I have had four sections, 1 emergency, 1 emergency with general anesthetic and two planned. I did not feel like I had failed and am a fervent defender of a woman's right to choose within limits, those limits can include a huge fear of childbirth, but not one of weight gain or scheduling!

I had an 'elective' c/s due to the fact that my baby was lying in Breech position. I am thankful that this was caught before I went into labour and did not end up having to have an emergency c/s. I was petrified of going into theatre but the staff were all fantastic and I got through the operation with only a slight problem with my blood pressure dipping. My horror was up in the ward. The midwives are so busy that they really do not have the time for proper care. I was discharged in less than 48 hours even although I was in horrendous pain (air pockets in my body due to the operation). I left the hospital and vowed never to have another child due to my experience, it really traumatised me. DS is now 8 months and the experience is overshadowed with the gorgeous bundle of joy we have in our lives every day now!

I had to have a cs as my son was found to have a serious brain condition at 40 weeks. We had section following day which technically would be counted as elective cs but actually there was no choice if I wanted him to survive. So the stats can be misleading. Having said that I was disappointed as I am a staunch advocate of natural birth and went on to have a VBAC despite pressure from obstetrician not to.

hiya, i would like to help out with this. both my children were born by elective c/section. a c/section was what i wanted for personal reasons that i will not go in to on here because i know i will get absolutely slated!! but suffice to say i have strong views on this subject so would love to take part!!

feel free to private message me!!

"Out of 2028 pregnancies-
1.4% cesareans
.5% forceps deliveries
.05% vacuum deliveries
68.8% intact periniums
15 sets of twins, all born vaginally
99% of moms initiate breastfeeding

They do breech vaginal births and have had babies in the face presentation and brow presentation birth vaginally."

I found this posted on another forum posted by a doula. From Ina May's book allegedly. Fascinating.

and this...

“Caesareans, and more
rarely chemical inductions of labour are sometimes necessary to the safety of mother or baby. At the same time we need to recognise that caesarean surgery significantly increases the risk of
death of a woman.” (Gaskin; 290)

and this...

Ina May Gaskin and her team at the Farm Midwifery Centre in Tennessee, USA have attended out of hospital VBACs for over twenty years with a 98% success rate – two women they referred to hospital during labour due to suspected dehiscence (thinning or separation of the previous scar). She puts their success down to the fact that none of the women in their care had induced labours with use of prostaglandins or oxytocin (Gaskin; 302). She suggests that VBAC is safe when other risk factors such as Cytotec or other prostaglandin induction aren’t added (Gaskin; 295).

Michael (I think his name is) Odent also specifies a big difference between 'non-labour' caesarians and emcs where various hormones have been allowed to flow and the baby being exposed to contractions havig a positive effect on post-natal functioning...

iirc there is a pic of a brow presentation in Ina May's book. Can't remember what the outcome was.

Lulumama the first birth you describe sounds hideous - unable to move and restricted to a bed - reminds me of Ricki Lake's The Business of Being Born - brutal. If I had been in bed for my marathon labour, I would have gone insane.

My sister was also induced for DD1 and it was almost catastrophic - DD was blue with an APGAR of 1 and forceps were used - classic cascade of intervention. With DD2, she was a different woman, having done more reading and thinking about the actual birth, and only had gas and air at 8 cm... DD came out a few hours later, healthy and birth crawling up her chest . She wishes she had a similar birth with DD1 and thinks that she wasn't helped to have a natural birth by the medical profession... Sorry this is more about the horrors of induction than CS?!

Saying that, I could have kissed the surgeon for getting DS1 out safe and sound and am more than up for a VBAC next time. I was so against anything medicalised before the birth but we must remember that childbirth was incredibly dangerous not that long ago...

I might go see that Ina May Gaskin woman in the USA - she's got something like a 95% natural birth success rate - that means only 5% are transferred for CS... whereas the hospital I delivered at is over 25% CS... and will deliver almost anything vaginally - I do wonder what she would have done with a brow presentation though...

I had an emergency c.s with DS 10 years ago, due to failure to progress .... usual story, induced , in bed, not encouraged to move, given diamoprhine and epidural at 2 cm, totally immobile for the entire labour, he was pressing on my bladder and the catheter bag was filled with bloody urine, so he had to come out. the CS triggered horrific PND as no-one listened to how i felt about the birth, and my lack of participation , it's something i have written about a lot

DD was a VBAC 4 years ago, i had done a lot of reading and research and knew more about how to achieve what i wanted and i hda birth partners who supported me and were my advocates when the MW said i was just one of those women who did not dilate 3 cm to 10 in 2 hours 15, I beg to differ had an OP baby so long latent stage.

the VBAC was totally inspirational for me and encouraged me to become a doula and to volunteer for the birth trauma association to help other women . I also sit on a committee at the local maternity unit to represent local women and their needs

as far as i can see, there is a percentage of totally avoidable c.s and there needs to be more done to help women who are too scared too try vaginal birth

I had an urgent Caesarean, the decision was a no brainer (meconium in waters, 6 hours of drip without any established pattern of contractions, monitoring difficult, child seemed to start to struggle). The surgical team and the midwives were ace.

I was in no way pressurised (otherwise I would have had the CS probably much earlier). I was offered a debrief talk the next day, but declined because I didn't (and don't) feel I needed it.

Having your abdomen cut open is a pretty big thing to do, so I don't feel any less of a mother than one who did it vaginally.

FWIW, I'd probably go for a CS next time round, too.

Far from being pressurised, I found that the hospital staff were pretty well apologising to me for having to whip ds out when his heartrate went down. I otoh felt I couldn't care less how he was delivered as long as he was delivered.