De-brief at Hospital today - what should I ask?

[joey123]

I was so hoping for a VBAC, but it didn't turn out that way. Below is a brief outline of how my labour went. I am going to the hospital today, hoping to get some closure, so I can stop obsessing about my second CS, and start thinking realistically about trying for a VBA2C when I become pregnant next time, but I'm not sure exactly what I should be asking. Any suggestions??

PS - I know it's last minute, but my hospital appt is at 2pm today, any suggestions would be appreciated before 1pm

Thanks



Tuesday 2/6/09
? Hospital appointment at 1.15pm to discuss induction in 8-10 days. Have an appointment in 7 days to book in for the induction.
? Woke at about 9pm feeling very sick
? Felt first contraction at 10pm.

Wednesday 3/6/09
? Woke every 35 mins from 3am to 6am with contractions.
? Got up at 6am. Too excited to sleep any more.
? DH and DD left for work and school. Had breakfast and went for a walk.
? Sent mum a text and asked her to come up from the Gold Coast.
? Some contractions are strong and some are soft, so just keeping track of the really strong ones and they are lasting about 25-30 seconds and are about an hour apart.
? Contractions have pretty much stopped from 9am.
? Contractions started again at about 4pm

Thursday 4/6/09
? Woke every 30 mins with contractions last night, gradually getting stronger and longer each time, lasting upto 90 seconds
? Waters broke at 5.10am
? Phoned the hospital and they told me to come in for a check
? Wasn?t very dilated (they didn?t give me a measurement)
? Gave me the option of going home or staying at the hospital
? Chose to go home and was told to come back when contractions were 3 mins apart
? At 11am contractions were 4 mins apart and lasting anywhere up to 2 mins each
? The pain was unbearable and I felt I had to go back to the hospital
? At 3:45pm - 4cm dilated
? At 7:50pm - 3-4cm dilated
? As there had been no change in four hours syntocin drip was started at 10:30pm & epidural was given. I figured if I was going to have the syntocin, I may as well do it as painlessly as possible.

Friday 5/6/09
? 12:40am - 6cm dilated
? 2:50am - 8cm dilated
? 4:00am syntocin was turned off as they were worried about Lily?s heartbeat. They *****ed her head three times to try and get an oxygen reading but the machine to test the blood wasn?t working (this is why they had to do it three times!)
? 5:00am - 9cm dilated. Syntocin was re-started and I was given an hour to progress.
? 6:50am ? 9cm dilated still Lily?s head was in a transverse position and the moulding of her head suggested an obstructed labour. We then decided we had tried everything possible and opted for a caesarean
? 7:39am ? Our beautiful baby Lily made her entrance into the world with a beautiful cry (exactly one week over due). 56cm, 3.902kg.
? 7:40am ? Placenta delivered
? 8:30am ? Had very sore collar bones (due to the pressure on my diaphragm, I was told), had gone a dreadful shade of red and a terrible case of the shakes. Hearing the anaesthetist discussing it with DH and saying ?This is not normal? was not very comforting!
? 8:50am-ish ? Shakes finally stopped. Phew.

[lollybaby]

Hey Joey

You must be really nervous about today? Wishing you heaps of luck and lots of strength - it must have been tough calling them up to make the appointment to de-brief. Will & I will be thinking of you

Do you know who you're meeting? Is is an OB, or a midwife or a counsellor from the hossy? And were they involved in your care during labour and the c-section at all? It might be good to have a support person there with you?

If it were me, I would probably ask them to go through your notes, thoroughly and step by step, explaining anything they've documented. It may shed some light for you? Based on what you've written about your labour, it might be worth asking them more about how Lily's head was positioned and how they came to that conclusion. I would also be asking for more info about the reaction to the anaesthetic you mention at the end.

I know after my c-section, I had so many questions running through my head. I sat down at one of my postnatal appointments and my midwife just listened to me prattle off everything I had running around in my head and it did make a difference for me. So fire all those questions away and don't let them get away with avoiding answering them.

Good luck gorgeous, I hope it brings you some closure. I'm always happy to chat away any other time if you want to PM me or on FB.

xx

[MrsB26]

Just wanted to say good luck and i hope you get some closure

[joey123]

Thanks for your replies.

They were really good about it, but still tried to convince me that I would be a nutter to try VBAC next time. TOO BAD!

There was a few little things that I had forgotten about, so it was good to hear those things and they convinced me that I tried as hard as I could and she just wasn't going to come out. However, I think that if I had been allowed to be upright and in the shower, etc, we wouldn't have taken so long and been obstructed grrrrr I didn't bother discussing that with them cause them admitting that, would make them at fault, so I knew they wouldn't.

Anyway, she recons that I went a lot further than they would have liked and everyone did as much as they could to give me the best chance of delivering naturally and she was a big baby (???) for my small frame (???) . Lily was 3.9kg and I am 63cm and 58kg (when not pregnant).

So she had gotten down so far as that she was beginning to twist, but then couldn't straighten up for the last bit to come out.

I had blood in my urine which says obstructed labour and I wasn't progressing well in the times when they turned the syntosin off

My uterus was HYPERstimulated, meaning i would just finish one contraction and then start another, meaning i had no rest and because of my CS they were scared that it would rupture. This is why they turned the syntosin off, but then my contractions were not strong/regular enough by themselves, so they turned it on again, and so on and so on.

So she recons I was lucky that i went that long and i didn't rupture (just shows how much bollocks the story about rupturing really is!) And she (the head of gyno and maternity) was not happy with the dr that I was let to go that long. Helllllooooo, it's my choice, I don't know why she got in trouble!


So next time, I'll have a midwife trained doula and labour at home and stay up right and I will PUSH THAT BABY OUT!

Bring on AF.

And oh, they recon the shakes at the end was normal.