Joy,

Disclaimers: I don't know anything about your diagnosis of spina
bifida, and I don't know anything about birthing spina bifida babies.

But...

How and when was the spina bifida diagnosed? Ultrasound? when? Has
the diagnosis been confirmed? Another ultrasound? When? Have you
gotten a second opinion? I think this is too serious a question to
leave up to the judgement of a single care provider. I strongly
recommend a second opinion.

Next, I know little about the dangers about birthing a spina bifida
baby. I would suspect, however that there must be degrees of the
condition, and that is what your caregivers are talking about when
they talk about the safety of vaginal birth versus c-section. It
would help to know just to what degree they have diagnosed the seriousness
of the condition. Yet another reason for a second opinion.

Finally, I am *really* suspicious about the induction talk. If they
think that it is safe to birth vaginally rather than by c-section,
what possible advantage could there be to induction? I would ask for
study results that show that induction provides better outcomes. I
would doubt that they can produce them. I might even ask Ericka to
see if she could find any information on vaginally birthing spina bifida
babies.

Wishing you the best,
Larry

Joybelle writes:
: I shouldn't be posting, I should really be getting things DONE around here,
: but this has been going on in my head the last week.

: Initially, when we were given the diagnosis of spina bifida, we were told a
: c-section was recommended. It made sense what the doctor said (less chance
: of injury to the lesion), and we were planning on doing that.

: Well, the next three or physicians said there was no reason I couldn't do a
: vaginal birth. I was really ecstatic about that, and they pretty much laid
: any anxieties about injury to the site to rest. Or so I thought. This
: week, I keep thinking about this. What if I damage my baby more by having a
: vaginal birth? Are these other doctors right? How do I KNOW? Obviously,
: I'm worrying. Didn't think I'd do that after I made up my mind!

: We are also facing an induction now rather than being "allowed" to go into
: labor on my own. I really, really dread, fear, despise the idea of an
: induction. I'm just afraid that I'll go through the induction, end up with
: a c-section, and have a harder recovery than if I go for a c-section in the
: first place. We still haven't been scheduled for an induction, so I might
: still have a chance to go into labor on my own. That is what I want the
: most, but I've all of a sudden got a ton of worries heaping up on me! I'm
: sure it's a bit normal, but I figured I'd post here. If I talk about it, I
: just end up crying and getting the other people in my life anxious. They
: are probably the ones causing that anxiety in a way because some people are
: questioning the wisdom of the doctors for allowing me to have a vaginal
: birth. My mother keeps sharing stories of people she's talked to who think
: a c-section is absolutely warranted. A couple of these are nurses and
: chiropracters or people who've had kids with sb (she knows a lot of
: people!).

: I'm really just trying to work this out in my head. Thanks for listening.
:


: --
: Joy

: Rose 1-99
: Iris 2-01
: Spencer 3-03
: # 4 Sept 2005