What exactly is a C-section?

A C-section, also known as a cesarean delivery or cesarean section, is a procedure during which a surgeon makes incisions in your uterus and abdomen through which you deliver your baby. 

C-sections offer you a way to deliver your baby safely when it becomes clear that natural birth puts your health and safety or the health and safety of your baby at risk.

What scenarios necessitate a C-section?

Many women plan C-sections ahead of time. Some of their most common concerns include:

Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD)

CPD is a situation when your pelvis is too small to deliver a baby, or your baby’s head is too big to fit through your pelvis.

Multiple pregnancies

You can often deliver twins vaginally, but you may need a C-section if the leading baby is in an abnormal position or you’re carrying more than two babies.

Previous C-section

If you’ve had a C-section before, your safest option is to deliver subsequent babies the same way. Frequently, depending on the type of uterine incision you had, if you’ve had a C-section before, a vaginal birth may not be an option at all. 

If vaginal birth is possible, and you attempt to go through with it, you put yourself at risk for uterine rupture.

Placenta previa

Placenta previa is a scenario when your placenta has attached itself too low on your uterine wall. In this case, your placenta blocks your baby’s path out through the cervix.

Health concerns

You may choose a C-section if you have health issues that make vaginal delivery dangerous for you or your baby, like a heart condition, brain condition, or active genital herpes infection.

Positioning

If your baby is lying horizontally or positioned to deliver feet first (breech), you’ll likely have to get a C-section.

If you don’t plan on having a C-section, but the need for one becomes apparent while you’re in labor, the practice can perform an emergency C-section. 

You may undergo an emergency C-section if your baby is in distress, your labor has stalled, or a loop of the umbilical comes out of your cervix ahead of your baby.

How do C-sections work?

Before your C-section begins, the practice anesthetizes you from the waist down with either a spinal block or an epidural. Next, your team connects you to an IV with fluids, hooks you up to a heart rate and pulse monitor, and inserts a catheter into your bladder.

Once they’ve prepared you for surgery, your FemmPro OB/GYN team places a screen in front of your waist, keeping the area sterile and sparing you from having to watch them make the incisions.

Next comes the actual procedure, during which your FemmPro OB/GYN surgeon first cuts across your stomach into your abdomen wall, then makes a three- to four-inch incision in your uterine wall. 

Through these incisions, they reach into your uterus and pull out your baby. Once your baby has been born, your team cuts the umbilical cord, removes your placenta, and stitches up your incisions.

To learn more about C-sections, set up an appointment with FemmPro OB/GYN over the phone or online via ZocDoc today.