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Be aware that the following information describes a rare complication that some readers may find disturbing. You may choose not to read all, or parts, of this section. |
What are the signs of uterine rupture?
What your caregiver will do
Emotional consideration and SANDS support
A rupturing of the uterus occurs very rarely (1 in about 1,500 births, or 0.07%), but can cause devastating complications for the woman, and her baby, if it does. It is a situation where the wall of the woman's uterus splits open, causing internal haemorrhaging. As you can imagine this can be life threatening for both the woman and her baby. If the uterus is at risk of rupturing, it will usually happen during the labour, but in some circumstances, it can also happen in the last few weeks of the pregnancy.
It must be remembered, that the following situations will in most cases
NOT lead to a rupture of the uterus, but have been linked with it's occurrence. Uterine rupture can be associated with:
Being given drugs to stimulate the contractions. Using drugs such as
prostaglandins, or an
oxytocin drip, for induction and / or
augmentation, can carry the risk of overstimulating the woman's uterus to contract too vigorously, and therefore increase the risk of uterine rupture. This is especially so if this is not the woman's first baby, as her uterus can be more sensitive to these medications, and therefore more prone to rupturing. This is explained in detail in Class 4,
induction and
augmentation.
The opening of a scar from a previous Caesarean birth. This rare complication can occur in about 0.3 to 0.7% of cases, with a lower segment uterine scar (where the incision was made low and horizontal, or across). It is more likely (up to 10%) if the scar in the uterus is vertical (up and down). The risk is also increased if the subsequent labour after a Caesarean birth is induced or augmented with
prostaglandins, or an