How long to be told about needing emergency c section & having it done?

Question

I'm in a small town and on the rare, off-chance that I need an emergency c-section, I've been told that the nearest doctor who can come and do it is an hour away.

How long does it take for them to normally determine that you need one and then do it?

If the cord was around the baby's neck, is that too long to get someone there to save them?

I'm at 39 weeks and starting to wonder about these things!

I didn't think to ask this when I went for the tour of the hospital and they told me this.

Thanks :)

Answer 1

It took me about 10 min before i was put on the table a told i needed one.

Answer 2

They told me I needed one while I was pushing (my son had & still does have a fat head) he was too big to fit.  They immediately gave me something in my IV to stop my contractions.  It took a while before I was actually in the OR.  I think it probably takes about an hour to prep you and get the anesthesiologist in.  I wouldn't worry too much about it.  

Answer 3

There is no such thing as "normal" when it comes to determining the need for an emergency c-section. However, usually, "EMERGENCY" usually means "now"!

From what information I've found, there are generally two reasons why a vaginal delivery is changed to a c-section:

1.  The first is if labor stalls, that you fail progress past a certain point.  If this occurs, there is no "emergency".  An hour will be plenty of time for a doctor to come and do a c-section.

2. The second is a true "emergency" usually consisting of either fetal distress or serious bleeding (usually the results of something wrong at the placenta such as abnormal separation).  If the baby goes into distress or you begin to bleed seriously, it can be a matter of minutes before the baby or both of you die.

So IMHO, an hour away is too far away to expect a happy out-come if an "emergency" should arise.

Answer 4

If it is truly and emergent c-section, they will not wait - you will be operating on someone who is not an OB/Gyn, but only if your life is in immediate danger, not the fetus, well that depends on who is caring for you.  If it's not an emergency but an unscheduled c-section, it will take an hour anyway to get you ready.  It doesn't take long for an emergent c-section to be clear, if the cord is hanging out and cutting off blood circulation a nurse and push it back into your uterus and hold it there, but not for forever.  If you are lucky she/he will be willing to wait the hour and so for the baby to be pulled out.  If the cord is wrapped around the neck, as is often the case, the baby would dead in utero anyway - when they are being delivered and the cord is around the neck they don't do c-section, they just unloop the cord either in the v****a or outside.  If the cord is looped around the neck, waiting won't make a whole heck of a lot of difference since usually it's not apparent until birth (unless they are already dead).

Where I grew up women from rural communities often spent their last week or so in our town near the hospital to prevent such issues.  The only women who stayed home were those with very healthy and routine pregnancies, in which case the chances of having such an emergency is unlikely.  If the facilities locally to you can support a c-section, I would think the doctor had to come to be on-site when you started labor anyway.

Answer 5

I have had 3 C-sections. The second one was 10 years later so I was told I could try to have the baby vaginally if I preffered it so I tried it but there were complications, with each contraction my baby's heart beat would slow down dramatically so I had to have an emergency C-section.I went into labor at 2:30am and everything seemed ok. At about 11am when I went into hard labor is when I was notified that it would be best for a C-section to be performed but for this there was a doctor there already to perform the C-section.15 minutes later I was in the operating room. It all depends on the severity of the case. On my next C-section I already knew I was gonna have it done so when I  went into labor I was stabilized until the doctor was available for the procedure, there were a few other C-sections ahead of me so there was about an hour wait. I would recommend havin a doctor present if you feel you may have compilcations. Better safe than sorry. I hope this was helpful to you. Congratulations and God Bless you and your Baby :)