close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risks
By Mayo Clinic staffRecovery from a C-section takes longer than does recovery from a vaginal birth. And like other types of major surgery, C-sections also carry a higher risk of complications.
Risks to your baby include:
- Breathing problems. Babies born by C-section are more likely to develop transient tachypnea — a breathing problem marked by abnormally fast breathing during the first few days after birth. Elective C-sections done before 39 weeks of pregnancy or without proof of the baby's lung maturity may increase the risk of other breathing problems, including respiratory distress syndrome — a condition that makes it difficult to breathe.
- Fetal injury. Although rare, accidental nicks to the baby's skin can occur during surgery.
Risks to you include:
- Inflammation and infection of the membrane lining the uterus. This condition — known as endometritis — may cause fever, chills, back pain, foul-smelling vaginal discharge and uterine pain. It's often treated with intravenous (IV) antibiotics.
- Increased bleeding. You may lose more blood with a C-section than with a vaginal birth. Blood transfusions are rarely needed, however.
- Reactions to anesthesia. After regional anesthesia, it's possible to experience a headache caused by a leak of the fluid around the spinal canal into the tissues of the back. Allergic or adverse reactions to the anesthetic also are possible.
- Blood clots. The risk of developing a blood clot inside a vein — especially in the legs or pelvic organs — is greater after a C-section than after a vaginal delivery. If a blood clot travels to your lungs (pulmonary embolism), the damage can be life-threatening. Your health care team will take steps to prevent blood clots. You can help, too, by walking frequently soon after surgery.
- Wound infection. An infection at or around the incision site is possible.
- Surgical injury. Although rare, surgical injuries to nearby organs can occur during a C-section. If this happens, additional surgery may be needed.
- Increased risks during future pregnancies. After a C-section, you face a higher risk of potentially serious complications — including bleeding, placenta previa and tearing of the uterus along the scar line from the prior C-section (uterine rupture) — in a subsequent pregnancy than you would after a vaginal delivery.
References
- Berghella V. Cesarean delivery: Preoperative issues. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Grant GJ. Anesthesia for cesarean delivery. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Berghella V. Cesarean delivery: Technique. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Berghella V. Cesarean delivery: Postoperative issues. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Norwitz ER. Cesarean delivery on maternal request. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Tita AT, et al. Timing of elective repeat Cesarean delivery at term and neonatal outcomes. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:111.
- About Cesarean childbirth. American College of Surgeons. http://www.facs.org/public_info/operation/cesarean.pdf. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Berens P. Overview of postpartum care. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- ACOG practice bulletin No. 115: Vaginal birth after previous Cesarean delivery. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2010;116:450.
- Pearlstein T, et al. Postpartum depression. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2009;4:357
- You and your baby: Prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/ab005.cfm. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Harms RW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Aug. 12, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on