Let's make no mistake: Cesarean sections are a major surgery. In fact, a gallbladder or appendix removal is a cake walk, comparatively. It's not like you can remove a baby from the belly laparoscopically. And like any major surgery where organs are moved around, there comes some serious risks, to you and your baby. When lives are already in danger, however, the surgery isn't questioned.
For one woman, Kelly Sutton of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, having a c-section with her first child put her life in danger and crushed any hopes of her having more children.
Sutton and her husband had always hoped for a large family, and when she was 10 days overdue with her first child, a son she named Daniel, she had no idea it would also be her last baby she carried in her own body. For whatever reason, the induction methods they tried didn't work so her doctors decided she needed a c-section.
After the surgery, Sutton said she felt crushing pain across her chest and abdomen, and knew that despite the major surgery, something wasn't right. She had also been given blood thinners, and despite many warning signs the hospital staff should have seen, it was hours before they realized something was really, really wrong.
Apparently the surgeon had not completely closed her uterus after the c-section, and she was bleeding out, internally. She had already lost two liters of blood by the time she was rushed back to the operating room and had to receive a transfusion of 33 pints of blood.
Sadly, that wasn't it. Later that evening, her condition deteriorated again and they finally told her horrid news: she needed a hysterectomy or she would die. Could you imagine? People take c-section risks so lightly.
They won a lawsuit and were awarded six figures, which they intend to use to have babies through a surrogate since Sutton's eggs were fortunately spared. Still, the devastating mental effects for her haven't been easy, especially with the knowledge that was the reason they won the lawsuit: this was a medical mistake that didn't even need to happen. If the doctor had gotten the c-section right, if the nurses had been more attentive to her in the hours post-surgery, or a doctor had been more thorough with his exams, extreme pain and blood loss could easily have been caught sooner, preventing such a traumatic end result.
While this case is rare, the more things you allow to be done to your body and the more risky they are, the more likely something will go wrong. I hope this mom can come to peace with the trauma she endured.
How does this make you feel? Did you have any complications from a c-section?
Image via isafmedia/Flickr
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Comments 44
That is terrible! I have 2 children but never had a c-section. I thought I would since my mom had one with all 3 of us. I remember watching her go through the pain of recovery and it is a lot to go through! Moms who have to get them are tough!
No complications, other than it took a really long time to recover. But he was my firstborn, and huge, and I was laying on my back on Pitocin, trying to induce labor, so when there was no progress, the doc said C-sec. I've since had 3 others, all VBAC, all without complication. Yes, I think there are too many C-secs today. BUT, I am satisfied with anything that results in a healthy, happy baby. I have a friend who had a C-sec, because her baby girl was frank breech, headded out backside first. . .and refused to be turned! But all went well, and little girl and mom are perfectly healthy! :D Praise The Lord!!
I had some secondary infertility and psychological trauma, but no complications. Both are normal side effects, unfortunately. Of course, that's not including the difficulties of recovery and the sadness of missing all of my baby's 'firsts' in the first few days. Small in comparison to losing the whole uterus. I'm also now labeled -AC for every birth to follow, which may not seem like much to someone who doesn't question cesareans, but for someone who actually understands why RCACs are worse than TOLACs, it's a fight for every birth--finding the right caregiver, hoping that nothing happens to transfer care to someone not supportive of VBAC, etc. Not to mention that every pregnancy is now accompanied by the risk of placenta acretta--a potentially life-threatening condition for baby and fertility-threatening condition for mom. And my cesarean should never have happened...
According to the second opinion I couldn't get at 3 in the morning, I should have been allowed to rest and try again, not pressured into deciding to keep ignoring my body's demand to rest or have major surgery. And that's not a midwife's opinion, either--if I had been at the hospital I birthed my second in, that's what would have happened. Thankfully, my VBAC pushing phase was a breeze, I wasn't pressured and baby came in only 20 minutes (unbelievably fast in comparison to an hour and a half of ineffective pushing the first time: because my first baby wasn't ready to be pushed!).
I recently met a very reasonable and well-informed woman who had a c-section for complete placenta previa. That kind of story makes me so glad for our medical advancements! But just as I wouldn't get an appendectomy just in case I might get appendicitis, I don't understand the blase attitude to c-sections. I think it is pathetic and abhorrent that so many women blithely expose their babies to so much risk (including having no mother) for reasons that would seem trite to a teenager.
How awful!!! :( I'm so glad they started paying attention and doing their jobs enough to realize something was wrong in time.
I've never had a c-section myself but this doesn't change how I feel about them. They are rarely ever truly necessary. The fact that our c-section rate is so high in this country is absolutely unacceptable. Maternity care in this country is appalling. It does seem that things that the scales are starting to tip back the other way though and that's good. More and more women are starting to realize maybe our bodies DO actually know what to do the majority of the time. And that pitocin is not needed nearly as often as they give it. Read the drug sheet for pitocin. It's not even indicated for elective induction by the FDA.
This is a fantastic article by Ina May Gaskin about how doctors need midwives. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-05/doctors-need-midwives-ina-may-gaskin-on-us-maternity-care-crisis/?fb_ref=article&fb_source=home_multiline
Yes, terrible things CAN happen during a C-section. Terrible things can happen during a natural birth, as well. This woman's story, as horrible as it is, is not a testament against C-sections, it's a testament FOR medical personnel to be more attentive to their jobs. The author said, herself, that it could have been prevented several times along the way - starting with the surgeon re-checking his work before closing. Perhaps the biggest problem is the "routine" attitude taken by so many doctors and nurses toward their very un-routine jobs.
Some C-sections are medically necessary - babies get "hung up" (mine did), end up in trauma, and must be taken surgically. Stories like these, while intended to inform, do nothing but inflame the anti-C-section faction that would have every woman out there scared to death of even uttering the phrase, instead of looking into the procedure and learning all she can about it, to prepare for "just in case".
My first was csection for no reason other then I wasn't in labor yet and the dr. didn't want to wait around. I had a reaction to almost every drug I was given. It took me 4 months to recover. I also ended up with ppd and had a very hard time breastfeeding. My second I did my research and had to fight hard for a vbac. But I ended up with Placenta Increta. My placenta was embedded in my scar and I almost lost my uterus. I am pregnant now with my 3rd. My Dr. is all for a vbac, and I have an awesome doula who has experience with vbacs. I try to educate women as much as possible about the risks of unnecessary inductions and csections. It is nothing to play around with.