wrote in message ...
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.

I think if you go into the previous posts here, you'll see that she has had
it thoroughly checked. Not meaning to be rude, but, having had a problem
picked up at the scan, it is very irritating the number of people who keep
telling you that it's probably not right, and all is actually fine, as if
they know better than the 101 consultants that have scanned etc. It also
keeps up a false hope that "maybe" all will be well, which isn't really
helpful, although I'm sure most of them think it is.
Debbie


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