How Many C-Sections are Safe?

You have to ask yourself what they mean by safe. Usually they are talking about uterine rupture & adhesions.

The more c/s's the higher the risk of either. When we do a c/s of a women with a prior history even of one c/s, the adhesions you see are pretty scary. If we consult a mother about a VBAC we usually asks if she wants more children, and if so we highly recommend VBACS for those reasons.

Women with c/s's are asked to wait a year before getting pregnant again to give the scars a chance to heal.

Strange that you should your questions here. Midwives do antepartum care, but we don't consider even one c/s to be safe.

Of the women I know, the most any one has had is 9 (yes, nine) c-sections. Her last was a planned section at 36 weeks due to the increased risk of uterine rupture. The baby did have some problems related to preterm birth.

In the last month, I've first assisted on the c-sections of two women having repeat sections. One was the woman's fifth c-section, the other was the woman's sixth c-section. Both had placenta accreta. In case you don't know, this is where the placenta starts to grow into the uterus, which can make it very difficult to remove. This is a known complication in women having repeat c-sections because the placenta has an easier time growing into a scarred uterus. In the one case, we were able to remove it after some time. In the second, we ended up doing a total hysterectomy.

One of the OBs I work with strongly prefers women not have more than 3 c-sections. I think what I take from this is that I really do my very best to avoid performing that first c-section. When I talk to women about c-sections (especially people who express the desire to have one rather than a vaginal birth), one thing I like to say is that the first one is relatively easy and safe, but they also have to think down the road, and will they be OK with limiting the size of their family due to the risks of the third or the fourth or the fifth c-section, when the risks are much greater?

JMHO.

i have had 6 pregnacies, all resulting in single births... all 6 of my children were delivered by c-sections... they are now ages: 22, 20, 19, 17, 16 & 14... they came out healthy and still are to this day... my 1st c-sec came from swelling of my cervix... it was a wrap after that... i haven't ever experienced any complications before, during or after any of my pregnaies... in fact, i didn't gain weight or have problems with stubborn belly fat until my youngest was 11 years old... many people are surprised that i even have 6 children, but they are in shock when they hear they were all delivered by c-sections... i have scar tissue, of course, but nothing major... again, no complications!?!... i did have my tubes tied, by choice, after my 6th one... enough children for me!... i didn't take any hormone pills/injections beofre or after to conceive... call it fertile by nature, i guess... but i can't say, and i'm speaking for myself, from my own experiences, i didn't have any more soreness after the 6th one than i did with the 1st one... honestly, i was so prepared by the time i had the 6th one, that i was up and walking within the 1st 12 hours after surgery... my abdominal area went back down as well... in fact, when my youngest was 2, i was in a size 9/10 and weighed maybe 145 at 5'4"... but i wouldn't encourage anyone to get excited due to my experiences and think that their body could handle just as many if not more... we are all different and our bodies react differently to different things... just know that it's not impossible, because i've been there, done that...

Depends on the mom and depends on how she heals. Author Kimberly Hahn had 6 c-sections. When I was having my 2nd baby, I asked my midwives' back up doctor how many c-sections I could have (in case my VBAC was not successful). One of the nurses in the hospital had 7 c-sections and he said he hated doing them since it was like trying to cut through concrete.

I've had 3 of them and never had any problems that I'm aware of, even when I had my VBAC in 1988 after TWO C-sections. And if memory serves me correctly, Ethel Kennedy had 11 children, all by cesarean.......no one evidently ever told her to stop getting pregnant. I think it all depends on the woman and her overall health.