Dillards 32: To VBAC or not to VBAC

[Million Children For Jesus]

I feel terrible for Jill. It's not the end of the world to have two c-sections, but it might feel like it is to a woman who was anticipating having a large family.

I know several women who have had four c-sections, one who has had five and one who has had six. I have a sinking feeling that Jill will try pushing it to five or six, which sounds crazy, but she wouldn't be the first.

I hope she takes a nice 5-year break before having the next one. If she's going to limit her pregnancies to 5-6, which is still a lot, she has ample time to space them out. 

[Lurky]

I'm genuinely scared that one day we'll be talking about a Quiverfull homebirth without adequate medical support that did go horribly wrong, and it'll be terrible.  I hate that they're being pushed into "homebirth is holy" and taking stupid risks, and it's really awful that sooner or later their faith really will be tested.  Ugh.  This cult is so evil.

[JoyJoy]

Nothing on People Magazine? I'm surprised they didn't have the first announcement.

 

 

[TuringMachine]

Well I was right about the c-section and close on the weight!  Glad Jill and Samuel are ok

[VelociRapture]

Glad to see the baby is here safely. Fingers crossed he and Jill are both healthy. And I honestly hope that Jill is doing ok emotionally and mentally as well. I know how tough it can be when labor and delivery doesn't go as anticipated - not for the same reasons that Jill just went through, but still. I hope she is able to come to terms with the experience, she recovers fully, and she is able to really enjoy her two adorable boys.

Also, we have no clue whether she labored at home or in a hospital. I think it's likely a safe guess that she labored at home, but maybe we should withhold judgement until confirmation is given?

@Joyfully AvailableThey have to treat her. It would go against their oath if she showed up at the ER in labor and they refused to treat her. 

4 minutes ago, MayTheWilberforceBeWithYou said:

I saw someone mention earlier in this thread the possibility of Jill deciding enough is enough and going on birth control so that she doesn't risk another complication by getting pregnant and needing yet another C section. Obviously the Duggars are very anti birth control for birth control purposes, but I was wondering, what if one of the girls ended up developing something like PCOS that is mainly treated using birth control pills? Would they still not condone that, or do you think they would let it slide since they're not technically using it as birth control?

I doubt they'd be ok with its use under pretty much any circumstance. Maybe someone who knows more about IBLP could weigh in though.

2 minutes ago, speller24 said:

Fair enough. If you don't know own this it makes her seem a bit cold. But knowing that now, that makes sense. It sort of caught me off guard.

I get it. I think it struck a lot of people as odd at the time. But then Cathy started speaking about her cancer battle more a while later and Jill's reaction made a lot more sense. I think she was likely just trying to stay calm and strong in what must have been a very difficult situation for them all and it come across as cold for that reason. Cathy is a very fortunate woman to be alive and in relatively decent health today.

[MayTheWilberforceBeWithYou]

10 minutes ago, Lurky said:

I'm genuinely scared that one day we'll be talking about a Quiverfull homebirth without adequate medical support that did go horribly wrong, and it'll be terrible.  I hate that they're being pushed into "homebirth is holy" and taking stupid risks, and it's really awful that sooner or later their faith really will be tested.  Ugh.  This cult is so evil.

Other than the fact that Jill is a midwife I don't understand this obsession with home births. Most of Michelle's children were born in a hospital (and she has quite a few) and if I remember correctly Anna had planned on going to a hospital with Mackynzie. 

[VelociRapture]

9 minutes ago, JoyJoy said:

Nothing on People Magazine? I'm surprised they didn't have the first announcement.

Ask and you shall receive:

http://people.com/tv/jill-duggar-dillard-welcomes-second-baby/

[doubleT]

Well, I'm glad Jill and the baby are safe.  I know she wanted a VBAC so I imagine she is disappointed by having to have another C-section, but I'm sure that Samuel makes up for that.  

I had a VBAC 24 year ago with my second child.  (My first child was breech.)  My doctor had conditions for me though if I wanted to try it:

1) How much weight I gained

2) How much the baby weighed (guesstimate of course).  Doc didn't want me to try if the baby weighed more than my first born did. 

3) That if I didn't go into labor naturally before my due date, he would induce.  (The longer I went, the bigger the baby = more risk.)

I ended up not going into labor on my own, so on my predicted due date, I was induced.  Pitocin hits fast and hard.  But 12 hours later, I was successful.  I went on to have m 3rd child vaginally as well.  

[bella8050]

Glad they are both ok. Echoing many others on here, wondering how section #2 will affect them down the line.  I did notice on the show how eager she was to have an easier delivery this time. I think it's going to keep getting harder for her if Jessa and Anna continue having successful homebirths. If Jinger and Joy end up being able to have vaginal deliveries as well I can see that putting her over the edge mentally.  

[crazysnark]

I hate to sound negative but I kind of wonder if something is wrong with Samuel, like Zika. Its weird to not have an announcement with a picture and such a short "He's Here" post. Seems very unduggar of them. 

[singsingsing]

I'm not going to speculate about Jill's mental health, or about the health of the baby at this point. I think they've put out short announcements with the bare minimum of details in the past, to be followed up by pictures and a more detailed announcement several hours later. Let's just wait and see.

[purplepeony]

They both tweeted happy birthday to James 18 hours ago and Derick has been liking tweets even more recently so maybe this shows labour wasn't happening fully at this point (unless you can program tweets to appear in advance- i never tweet so not sure if this is possible). He also liked a tweet which said how much safer a hospital birth would be a couple of days ago but i have seen him like critical tweets so this doesn't necessarily mean much except that i am at home ill and bored looking for evidence that doesn't really exist!

[Finduilas]

1 minute ago, purplepeony said:

They both tweeted happy birthday to James 18 hours ago and Derick has been liking tweets even more recently so maybe this shows labour wasn't happening fully at this point (unless you can program tweets to appear in advance- i never tweet so not sure if this is possible). He also liked a tweet which said how much safer a hospital birth would be a couple of days ago but i have seen him like critical tweets so this doesn't necessarily mean much except that i am at home ill and bored looking for evidence that doesn't really exist!

You can schedule tweets

[singsingsing]

1 minute ago, purplepeony said:

He also liked a tweet which said how much safer a hospital birth would be a couple of days ago but i have seen him like critical tweets so this doesn't necessarily mean much except that i am at home ill and bored looking for evidence that doesn't really exist!

Maybe liking critical tweets is his version of 'loving your enemies'? I mean, their version of mission work is handing out candy and teaching people how to make pinatas, so it kind of makes sense.

[nickelodeon]

Maybe they'll decide to limit the number of times they go through this again? I have my suspicions that the Dillards did use some kind of family planning in the past - unless, I guess, the LORD blessed them 2 seconds after the wedding, and then He did not bless them for the exact amount of time that doctors recommend you wait after birth by section (during which they were in a country where pregnancy is a bad idea due to Zika), and then the LORD blessed them again 2 seconds after they announced on TV that they were going to "try for another baby this year", hallelujah hallelujah. The convenient timing just makes me wonder. Of course there are a lot of birth control methods they'd never use for religious reasons, so deliberately spacing would be difficult, but maybe?

[crazysnark]

I always remember finding out about the births from People Magazine with pictures and video. Only other time I can remember otherwise was when Jessica Seewald spilled the beans on twitter :/ 

[purplepeony]

3 minutes ago, singsingsing said:

Maybe liking critical tweets is his version of 'loving your enemies'? I mean, their version of mission work is handing out candy and teaching people how to make pinatas, so it kind of makes sense.

Yeah i agree. I always imagined as him thinking 'look see I do listen to other points of view- I liked their tweet' and then sanctimoniously praying for the person who had expressed such heathen views

[Jaedzia]

54 minutes ago, Jana814 said:

I guess congratulations to the Dillard family. I will remember his birthday because today is also my father's birthday 

Ditto, my father's 83 birthday today!

[VelociRapture]

3 minutes ago, purplepeony said:

They both tweeted happy birthday to James 18 hours ago and Derick has been liking tweets even more recently so maybe this shows labour wasn't happening fully at this point (unless you can program tweets to appear in advance- i never tweet so not sure if this is possible). He also liked a tweet which said how much safer a hospital birth would be a couple of days ago but i have seen him like critical tweets so this doesn't necessarily mean much except that i am at home ill and bored looking for evidence that doesn't really exist!

My sister posted on social media when she was in late labor with her son. She didn't really want anyone speculating that her son was born before she and husband felt ready to announce. I would have done the same except:

1. My daughter was six weeks premature and no one was expecting her to arrive at that point.

and

2. She was born a little after 6:00 in the morning.

I had posted on social media the day before when we didn't know I was in labor. And I posted a photo of my dog and her dog cousin having a play date at Grandma's the next day too - I just neglected to mention that I wasn't there for the play date or that it had happened the day of my daughter's birth. 

I did post on here (in the Parenting and Pregnancy thread) while I was at the hospital in labor though. I take my FJ seriously. 

All that to say... social media activity (or a lack of it) means nothing at all. 

[Mela99]

Just a thought, but do you think Jill gets shamed, either directly or indirectly, for not being able to have in home, natural birth ? I always wondered if Fundies prescribed to that mommy shaming ideology

[Darwinesque]

22 minutes ago, Million Children For Jesus said:

I feel terrible for Jill. It's not the end of the world to have two c-sections, but it might feel like it is to a woman who was anticipating having a large family.

 

That's me. I've had 2 c-sections, first a surprise emergency c-section before any sort of labour had began, second planned due to similar issues with first . I've never experienced any sort of labour, not a twinge of labour pain and whilst there truly are bigger things to worry about I still feel a bit crappy about it - I was a similiar age to Jill at the time, too. it's got to be worse for Jill given she has a mother with 19 kids and sisters who can give birth easily. 

I would have liked more kids, but poor pregnancies meant we stopped at 2. I completely adore what I have.

[justoneoftwo]

I think the short announcement is weird, but weird things happen. I hope they are ok and that we find out more soon.

I also will say that you can do a lot in labor, mine was only 6 hours but I still could have posted something during it, I didn't because I don't post things much but it wouldn't have even been weird.

[Georgiana]

I have a friend who ignored doctor's orders regarding C-sections. She ended up with a hysterectomy in her 20s. 

There are a lot of reasons doctors recommend what they do. After a certain amount of c sections, especially in a shorter timeframe, Jill's womb might be closed by God or scar tissue or inability to sustain a pregnancy to viability due to other issues with her uterine environment. It's not just about having the baby that's a concern with repeat c sections, it's also the healing. Even if Jill continues pregnancies past what is medically advisable, it's very unlikely she'll be able to do so forever before pregnancy is no longer a physical option.

[JoyJoy]

12 minutes ago, Mela99 said:

Just a thought, but do you think Jill gets shamed, either directly or indirectly, for not being able to have in home, natural birth ? I always wondered if Fundies prescribed to that mommy shaming ideology

I don't think Jill will be shamed.  I don't know any fundies who are against hospital births. I think the second generation fundies view home births as cool and retro, but I've seen more hospital births recently(including some ho've had home births in the past).

[TuringMachine]

I wouldn't call Jessa's first homebirth successful. I mean she had to go to the hospital and get a blood transfusion.