Induction after C-section

[Becky]

Saw my midwife yesterday and was asking her what she thinks my consultant will think about me trying for a VBAC. Anyway I mentioned about being induced and she seemed to think that the consultant will be against inducing because of the previous section and that while she can't speak for the consultant, my mw reckons that she'll probably suggest giving me till 41 weeks to go naturally and otherwise want to book me in for an elective section.

Now I have no real problem with this as my induction last time wasn't a great experience but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas why they wouldn't want to induce - is there more risk of scar rupture?

Also, has anyone here been induced after a previous section?

Thanks

 

[Fly]

Ello Becky

There is alot of evidence to suggest that the number of women who suffer uterine rupture during a vbac are usually those who have had induction drugs to bring on or augment their labour and contractions...

I think Bex has some links she posted on a thread i started on here bout monitoring vbac possibly?

Its cos the contractions come on fast and hard with induction drugs and it can put the scar under too much pressure. I've been told by my consultant that they won't induce me under any circumstances which i was most relieved about and I think its a GOOD thing that they are taking this line now with our obstetric care.

Nobody has said anything to me about me goin so overdue then having an elective c-section Mind you I have done alot of reading into natural induction methods and have written about these in my birth plan and discused with the midwives aswell who are all very supportive. There's some excellent stuff about natural induction in Ina May Gaskin - Guide to Childbirth and Spiritual Midwifery.

My plan is to start taking raspberry leaf capsules from 37 weeks, continue with my walking regime and spend lots of time bouncing on my ball, lots of sex with OH (i got me mojo back last night thank fekk for that ) , and then as i come up to due date i shall be actively stimulating nipples daily and am gonna ask for a membrane sweep at 40 weeks. I'm also quite open to the idea of using castor oil if all else fails. Am gonna steer clear of the hot curry idea cos last thing i want is savage heartburn haha! I've yet to discuss this with the midwife but will do at my 36 week appt. i want to know if i could access a reflexologist or accupuncturist through the nhs as they have told me no induction drugs... well if thats the case then i sincerely hope they will be up for bringing in more holistic therapists who might be able to get things going for me if required...

The reason why I am gonna do all this rather than let nature take its course, is that I am really very focussed on having a vaginal birth this time round and would rather get natural induction methods going and flowing before they start muttering about overdueness and elective c-sections gives me more time to do it my way

 

[Bexie]

Hi Becky

Here are the links that fly was talking about

http://www.rcog.org.uk/resources/Public ... hafter.pdf

http://www.rcm.org.uk/magazines/feature ... e-in-fife/

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/vbac.htm

http://www.vbac.com/uterine.html

Some pieces can be quite technical, if you do your research you should be alright. Everything fly was saying about natural induction is the route I am trying to go down also.

Hope you get to have the birth you want. I am adament this time I want a natural birth, but I'm still going to remain quite open minded as you never know what will happen on the day. I had a section with my daughter as she was breech, very few hospitals in the Uk will naturally deliver breech babies, so I'm just hoping that this baby isn't breech also.

 

[skairdykat]

I had a section with my 1st and went to 41+3wks with Jordan and was induced. I had the gel at around 10am and gavebirth at 7.24pm.
TBH not many of the MW/docs even mentioned my previous section

 

[Becky]

Thanks for all the info, I guess what's so hard for me is that I feel maybe an elective section would be a cop-out and that I'd have "failed" to give birth naturally twice. I know it's rubbish but that's how I feel. Although my other nightmare would be to be induced, have a hard labour like last time only to be rushed for a section anyway. Ah well, I guess it's just one of those things, you can try and influence it but baby will come when it's ready!

 

[Fly]

Becky hun.. could I recommend you have a read through a book called Birthing From Within...it really helped me deal with the feelings of failure from my c-section and helped me overcome my fears with regards to possibly needin another c-section this time round.. whilst i am totally fixated on a vbac, i am also in a place of acceptance now about needin another c-section really helped me to use the suggestions for birth art in that book... i wrote stuff too

 

[Strangeness]

I had an induced vbac hun. They weren't hesitant at all about doing it and really encouraged me to go for it! There are higher risks of rupture but considering the chance of rupture is less than 1% the chances are still not very high even with being induced. They were willing to give me 3 lots of prostin to get things moving but I only needed one to get me going enough to break my waters and I was hooked up to the drip when diamorphine slowed my contractions but I got there! It took just over 8 hours from my waters going to giving birth so not too bad really! I did it on gas and air and diamorphine as well. I think it depends on your consultant and how supportive they are on vbac. All the ones I had wouldn't even have thought about giving me another c section without trying all other options first and they listened to all my concerns and reassured me every step of the way.