 Common VBAC risks and possible omplications
Added: 02/17/2006 |
|
Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) has been known as a surgical procedure possible to change normal vaginal birth-giving. It goes without saying that before making a decision to have VBAC every more or less educated woman should take into consideration not only the basic information about the VBAC procedure and its benefits, but also pay attention to VBAC risks and complications.
It is a common knowledge that caesarian section is considered to be the major surgery which has attendant VBAC risks. So, the surgical operation of delivering a baby through the special incision in the uterus is not safe. It is worth admitting that maternal death rate associated with VBAC is known to be four times greater than after other vaginal birth types.
Thus, one of the most significant VBAC risks is the increased level of both mother and baby mortality. There are also the following VBAC risks possible to occur: operative injury, infection, anesthetic accidents, negative effect on psychological morbidity and subsequent fertility. Speaking about the most common VBAC risks for babies are the risk of having respiratory distress syndrome. By the way, the rate of the mentioned distress in babies after the caesarean operation is approximately four or even six times higher than for natural vaginal births. Such situation can be due to the prematurity (for the reason of days miscalculation) or caesarean birth itself.
As for VBAC risks for mothers I cannot but say that their psychological condition and overall well-being is often seriously influenced by the VBAC particularly causing higher incidence of post-natal depression and, at the same time, lower breastfeeding rates. Every more or less educated person that among the most widely-spread VBAC risks are also disappointment, anger, feeling of failure, etc. High incidence of wound infections and post-operative pain are the factors meaning a longer recovery period with affected physical mobility for a couple of months afterwards.
It is impossible to speak about VBAC risks and complications and not to mention dystocia and fetal distress. It is worth admitting that dystocia is referred to as long and complicated labor process caused by the slow cervical dilation, big baby or small pelvis. About 80% of women are given the mentioned reason for previous caesarian sections. The next time they are likely to deliver vaginally. By the way, there has been no certain evidence that big babies necessarily require VBAC. It is a common knowledge that baby's head and pelvis are not rigid structures and can change their shape to allow the birth to occur. On the other hand there may be various positions to be chosen by the woman for helping her pelvis to open and therefore, allow the large baby to move through it. For instance, correct squatting may open the pelvis outlet by approximately 8-14%.
As it has already been mentioned one of the most common VBAC risks is fetal distress occurring in some new-born babies. If so, caesarean deliveries are supposed to be life-saving. By the way in 2004 approximately 10% of caesarean deliveries were due to fetal distress. Be aware that monitoring of fetal heart rate is usually considered to be a routine part of the entire VBAC operation. But it helps to detect fatal distress. Another type of monitoring is known as fetal oxygen monitoring which is considered a more accurate indicator of fetal distress.
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet.
Post your comment now!
Return to top of the page
