To have a second elective c-section?

OP with the best of intentions for you , please have an elective CS .
Yes you will need help for a few weeks after but honestly , those are not good odds in your favour .

I had a second c-section with exactly the same gap as yours. The whole process was as good as the first, probably better as I knew what to expect. The recovery was fine and I was fine with a toddler. I’d definitely recommend you do the c-section again. Why risk a VBAC?

I would absolutely have another. VBAC seems risky to me.

Congratulations. Pain will t reduce and be a lot better after a week, then steadily better from there.

I'd 100% get an elective c section again. Like a PP, recovery for my second was way quicker than my first though that was straightforward as well.

@Katemax82 gets much easier every day. Keep getting yourself up and about regularly. The feeling of ripping in half every time you stand will go after a few days. Take regular paracetamol/ibuprofen to keep on top of the pain.
The weird shaped belly went down fairly quick as well though I certainly still have a little 'shelf' despite being fairly slim! Definitely had a shock that I still looked heavily pregnant for a while after giving birth. I thought it would just flatten straight away 😆

Your mileage will vary but it took me a month for the swelling to go and I dropped half the weight by then too. After six months all the weight had gone (I breastfed). Stopped hurting after about three days for me, except for twinges when twisting to sit up. Good luck and congratulations!

@CSectionUncertainty only you can make that decision - bud I will share my experience. 3 kids, 1 emergency c-section and 2 vaginal. Not sure any way you give birth is in any way easy at all but emergency c sections are brutal! I almost died, my baby almost died and suffered huge ptsd afterwards really if it had been my first I wouldn’t have any more.

I would do a c section, op, if it were me x

Ooh, doesn't seem like a great VBAC rate tbh.

I had a second c section after trying for a VBAC and the recovery was so much better than with my first. Both were technically emergency sections but because I was more prepared with the second and hadn't laboured for as long, it was a much calmer experience.

You could try for a VBAC but ask about limits around monitoring and how long you push before reverting to a section.

I mean complications from tearing etc

@Katemax82 it takes about a week to start feeling ok

OP I'd have a c section again. Honestly the amount of long term complications my friends and family moan about would put me off.

I've said you are not being unreasonable because you need to do what you feel comfortable with, OP. Either option has risks and benefits. You will get wildly different answers if you ask people what they think you should do because we will all be influenced by our own experiences.

I would never opt for abdominal surgery unless there was a clear medical need. But I say that as someone who had two straight forward vaginal births (I did tear but healed quickly with no further complications). A close friend of mine had a traumatic vaginal birth with her first baby and took a long time to heal. She chose to have a c section with her second simply because she didn't want to go through that again. She has said she would opt for another c section if she had a third. There is no one correct answer here.

Ive just had an elective cesarean yesterday..does it stop hurting soon and will my belly be a weird shape forever?

My area is around 80% successful vbac.

c-section is major surgery, 6 weeks is unusually quick for a “full recovery”. It takes at least 6 weeks for the risk of infection to reduce due to the dinner plate sized wound left internally.

Why chance it?