TMI?
Friday, January 26, 2007
Hunted out my medical notes from Rebecca's birth – after I'd made Jack spend the evening hauling every box of petrifying crap from the furthest reaches of the garage, they eventually turned up in the filing cabinet in the 'Rebecca' folder. (Ooops. All I can say that if ever proof were needed that motherhood erodes your identity, there you have it. At least that's how I tried to justify it to a cobweb-encrusted and slightly seething Jack.)
After all that, however, my notes had nothing to reveal on the actual surgery. All I can find is a couple of fairly cursory discharge summaries (one for each of us) detailling times, drugs given, reasons for the c-section ('poor maternal progress', humph! That's right, blame the mother: like it was me who retreated into the wrong end of my pelvis, refused to come out, and then got stuck.) And some stuff about Becca's APGAR scores, which should hopefully get her into a good school, but nothing at all about on the rather important subject of what sort of c-section was performed.
From what I can glean from an evening's frantic Googling, there are about four different types of incision used during c-section but here's the executive summary: if it was a low transverse, i.e. horizontal incision, I'll be allowed to try for a Natural Fun Birth™. However if it was a 'classical' or vertical incision, used more rarely these days (but, notably, more likely to be used during emergency c-sections!) I'll be booked in for an elective c-section as this type of scar is structurally weaker and so there is a risk of, erm, uterine rupture if a vaginal birth is attempted, leading, in worst case scenarios, to all sorts of Bad Stuff that I won't enlarge upon here for fear of alarming my mother.
So here's hoping that the medical notes I'm requesting from the Rosie will be more enlightening: I don't mind having a c-section if medical reasons necessitate it – and the chances of a second c-section after a first are reasonably high anyway – but if we can't find out what sort of incision I had, I'll likely be booked in for a second c-section for safety's sake, and it would be a tad annoying to have to have surgery due to poor record-keeping, don't you think? Still, not to worry: I'm sure the legendarily efficient NHS will come up with the goods in the next 18 weeks! In the meantime, must--stop--reading--surgical--websites...
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