Midwife trying to put me off C-Section

You can ask to speak with a professional midwifery advocate, they are midwives who have trained as a pma. They are there to support you with birth trauma and choices about your pregnancy and birth. If you can't find contact details online then ask your maternity unit to supply you with them.

I had a consultant who tried to ‘put me off’. I had to keep pestering because they agreed (because they have to) but then kept telling me that they would only book me in for one from 42 weeks ‘unless space becomes available’. It took my husband ringing and laying into them before magically a spot appeared that week (i was 39 weeks pregnant). I was cross but then again I have been cross with many aspects of my pre and postnatal care! Maybe I just expected to be treated as a competent adult and that was too much 🤣

Please report her to PALS.
It is your right to request and have a C section, and this midwife’s unsubstantiated claims are not useful or following NICE guidelines.

My friend is a GP - she had elective sections with both her babies. Her exact words: "natural childbirth is barbaric - why would I put myself through that?"

I had one emergency section and one elective and the elective was a fab experience and a much quicker recovery than the emergency one.

Your midwife sounds, quite frankly, shit. I'd complain about how she treated you - scaremongering and refusing to put your request in your notes! Disgraceful.

You have a legal right to an elective C section in the UK. Go for it. Your midwife sounds dreadful but there seems to be a trend for midwives at the moment to discourage pregnant women from planned sections. A family member wanted one due to family history problems and her midwife was very negative. Ended up as an emergency section and the baby only survived due to the efficiency of the hospital team. The baby is fine now with no sign of asthma or obesity.
Sounds like your midwife is talking crap and deserves a complaint. Definitely insist on your C section.
Interestingly over thirty years ago when I was very pregnant I was talking to my GP about how anxious I was about my impending birth and he offered me a section without me having to ask. I turned it down, retrospectively I should take taken it as the birth ended up being traumatic and it took me a long time to recover from it.

You need to get a little bit stroppier with her. I would have sat there and told her I wasn't leaving until I could see she had put the request on my notes!
I had midwives horrified that I wasn't going to breast feed, I understand they have to give the talk etc but the way they talked to me made it sound like I was planning on feeding the baby bleach or something....
In the end, every single time breast feeding was brought up I just said I had made my decision and was no longer prepared to talk about it.
You have to advocate quite strongly for yourself when pregnant otherwise midwives and nurses will trample all over you.

And so sorry for your previous traumatic birth experiences.

Sounds really frustrating and unhelpful! Speak to your consultant as they will be able to counsel you and book you in for this.

She should be sharing factual information. never heard about it increasing the risk of asthma, I’m sure there’s probably some tiny study somewhere which showed a link but I mean statistically significant factual information….i don’t believe that any nice or rcog guidelines mention about an increased risk in asthma.

most important thing though is that the midwife should be promoting individualised holistic care and empowering women to be able to make informed choices and advocating for those choices if needed. Doesn’t sound like this is happening. Midwife sounds very biased. Sometimes what is actually better on paper/from a stats pov is not better for that individual woman. And that includes considering non physical reasons for their choices.

she needs to be referring you to a consultant for a birth choices discussion.

Ignore her. My midwife agreed with my decision to have a c section (I needed one regardless for medical reasons). She herself is having an elective c-section.

It sounds more like her personal opinion rather than a well thought out assessment of the risks in your case.

She can't gatekeep a CS, you need to talk to your GP, and I think you need a new mid-wife, you don't need her judgement.

My planned c section (no medical reason - just my preference!) was wonderful. I was home the next day and recovery was so quick. Baby (now two) absolutely fine.

She is probably obligated to share certain information if a patient asks for a c section but maybe she laid it on a bit thick. The recovery is very hard but if you know in your heart it's what you want then stick to your guns. I tried to give birth the conventional way and would have died had I not been in a hospital as it ended in an EMCS. If I decide to have a second I'm going for an ELCS. I'm sorry you've been through so much trauma. You don't need anyone's approval, apart from your own ❤️

I'm so sorry for your past experiences of childbirth - that sounds HORRENDOUS! Having never experienced natural childbirth I can only speak to a planned C-section being a wonderful experience! The baby is born when planned as you are booked in, yes you will have stitches or staples but then most women end up with stitches after childbirth, you are able to sit on your bum comfortably as you haven't just passed a small human through your birth canal! Only downsides I can say is you have to be careful sitting up from lying down not to do it too quickly in the beginning but apart from that my experience was much better that alot of my friends who either had completely natural childbirths or a trial of labour and ended up with a c-section. A planned c-section is the best option in my opinion.

I would look to change your midwife if at all possible. DS was an emergency c-section and has had absolutely no problems with his lungs or immunity. Yes he picked up the standard bugs doing the rounds at nursery and school but that’s all. He’s now a strapping 23 year old without an ounce of fat on him.

My section recovery was fine, minimal pain and I was up and about quite quickly. In fact I was a lot more mobile than some of my friends who had difficult natural births.

Stick to your guns and if this midwife isn’t supportive then ask for one that will support your perfectly reasonable decision due to previous issues.

Ask to see a consultant and get the c-section agreed. I requested a C-section, consultant needs to be sure I understood risks. I read the NICE guidelines and read up on the risks of C-sections and vaginal births and decided that a C-section was right for me.
The consultant was fine with it and actually several midwives said it was a sensible choice. I had the date agreed before my anomaly scan. And if I had gone into labour earlier I just had to let them know and I would have had a c-section then.

Sounds like she was outlining the generic risks of a CS - which I am guessing she is obliged to do.

I had routine surgery under a GA the other week, and they had to outline the risks (blood clots, stroke, and death) .. despite it being highly unlikely.

Guess it stops them being sued by people claiming “they didn’t know the risks)