Dr Bryan Kenny, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Ramsay Health
Sometimes I’m asked if there’s a limit to the number of caesarean deliveries a woman can have.
In one sense there’s no limit to the number of babies that a mum can have; when it comes to caesarean sections there are some risks that are inherent to each procedure, and some risks
that increase with an increasing number of caesarean deliveries that occur. With a caesarean itself there’s always the risk of infection and bleeding and potential injury to other organs, when it comes to increasing numbers of caesarean sections, some of those risks increase, particularly that of adhesions and accidental injury to other organs.
With an increasing number of pregnancies and caesarean deliveries, there are some rare complications such as a pregnancy implanting in an old caesarean section scar, or the placenta implanting down low close to the cervix or covering the cervix, or the placenta invading abnormally into the wall of the womb.
And for each of these, while the absolute number of women this happens to is very small, statistically, it increases with each caesarean section. In the end, the final decision about how many babies a woman has and how they are delivered is a decision she should make, in an informed way, in conjunction with her care provider.