Anonymous wrote:before scheduling a cesarean (and especially scheduling one before your due date), i would recommend reading this article. it talks about why every week of pregnancy counts for a baby's health and development. especially if you are unsure of your due date, a scheduled cesarean could result in an unintentionally premature baby. if your baby would have naturally come out at 42 weeks and you schedule for 39, that's three weeks that your baby is missing out on in the womb.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122999215427128537.html

makes total sense what you are saying about not wanting to wait to go into labor and then end up with whoever is on call. it is a tough call, to balance that with making sure the baby is ready to come out. my own inclination would be to just go for the vaginal birth and eliminate all the risks of a cesarean and of potentially giving birth before the baby is ready to come out....but i can understand you wanting to avoid the suffering you have gone through with your tailbone. you are in a tough spot. good luck!

I found that article very interesting, thanks, but you are manipulating what it says. It talks about the risk of babies being born before 39 weeks...you make it sound like the article says that there should never be any interventions. That isn't what the article says at all. it says that if you schedule a c-section, schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks b/c due date CAN be off be a couple of weeks (either way) AND there are added risks of a baby being born at 36 weeks or earlier.

I have had 2 C/S one emergency and one planned. I have had a bruised tailbone unrelated to pregnancy/childbirth. The emergent C/S was harder to heal from than the planned ( I had pushed/exhausted/etc) and the planned was a piece of cake. I would choose to do both C/S again than have a bruised tailbone anyday. You have a C/S with an epidural or spinal. With my planned C/S at 40 weeks I was flying with my 15 month old and newborn and husband. It was NOT bad at all. I would go with the C/S - for me a no brainer.

before scheduling a cesarean (and especially scheduling one before your due date), i would recommend reading this article. it talks about why every week of pregnancy counts for a baby's health and development. especially if you are unsure of your due date, a scheduled cesarean could result in an unintentionally premature baby. if your baby would have naturally come out at 42 weeks and you schedule for 39, that's three weeks that your baby is missing out on in the womb.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122999215427128537.html

makes total sense what you are saying about not wanting to wait to go into labor and then end up with whoever is on call. it is a tough call, to balance that with making sure the baby is ready to come out. my own inclination would be to just go for the vaginal birth and eliminate all the risks of a cesarean and of potentially giving birth before the baby is ready to come out....but i can understand you wanting to avoid the suffering you have gone through with your tailbone. you are in a tough spot. good luck!

I appreciate your input PP.

If I decide to forego the CS, I will try to talk to a midwife about some positioning tips that might help... certainly there is no harm there, but I just don't have a whole lotta faith that that will do the trick.

I'd like to wait until I go into labor, but I need to get some more information about how that affects everything... Is it then an "emergency" C-section (or a more complicated C scetion) because the baby is descending... and what does that do to everything? Also, if I go into labor in the middle of the night (per usual), do I think get stuck with whatever doctor is in residence (and sleep deprived) at the moment?

I'm not keen on scheduling these things at the doctor's convenience, but some of it seems to make sense. If my options are schedule at 39 weeks and get the doctor I want, bright eyed and bushy tailed,... or else wait and see when I go into labor,... I don't really know which one of those is a better option for me and the baby...

So even though the risks are relatively small, I wonder if its selfish of me to take even that small risk instead of suffering through the tailbone recovery.

but boy... it would be nice to feel better a couple of days after delivery. As you all know, new moms get up and down about 200 times a day... and getting up and down with a broken tailbone is so bloody painful.

Please keep any thoughts/opinions coming...

What about the suggestions to have a consultation with someone like Whitney Pinger? What if, with some delivery modifications, you could greatly reduce the likelihood of damaging your tailbone at all? I agree with you that it is unlikely you are suddenly going to make a 6lb baby, unless you induce the baby at 37 weeks or so (NOT that I'm recommending that - probably would not be healthy for baby).

Also, if you do opt for the c/s, consider waiting until you start labor so that your baby has some of the benefits of labor, and so you know the baby is really ready to be born. Usually OBs will not recommend this, simply because it makes scheduling awkward for them. However, it would be beneficial to you and your baby.

Thanks to everyone for chiming in. All of the perspectives are helpful.

I'm with a large practice, so I see a number of different doctors, so with each visit, I keep "polling" them about their opinions on the matter. One of the docs I respect the most said, "Its too early to worry about it... lets wait and see how things go. Your first babies were both big (8.5 and 8.11), so its definitely something to consider if you get to 36 weeks and your baby is measuring big again... but... if he/she is measuring smaller (6 lbs or so), ... we should just wait and see." That certainly makes sense to me, although honestly I cannot fathom having a 6 lb baby unless there were something "unhealthy" about my pregnancy. (I know there are lots of perfectly healthy 6 lb babies out there... it just seems that based on past experience, my body tends to create big babies -- even though neither I nor my husband are very big).

I think one of the things I need to get more info on is the relative risks for planned C-sections of healthy moms/babies v. risks for all C-sections. As much as the broken tail bone SUCKS... as one poster pointed out, no baby has ever been hurt from one, and no mother has ever died from one,.. and I have 2 (existing) kids I need to think about. So even though the risks are relatively small, I wonder if its selfish of me to take even that small risk instead of suffering through the tailbone recovery.

but boy... it would be nice to feel better a couple of days after delivery. As you all know, new moms get up and down about 200 times a day... and getting up and down with a broken tailbone is so bloody painful.

Please keep any thoughts/opinions coming...

Anymore updates, OP?

I've never had a C-section, but have had a dislocated tailbone and it was HORRIBLE. In fact, it is years later it is still not fully recovered and the damage may be permanent. I would go with the C-section.

I had a c-section and it definitely did not result in any broken bones and it was not scary. I have a small scar, I was walking around the next day and felt great by the time I walked out of the hospital. I was back running and exercising at 7 weeks postpartum and if I had another baby- I would definitely choose to have a c-section again.

I always have to laugh when people say, 'omg- you had a c-section- isn't it horrible???' My response it always the same- it is pain free, takes twenty minutes and I did not rip or tear anything in the process. Now, I might have to add- I did not break my tailbone.

I broke my tailbone with my son's birth, and that was an emergency C-Section after induced labour (6 hours of labour, on my butt - the pressure messed up my tailbone).
I am now 35 weeks pregnant with my second, and scheduled for a C-section. I have a lot of anxiety about it, because the emergency C-section with my first was quite traumatic. I keep waffling between which is worse, broken tailbone or C-section, but I think when it comes right down to it, I just don't want to risk another EMERGENCY C-section. Planned seems to be safer and easier to recover from, and there will be no chronic tailbone pain for months afterward. Do the C-section. It's disappointing because all of the literature leads us to feel like failures, or like we are not really giving birth - that's BS, and anyone who had ever undergone a C-section knows what I mean. Good luck.

I would go for the c-section. I've never had a broken tailbone, but I had a godawful vaginal delivery for #1 and was recovering physically and psychologically for months. Huge tear, couldn't sit or walk, on pain meds for 8+ weeks. I'm sure a c-section recovery would have been MUCH easier. I'd get one in a heartbeat if I were you.

A scheduled c-section is really a relatively easy recovery. Yes, it is major surgery, but it is a surgery that the OBs and anesthesiologists do every day and complications are rare.

I've had two c-sections; one after hours of labor, one scheduled. Recovery from both took about 2 weeks, but I was on my feet and feeling pretty good just a day after the scheduled one. You'll have to take it easy and not pick up your older children for a while, but it really sounds better than the alternative.

I've never had a broken tailbone, but I've had a bruised one. That pain for a few months was much worse than c-section pain. I cannot imagine dealing with a newborn and trying to figure out how to comfortably sit or lie down at the same time.

Good luck to you, whatever choice you make.

i think talking to a midwife would be a great idea. you have nothing to lose, and she might have some ideas that an OB wouldn't have. OBs are trained as surgeons, so their answer to a lot of things is surgery, whereas a midwife might have ideas that don't involve surgery. i have heard great things about whitney pinger.

Anonymous wrote:Let's see, I think you should break your tailbone.

Yep, that's the answer. Definitely. Just don't try to sit down for a few years.

Modern medicine is very bad and dangerous. Go for the broken bone and lots and lots of addictive meds.

Come on, I don't think anyone is saying that. Yes, thousands of women have c/s every single day - especially in DC Metro - and the vast, vast, majority sail right through it. So OP, obviously you are going to find many women who laugh at any resistance at all to a c/s. But I think you are smart to really consider all angles here. The truth is that the tailbone problem is the "devil you know" so it is not crazy to consider doing it again, and of course perhaps with some modifications it might not even happen again. There are hundreds of rare but extremely serious outcomes from cesarean, just like there are hundreds of rare but extremely serious outcomes from vaginal birth (dislocated tailbone being one of them). If you want a second medical opinion from a very different perspective, you would be wise to contact Whitney Pinger over at Washington Hospital Center. Most OB's are used to offering c/s, so chances are you won't find much difference of opinion from another OB. Good luck. I know this would be a stressful decision for me!

fell backwards and bruised my tailbone once. that took me months and months to recover. had to bring a pillow to sit everywhere i went. was horrible. I'd do the c-section.