Congratulations to my sister, brother in law and niece on the birth of their son and my nephew Luke! He looks a LOT like his older sister when she was born, such a cutie!Today I had a post-op appointment with my OB. He was happy that all seems to be going well and that I haven't had any problems since the surgery.
One big decision I'll have to make before these little ones join us is whether to attempt a vaginal birth or choose to have an elective cesearian. I know most of you are thinking "Why on earth would she want an elective cesearian???"...well, lets go over it.
Lets say I choose to have a cesearian. The benefits are, I would be able to have MY doctor deliver the babies...otherwise I'll be at the mercy of whatever doc is on call at the time. Also, I asked my doc today and he confirmed that if the elective cesearian was my choice that he could do a tubal ligation at the same time, so I wouldn't have to have that as a separate procedure later.
The downside of a cesearian is of course the fact that it is a major surgery. Recovery time is much longer than a regular vaginal delievery, and I'd inevitably have some scars (which isn't a real issue with me since the scar would just go along with my stretch marks..ha ha..).
Those are pretty significant benefits, however, there are some big negatives to attempting a vaginal birth this time around. First of all, I'd only be able to attempt vaginal if the first baby is head down. Otherwise it would be a cesearian since most doctors around here won't even attempt a breech birth. So, assuming the first is head down, and the second one is breech, it's possible that I could still deliver both vaginally, but there's about a 50% chance that either the second one or both of them would need to be delivered by an emergency c-section (again, by the doctor on call, likely not MY doc). Often the 2nd baby enjoys the extra room in the uterus left after the first baby is delivered and will "stretch out", making vaginal birth impossible. Since the operating room wouldn't be booked for the tubal procedure as well as a cesearian I'd have to book the tubal for another time, and have a separate procedure for it.
So, I'll be considering the options for a while. Of course I have a long time until I have to make the decision, but it's what I've been thinking about.
On another note, I've been feeling some movement! The baby on the right is the one I've been feeling mostly, the one on the left is further back so I don't feel him or her as much. It's pretty exciting though and I'm loving the little pokes!
So there's my update. Next ultrasound is still booked for May 10...I've been impatiently waiting. I can't wait to find out if they're boys or girls!
2 comments:
New to your blog. What an exciting journey. twins! I'm a birth junkie and just wanted to add a few thoughts to your great post. I think that if the spinal didn't work for your cerclage, it's entirely possible that an epidural wouldn't work for a vaginal birth. I'm sure you've heard plenty of birth stories from women who've experience that. I birthed my son naturally and hope to do the same with this pregnancy even if it's twins, but it's not something I would have wanted as a surprise! Also, I think it's pretty uncommon to vaginally birth one baby and then have to section the 2nd. Usually when that happens the 2nd baby is just born breech. They come out so fast and you're already stretched out, there's just no stopping 'em! Here's a great vid of a natural birth where that happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0iHWnBf66Q Also will give you a good idea of what a twin vaginal birth looks like (usually transfered to an operating room mid-labor, etc). It's a very personal choice and looks like you're doing a great job considering all your options. I can't wait until you find out the genders!
Thanks for reading my blog Margaret! I guess I should have added in my post that I've had a spinal with my first and epidurals for both of my previous births with my older children and they worked great and were very effective. It really was just the anaesthetist's error that caused the spinal to fail.
I understand and respect your passion for natural childbirth, I actually had planned a midwife assisted homebirth with my first. I wound up in the hospital with failure to progress after reaching 9cm and going through 8 hours of hard, intense labour. Even my midwife was talking emergency cesearian then, but an epidural is what saved me from having to have one that time. It gave my body the rest I needed to be able to fully dilate and push her out.
It was then that I decided that for me, suffering through labour simply isn't necessary. It's great that you find it rewarding, but for me it was pure torture and needless suffering. Now, I wouldn't choose a cesearian because labour and birth are "inconvenient". This time around it's more for practicality, as you read :).
Thanks so much again for reading my blog and I appreciate your comment :).
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