Need your help

[catkrazy99]

I need to be put in the direction of links to the safety of VBAC's and Elective C-sections.

Somebody in one of my baby groups has posted that a VBAC is safer for the mom, but not the baby, so therfore she is choosing an elective c-sectioin b/c she wants to do what is better for the baby? Is this really true?

Thanks ladies, I know you'll get me in the right direction.

[miche]

Not at all! VBAC is safer for mom and baby in most circumstances. Please take a look at the VBAC cubby (link in my sig) and also follow the links in there to ICAN and the other sites. ICAN in particular has some info sheets (white pages) that are referenced and list stats and risks of vbac and ERC.

[miche]

Here is an excerpt from the FAQ at ICAN.
http://www.ican-online.org/resources/faqs.htm

Q: Wouldn't a cesarean be safer than a vaginal birth after a cesarean?
A: A cesarean section is major abdominal surgery with all that entails. The surgery itself, as opposed to medical problems that might lead to a cesarean increases the risk of maternal death, hysterectomy, hemorrhage, infection, blood clots, damage to blood vessels, urinary bladder and other organs, postpartum depression, post traumatic stress syndrome, and rehospitalization for complications. Potential chronic complications from scar tissue adhesions include pelvic pain, bowel problems, and pain during sexual intercourse. Scar tissue makes subsequent cesareans more difficult to perform, increasing the risk of injury to other organs as well as placenta previa, placenta accreta, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, uterine rupture in subsequent pregnancies and the risk of chronic problems from adhesions. There are also risks to the baby such as respiratory distress syndrome, prematurity, lower birth weights, jaundice, lower APGAR scores (APGAR is the means of assessing the health status of a newborn), and finally in 1 to 9 percent of cases the baby is scarred or even maimed by the scalpel.

This material may be copied and distributed with retained copyright.
© International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. All rights reserved.


There is also this: http://www.ican-online.org/resources/wp_electivecs2.htm which states the following:

Risks to the baby from elective cesarean section

Babies delivered by elective cesarean have an increased risk of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), a life-threatening condition,3-7 and other respiratory problems that may require NICU care.

Babies delivered by elective cesarean have a five-fold increase in persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPH) over those born vaginally.6

Babies delivered by elective cesarean are at increased risk of iatrogenic (physician-caused) prematurity, usually related to failure to conform to protocols for determining gestational age prior to delivery, or errors in estimating weeks of gestation even with the use of clinical data.7,8 Prematurity can have life-long effects on health and well-being, and even mild to moderate preterm births have serious health consequences.9

Babies delivered by elective cesarean are cut by the surgeon’s scalpel from two to six percent of the time.10 Researchers believe these risks to be underreported.

This material may be copied and distributed with retained copyright.
© International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. All rights reserved.

(the complete article which includes the risks to mom of an ERC and also has citations are available in that link)

Hope these few help! :)

edited to fix links

[Irie]

I have a friend who is very worried about my safety with the homebirth I'm planning (HBAC). We have a friend that is a doctor (family practic) and he was telling us that ERC is so much safer for mom and baby. This info helps a lot, I can email it to my friend and show her that going natural isn't as dangerous as she thinks :) Thank you Miche.