Interesting rupture article

I was intrigued by the idea that an uterine rupture could happen during pregnancy not just labour so figured I would google and found this article which has various risk factors for ruptures...man the risk is so small really, even with me belonging to higher risk groups, ie age, no previous TOL (assuming this means have to actually give birth vaginally) and possibly having close pregnancies. I was kinda surprised! Even adding in the induction risk it seems like it is not that bad! And really interesting how one vaginal birth means the risk decreases.

Still don't think I would be brave enough to try for vbac-but that is coz of circumstances of DS birth not really coz of rupture risks. Though it does make me think that if they could guarantee that the same thing would not happen then maybe would try for vbac.

Article

TOL = Trial of Labour. So yep as hila1 said - it refers to just going into labour, not the end result.

Good articles guys. Thanks.

Man the risk of it occuring might be pretty low but look at the consequences!! Infant mortality within 10-37mins, and maternal mortality highly likely as well! I knew it was bad, I just didn't realise it was THAT bad. Scary stuff.

but what I have discovered through reading stuff about VBAC's is that C-sections themselves are risky. The doctors never seem to mention that. In the paper the other day it said that babies born by C section are more likely to have breathing problems and are twice as likely to die than a vaginally born baby!

I also read something else which basically said that in the very unlikely event of a rupture it doesn't necessarily mean death for mother or baby, so the risk of the worst possible consequences gets less and less.

Kazzam

In the article I referenced above, towards the bottom of the article are some interesting statistics.

Here are a few:
Your risk of dying from a rupture of the uterus is: 0.0095% = 9.5 in 100 000 VBAC deliveries
Your risk of dying during any ceasarean section is: 0.0409% = 40.0 in 100 000 ceasarean sections
Your risk of dying during an elective repeat ceasarean section: 0.0184% = 18.4 in 100 000 elective csecs
The risk of your baby dying from a rupture of the uterus is: 0.095% = 9.5 in 10 000 VBAC deliveries
The risk of your baby dying during any VBAC delivery is : 0.2% = 2 in 1000 VBAC births
The risk of your baby dying during any type of delivery is: 0.12% = 1.2 in 1000 births

So c-sections def far more risky.

toniellis wrote: There really does need to be a NZ study done because despite overseas studies proving that vbac & vba2cs are quite low risk, there is still a very high reluctance to allow it here in NZ... What guts me the most is for me personally, my 2 c-sections were really unnecessary Surgeons are far too quick to reach for the knife & any woman would agree to it if they are told it is necessary to save their baby & themselves.

I think this depends on the area you live in. In Christchurch VBAC's are very much promoted as the best option...however in saying that they do try to put unnecessary restrictions on the labouring mother (continuous fetal monitering, want you to dilate at 1cm per hour etc) and you really do need a strong midwife to stand up for you.

But I def agree that surgeons push for the 'unnecesarean'. My midwife said that it was often because they drs want the babies out before their shift finishes so that they can go home.