board if you haven't already. Many of those ladies had their twins between 33-38 wks.
DS was scheduled for a c-section on 7-29. My water broke early am of 7-28.
I was given the option of what to do. We waited hooked up for 2 hours to watch me but I was absolutely in refusal to have any medication to "Speed" up the proccess. We had a similar scenario with my daughter (where my water broke at 1cm with no contractions) and they gave me Pit and eventually I was rushed back to the OR because both she and I were in danger.
Because of my refusal I never dilated or contracted
BFP #2 11/30/09 EDD 08/12/10- Sophia Grace born 8/1/10
BFP #3 11/16/10 EDD 08/04/11- Samuel Richard born 7/28/11
BFP #4 01/04/12 EDD 09/19/12- Simon Nathaniel born 9/6/12
BFP #5 03/27/13 EDD 11/25/13- Savannah Lee born 11/18/13
I started having contractions so I called my ob. She told me to head to the hospital for monitoring. The nurses hooked me up and monitored for maybe 45 minutes? Then one nurse came in and said "Well, looks like you bought yourself a ticket to stay!"
So they prepped me and got me in within a few hours with my regular ob and everything.
Check with your doctor but typically if you start having contractions and for sure if your water breaks you'll need to get to the hospital as quickly as you can (they don't want you in full blown labor so it's not "emergency").
Also, I am pretty sure they gave me a shot of something to stop the contractions and let my uterus relax before the surgery.
Mama Jan's Kitchen... a food blog
My LO was breech, due 4/10. My c-section was scheduled for 4/4. My water broke a little after 7 AM on 3/11 (I ate breakfast before my water broke). I was 35 wks, 5 days pregnant. What I did: I called my dr to tell her my water broke; she told me if I was comfortable & wanted to shower, go ahead but to get over to the hospital ASAP. At this time, I didn?t feel any contractions. MH packed my bag as I got showered & dressed. We headed to the hospital; still didn?t feel contractions. We got to the hospital after 8 AM and was sent to the L&D triage unit. My dr came in, verified my water broke & verified that LO was still breech (she was); she said since it was after 34 weeks they wouldn?t attempt to stop the labor & my LO would be delivered that day. Since I had eaten breakfast my surgery was scheduled for 2:30 PM, to give my stomach time to clear out (I have gastroparesis/delayed stomach emptying, so they gave me Reglan to help it along). I started to actually feel the contractions around 11 AM: first few were 5 minutes apart, the next few were three minutes, my nurse checked the monitor & said they were going to start coming even faster so she ran out to get my dr. At 11:45 AM I was wheeled down to the OR and my LO was born around 12:30 PM.