The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Mom with Previous Myomectomy Declines Unnecessary Cesarean

This is a follow-up to our brief chat last April. To refresh your memory, I'm a 40-year-old 1st-time mom with a history of 2 uterine surgeries to remove fibroids. Both incisions were fundal, one was quite shallow and one was deeper and more extensive entering the uterine wall but neither entered the uterine cavity. I had been with an OB/fertility group but with their plan to schedule a c-sec delivery (yuck) I changed to midwifery care with a CNM at Alta Bates in Berkeley at 28 weeks.

Thanks to encouragement & information from you, ICAN and many many others, Darling Baby Emma arrived August 7. Held by my husband and labor assistant I pushed her out without episiotomy or anesthesia after 20 hours of active labor! Emma was pink and hollering before her body was fully delivered. With help from our CNM I got to lift her out of me and onto my tummy. That moment was so precious it made all the months of planning and preparation for a vaginal delivery worthwhile. Thankfully, I had only minor skin tearing & slight bruising with no other complications. She took about 4 seconds to learn how to latch on to my breast to eat and has been doing great ever since. In our case, a c-sec turned out NOT to be necessary despite existing fundal incisions.

Please feel free to contact me should you want any more anecdotal information about a "myomectomy mom" with a natural delivery as there doesn't seem to be much research around about us.