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Mormon woman dies after 6th child (complications)


OkToBeTakei

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How does that work though.. if a woman is pregnant and requires a c-section to deliver, they can't just say "no"... there's a baby in there who needs to come out!

I think she's going to a different doctor this time. I haven't asked but she posted a picture on facebook of something from the doctor's office and it looked like a different medical group. I generally try to avoid my brother/sister in law whenever possible.

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Each successive C-section takes longer for the doctors to do because they have to work with/around scar tissue and adhesions and stuff like that. Several friends had C-sections with their first babies and were told by various OBGYNs that the max recommended total number of C-sections is usually somewhere around 2-4 depending on the woman in question.

A friend had placenta previa AND accreta in her second pregnancy. Because of the previa she had a scheduled C-section before 37 weeks and the doctor knew accreta was a strong possibility based on some special ultrasounds she had. They were prepared for the surgery and avoided a hysterectomy, but she was told in no uncertain terms that she should not get pregnant again.

Another friend had an emergency C-section with her first and due to a short interval between pregnancies (less than a year) she was not a VBAC candidate. She was told after her 2nd section (scheduled) that they could have a third baby but absolutely, positively needed to wait at least 2 years before conceiving again and needed to understand that any C-sections beyond a third were not advisable.

Heck, even women who have vaginal deliveries can be advised not to get pregnant again or to wait for a period of time before conceiving - certain complications are bad enough that it's better to not risk them recurring. I'd rather have a family that was smaller than we had originally hoped for and be alive and well to mother my children, than to die because my doctors said to stop and I didn't listen.

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Just to add that this is one of the main reasons why elective and non truly needed c=sections are a bad idea-- each c-section limits your future childbearing options - and increases your risk.

When I'm being really paranoid I would also add that there might be some connection between limiting number of births and why young, low-income and minority women have higher c-section rates --- but I'm sure that is due to my own negative experiences with the medical establishment and their treatment of marginalized women.

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A 23-year-old acquaintance died a few weeks ago when she bled out during a home birth. It was her first pregnancy.

I think people forget that even now childbirth can be really dangerous.

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A 23-year-old acquaintance died a few weeks ago when she bled out during a home birth. It was her first pregnancy.

I think people forget that even now childbirth can be really dangerous.

Oh gosh that is awful. Just why. Not you Rachel ..but really why does that happen in 2013.

SO young :cry:

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Yeah, I feel horrible for the equally young husband now raising a baby by himself while finishing graduate school. She was young and healthy and everything looked good. It was so unexpected.

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Yeah, I feel horrible for the equally young husband now raising a baby by himself while finishing graduate school. She was young and healthy and everything looked good. It was so unexpected.

It can happen sooooo quickly too ! I had a co-worker that happened to ( in the hosptial ) , and knew another woman who almost bled to death a week after giving birth - she ended up having an emergency hysterectomy to stop the bleeding- it was a very close call.

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When I had the one precious blessing that I was able to conceive, I was one stitch away from being taken in to surgery. I had a vaginal delivery, the doctor had given me an epesiotomy(without my fully informed consent, but apparently as standard procedure), and my baby was facing the front of my body rather than the back. There was difficulty with him getting out on his own, so the doctor used forceps and the first thing I saw was my baby's little face with wide eyes blinking. Although I am a healthy person, I do bruise easily and apparently have "delicate" tissues. Every time my doctor tried to take a stitch, it would rip right through. Thankfully, he was able to finally get some stitches that would stay, but as soon as my legs were taken out of the stirrups, my blood pressure bottomed out and I threw up. I was in a great deal of pain, developed an infection, and had to stay in the hospital a few extra days. And I don't really consider my delivery experience that bad, but just a reminder that this is serious business. It could so easily have gone the other way. And I get stabby when people forget that Maternity Leave is to allow women's bodies to recover from the physical stress of delivering a baby! I am all for paternity leave and full participation by the father, but the need isxnot the same, AT ALL!

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I guess it makes sense that each c-section takes longer.

To give a bit of a comparison - with my first, I didn't realize that the surgery had started until I heard the baby cry. It just felt like someone drawing on my stomach. With my 3rd, I was struggling to breathe (spinal had paralyzed my diaphragm and they forgot to give me oxygen), I felt major pressure and pulling, and it was just uncomfortable.

Once again, these stories are part of the reason that I'm such a strong advocate of the idea that women need to have control over their bodies and fertility. Birth can be wonderful, but even in North America today, it involves risks.

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Wow, reading all these makes me feel very lucky. My second c-section went even better than my first. I was out of the hospital within 48 hrs because I bounced back so quickly. The nurses told me to move around more in bed the first day and night, adjusting my position, moving my hips, and that seemed to make a huge difference. Still thinking about a third child, so interesting to hear about risks of multiple c-section.

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Wow, reading all these makes me feel very lucky. My second c-section went even better than my first. I was out of the hospital within 48 hrs because I bounced back so quickly. The nurses told me to move around more in bed the first day and night, adjusting my position, moving my hips, and that seemed to make a huge difference. Still thinking about a third child, so interesting to hear about risks of multiple c-section.

FWIW, my second c-section was also my easiest c-section recovery - still MUCH harder and more painful than the v-bac, but less painful and drawn out than the 1st ( I had the flu- so that didn't help ) and the 3rd.

I think it was the third that really pushed the limit of what my own, personal, body could tolerate - but the births were only a year apart ( oops !) - so not nearly enough time for the incision to heal.

I hear giving your body enough time to really, truly, recuperate takes at least a year after a c-section. I would have gone for another v-bac after the second emergency c-section - but baby was breech.

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This page has some great charts that give the risks for various complications after each cesarean vbacfacts.com/2009/08/03/risk-of-serious-complications-increase-with-each-cesarean-surgery/

The increasing risks are a huge reason to a)decrease the primary cesarean rate. Cesarean should be reserved for emergencies or serious situations where it is likely to save the life of the mother or baby. It should not be used because it's taking too long (especially when "too long" is 12 hours or less, with mother and baby both doing well as I've been hearing a lot lately), or "big baby" (against ACOG guidelines) or numerous other factors which increase the cesarean rate without improving maternal or fetal well being. and b) Women who want to have big families and have already had a cesarean, should not only be allowed, but encouraged to VBAC unless they have some issue which makes VBAC a bad choice.

I'll never forget this one woman I knew who had percreta from repeated cesareans. This is an even more dangerous complication than accreta, because the placenta doesn't just grow through the scar, it grows through other organs. They knew about it before her 5th cesarean. They got the baby out and gave her a few minutes to cuddle her baby and say good-bye to her husband, because there was a good chance she wasn't going to make it. Then they put her under. Luckily, she did survive, but I can't even imagine how horrible that was for her and her family.

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How does that work though.. if a woman is pregnant and requires a c-section to deliver, they can't just say "no"... there's a baby in there who needs to come out!

After my 3th c-secion, which didn't go well at all because of a lot of scar-tissue, my gynaecologist told my husband to get a vasectomy. My husband did, of course. He said that if I would ever get pregnant again, I would risk my live and the best possible outcome would be losing my uterus.

They will preform a 4th c-section, but there will be a lot of pressure to prefent it happening again.

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My mom loves to tell this story. It's gross so consider yourself warned.

Both of her kids were born via C-section. I was first and it was an emergency delivery at 29 weeks. My sister was born 3 years later and my mom had some complications. When my sister was a few days old, my mom noticed that her incision was oozing blood. She put a bandage on it and didn't think much of it until that night, when she noticed that the incision was GAPING OPEN. She called the nurse hotline, and they kept telling her that it was normal and there was no way her incision had opened. Finally, the nurse said in a snide tone, "Well, I can tell that you'll feel better if you come in." So she went to the emergency room, where a doctor decided that the incision had indeed opened and needed to be resutured. The only problem was that a half-inch or so hadn't quite come all the way apart yet so he couldn't sew it cleanly. "Get up on the table and DON'T LOOK," he instructed her. Then he took a sterile scissor and CUT the bit that had begun to heal so he could stitch the whole thing shut. She says the guy had to pretty much peel her off the ceiling after that.

And that's your daily dose of horror.

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I've done a fair number of ultrasound exams to assess the c section site to look at the thickness of the uterine wall and to look for placenta accreta. Sometimes the thinness of the uterine wall takes my breath away (and these are not necessarily cases of multiple c sections)- we are talking only a few millimetres thick. Placenta accreta can also be a tricky diagnosis. Things aren't always textbook clear. I've seen deliveries go very badly wrong very fast not because someone made a mistake but because that is what can happen. I think that in a first world situation it is easy to forget that pregnancy is/was a huge cause of mortality and morbidity.

This being said, I think that if a patient is competent it is not a doctor's place to tell them what to do. You can give advice and give the patient the education/tools they need to make a choice but you can't tell them what to do - even if their choice is spectacularly bad.

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This reminds me of that PBS documentary about Mormonism where a husband lost his wife to childbirth complications because he convinced her to go against the advice of her doctor and have another pregnancy. .

Was just going to post about this very thing!! I seem to remember their oldest (who was interviewed) was on his mission & he couldn't leave for the funeral.

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Was just going to post about this very thing!! I seem to remember their oldest (who was interviewed) was on his mission & he couldn't leave for the funeral.

How sad. I try not to judge other woman for their childbearing choices; even if a woman chooses to go against medical advice, it's her life and her body. But for anyone else to pressure her to do so is just disgusting. :disgust:

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It really is sad it was like her 7th or 8th kid. W/ the oldest I think was like 19 or 20 (whatever age mission is)

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I think every body is different. I was advised after two C sections to stop. (The second one was particularly rough).

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Was just going to post about this very thing!! I seem to remember their oldest (who was interviewed) was on his mission & he couldn't leave for the funeral.

It maddens me that it would be seen as even remotely okay for a son to miss his own mother's funeral in a religion that purports to be about the unity of families.

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A 23-year-old acquaintance died a few weeks ago when she bled out during a home birth. It was her first pregnancy.

I think people forget that even now childbirth can be really dangerous.

A good reason to rally against home birth

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A good reason to rally against home birth

As I noted - it can happen in the hospital too. And often excessive bleeding can be handled with a shot given by the midwife, at home. And then emergency transport to the hospital if needed. With a relatives 2nd birth she was known to be a bleeder, so the shot was given the second the baby was born - just in case.

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What happned to the mormon woman is horrible and preventable. On Duggars Blog, they posted teh ideo of the Duggars on the chiild-free video. Comments made my stomach turn. One read it is so sad how women see childbearing as a 'burden'. Where is the blessing when something like ths happens? I pointed out it is sad when women think motherhood as their only ID. If something like this happened to Michelle Duggar or Kelly Bates, what would they think then?

A littel OT-I'm not saying there aren't competent midwives. I would rather err on the side of caution than take chances with an under educated SOTDRT 'midwife'. You have to consider the fact many women go without prental care and are high risk without knwoing until the last minute. Midwives aren't medical profesisonals unless they are CPM who work in hospitals under doctors.

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A good reason to rally against home birth

A good reason to rally against crappy home birth care providers. Not home birth itself. This comes down to the skill of the professional involved.

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I think the reason you don't see a Mormon Andrea Yates is because medication is not really frowned upon. Most of the Mormons I knew had their babies in a hospital, vaccinated, and very few breast fed. And very few had more then 4 children and the bishops wife had two. She was the ROS president and her stance was that you should only have what you could support. Granted, we were with the military so that may have had something to do with it.

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