Elective C-Section after Emergency last time??

Loved my C section, but agree with Pupuce, the recovery after is hard. I got an infection and it was horrible. My normal delivery was wonderful too but having stitches I thought that was uncomfortable after.

Hi Everyone! I had an emergency caesarean with my DD and was adamant from the day I found out I was pregnant with DS that I wanted an elective caesarean. I actually assumed (but was wrong!!) that once you had one you automatically get put forward for another one because of the risks of tearing the original wound etc. However, when I first mentioned to my midwife that I wanted an EC she sent me to talk to a consultant at the hospital who argued with me that I shouldnt do it and sent me home!! I was totally gutted as I was very nervous about having complications again. So I spoke to my midwife again and asked for the hospital report from my first birth to be sent to the consultant - then went back to see him. He left me in the room 3 times to think about my decision but I put my foot down and got my date booked My elective caesarean was wonderful! It was a very calm and well planned day. It was a million times better than DD's birth - but be warned they may try to put you off - but if its really what you want you have to put up an argument til you get it. Best of luck

labour doesn't have to be a '24-hour hideous experience' lulupop! hurrmph.

Not all of us are 'built to breed', that's for sure. Also, each baby is different. My SIL had her first 2 kids so easily that I was green with envy. First one in just under 2hrs, second one even quicker. With the third, she had 'failure to progress' and ended up with a v. scary emergency caesarean.

hi all

all these posts are so so helpful and pupuce, whilst I so appreciate where you are coming from, hearing positive elective section stories is really heartening for me. I too recovered from my c-section much faster than 4 of 5 of my good friends who had their babies naturally at the same time. Only one of 5 had an intervention free birth despite all of us hoping for completely natural experiences. Three had horrendous 'natural' deliveries with episiotomies, forceps and agonising labours, the other was very similar to me and had an emergency c-section. One had to have her episiotomy restitched as it was infected and stitched too tight and she genuinely did not leave her flat for a month she was in so much pain and could not walk. All of us still have regular dinners together and the shock and trauma of childbirth still brings tears around the table 17 months on. I know that for some many women childbirth is an amazing experience but for others, its just awful. I also completely accept that natural birth really works for some people but for others, like me and my sisters I believe, 100 years ago we would have just been the unfortunate ones who didn't make it through childbirth at all. We are just not all built to have children sadly. And thankfully for us, there are now alternatives. With one of my sisters, both her babies failed to engage at all despite her being overdue and with the first, induction didn't work so she had a c-section and then another with the second. My other sister attempted labour with the first three babies but again, induction failed and all ended up c-sections, her fourth was an automatic c-section.

No Pupuce, sorry I didn't mean to be down on what you were saying. As a doula I know you must see a huge range of birth experiences and therefore have a more balanced view. I just find that everyone is so insistent that caesarian = bad, natural = good, and that just doesn't chime with my experience and the anecdotal experience I hear from friends.

A positive sotry is that last April my best friend who had her first baby by elective section (for breech), had her second baby all natural at St Thomas'. The midwives were fantastic, I was with her throughout, and despite the midwives saying "No, we won't examine you again yet, the contractions aren't strong and regular" (I was saying they seem pretty strong and regular to me!), at the point she asked for an epidural, they had a look and said No love, it's time to push. Three pushes and 5 mins later her lovely DS2 was born. I cut the cord. Apart from my own 2 being born, it was the best moment of my life, and although we've always been great friends, I feel that shared experience has given us a bond that can never be broken. She's having baby #3 in Jan and I hope to be with her again for that.

Well I am sorry I wasn?t trying to say that caesareans were bad. As a doula I see all sorts, this year alone, 2004, I have worked for 25 families (5 had caesareans, 5 had VBACs, the rest are "normal" vaginal births)... Lulupop I have never seen (but I know it happens of course!) anyone have any trouble after 7 days of a vaginal birth (never ever seen anyone sit on a rubber ring for more than a week) but I can tell you I see women recover slowly from caesarean, I see infected wombs (2 out of 5 thsi year), I see women complaining of having pains at their scar when I leave them 6 weeks after the birth,... I am not at all trying to be negative... you need caesareans it is a life saving operation.
And OF COURSE you can recover fast from a caesarean and slowly from a vaginal birth. Don't forget though that a caesarean remains an operation which requires cutting into 3 layers...

Now hammer me !

I recovered also quite quickly from the opld C 9 Emergancy ds was 9,10 lbs and got stuck ) and I have every intention of going again.
not sure that it is for everyone , but for me it was fab - surgary staff were v cheerful , which is a bit spooky IUKWIM

oops. that should have read "I remember being advised that I couldn't..."

I would have to agree that caesareans get an undue bed rap regarding recovery. I remember being advised that I could excersice or drive a car for 6 weeks. I drove home from the hospital. And, I was up and around resuming normal activity in about a week or two. Never sat on a ring.

I suppose some people really do spend weeks just ggetting back on their feet, but I certainly wasn't one of them. Personally, I think that the NHS campaign against elective caesareans has more to do with their budget than it does my health.

MissTuesday, DS1 was delivered by emergency c-section. As I'd had a couple of failed epidurals/spinal blocks I knew that if I had a second section it was likely to be under general. In some respects we were playing a numbers game. DS1's head was 39cm in circumference, and I'm quite small. Although we'd had a number of scans to see if he would fit, on the day we was facing the wrong way and wouldn't fit - you could actually see the marking on his wead where he had got stuck!

Having a baby whilst you are "asleep" is a bit odd, but, knowing in advance that this owuld be the case, seemed to be fine. We already knew the sex and had chosen a name. The only "surprise" was that after a number of scans indicating another largish baby (ds1 was 9lb 3oz), ds2 was only 7lb 4oz - though he still had a big head!

I did have extra help around the house for a few weeks after ds2, though my return to health was v similar to first time so back to feeling normal within 4 weeks, driving, sex etc.

Lulupop, my experience was just like yours. After my both my sections I was up and about in in no time. After my second I remember walking down the coridor and another new mum stopped me and said, 'I thought you were having a section?' I was walking fairly normally and she (normal delivery) was hunched over and walking with great difficulty.

It is important that everyone gets the birth they want (if possible). However to view a section as an automatic 'problem' is not always accurate. I had two sections, one emergency and one elective. They were both very positive experiences. I opted for a section second time around. As it happens it would have been a section anyways as I had pre eclampsia and ds was a footling breech and quite big (9 2 two weeks early). I have no lasting effects on my health or my children. A sucess all round!

Sorry, but I get really tired of hearing the dogged insistence on "you will always recover faster after a natural birth". I do realise that for "most" people that may be true, but I have to say that I and several of my friends have recovered a lot faster after a caesarian. I can't compare from personal experience, as I have had one emergency CS and one elective, but three of my friends had one emergency followed by VBAC and ALL of them were practically unable to walk for a few days afterwards, and could not sit down without a rubber ring for two or three weeks. I was up and about 24 hours after both C-sections, and the second time I had a busy little 2 yr old to care for (and carry up and down 3 flights of stairs!) as well. I'm not saying it was easy, but it seems to me I was in a much better position than most of my acquaintances. They were hobbling around complaining of stress incontinence for ages after the births, poor things. And obviously the second time round I hadn't had the hideous experience of a 24 hour labour before hand.

I should just add that of my VBAC friends, although they all say they would definitely go for an elective caesarian the third time, they also do all seem to have got a tremendous sense of achievement from having delivered "naturally". I do understand that for some women, this is extremely important, but I don't think we should all feel so much pressure to go down this route if we just don't feel that strongly about it. I have 2 healthy, happy children, and wouldn't change anything about my birth experience with either. I tried for a home birth the first time, but physiologically it clearly was not meant to be, and I was very happy to have things done more calmly the second time.

I think the most important thing is not to succumb to the pressure hospitals put on you to fulfil their quotas of vaginal births if you know you want something different. It is YOUR birth experienc, which you will have to live with and remember afterwards, so be firm about what you feel is best for you and your family, and don't let them try to bamboozle you with statistics.

Larlylou.... when labour starts on its own... babies are often /normally/usually engaged so that problem would not re-occur + you'd have a much easier labour... and you would recover faster! Hey I am biased

Thanks for the link, have just been reading through. I was 12 days overdue and had to be induced, meconium in my waters so was strapped to a bed then everything happened far too fast and was way over my pain threshold. After 17 hours of labour I only got 8cm dilated and ds never engaged - he just didn't fit so the only way out was an emergency c. I recovered really quickly from my cesarean, far more than my best friend who had a natural birth four weeks earlier and never had any trouble with feeding situations etc. This experience has really put me off wanting a natural birth. Saying all that though, I know I would always wonder what having a natural birth would be like and, I suppose, until I am actually pregnant with my 2nd then my thoughts may change but for now my choice would definitely still be an elective cesarean.

Why larlylou ? have you seen this ?

After 17 hours of arduous labour I ended up having an emergency cesarean and a 10lb 9oz baby! Next time round I am definitely planning an elective cesarean!

MissTueasday did all these 6 labours actually go into labour or some of them did attempt and next time around went straight to theatre?
Basically are we talking 6 babies who started by a labour or are we talking about your mum and sis who both had no progress with 1st baby and then had elective for their other others kids. That's how I read it. Maybe I didn't iunderstand.

well miss tuesday I have no real knowledge of any of this at all (unlike Mears and pupuce who are pros and fab with it) but the thing that sets alarm bells ringing with me is you saying that you didn't dilate and neither of your sisters did with any of their 6 labours either! I really do think that how your uterus works in labour is genetically determined, and if I were you, I would say "fine, I've had one labour where I didn't dilate either - who am I to go against my genetic destiny" and book in for an elective.

For example after 3 children I now know that I labour hard, with no dilation at all and all the professionals saying "oh dear, those contractions are unproductive" and then when I'm ready I go from 1cm to 10 in about 15 minutes and pop out a baby 2 minutes after that. And my mother (3 children) recently told me that she was exactly the same. I also have a friend who had a horrendous 36hr labour but the baby couldn't pass through her pelvis and so she had an emergency C in the end. Turns out her mother had had 3 c-sections for the same reason, and her sister 1. WHY no-one told her it might happen to her I don't know!

Re epidural/general - I think you really need to talk to the anaesthetist and see what he thinks, but I wouldn't fight the general if he is inclining in that direction - not ideal for you in terms of not seeing the baby immediately but if it is safer? and also presumeably much less traumatic for your dh who sounds like he was in shock with the stress of it last time.

good luck....

I had a horrendous first birth with 3rd degree tear first time round. Could hardly walk for 6 wks and was in shock - cried all the time and was generally very fragile. Second time round I had an elective caesarean, which was a very positive experience. Recovery was quicker than with my messy 'natural' birth.

I too have what is classified as low blood pressure and when I had the epidural just before the c-section I started to go into a faint (can always recognize the symptoms - go all cold and floaty). I immediately told the anaethetist and she put something into my drip which brought my bp right back up to normal again. They waited 5 mins to check all was OK then did the section.

If I was pregnant again I'd head straight for the operating theatre, I can tell you!

I wouldnt' get too hung up on the blood pressure thing - having an elective section would be a different kettle of fish anyway from the BP point of view! If the anaesthetist knows you have low BP they can compensate. Don't eat too much salt!!!!

Pupuce - found your comment v interesting about toleration of the syntocin drip and active labour - I had a syntocin drip as I wasn't progressing at 5/6cm dilated - wasn't offered an epidural(!) but it wasn't the nightmare that I thought it would be - did have a second short of diamorphine though (the first shot being probably being why I needed the syntocin in the first place!)

sorry to hijack

MissTuesday - interesting about the blood pressure thing- you would need to speak to an anaesthetist about how that can be managed next time.

The fact that you went on syntocinon immediately when you were admitted means that your labour was induced. Since you did not get beyond 3cm, that means you were technically a failed induction of labour. In your case I would consider giving labour a go if you went into labour naturally. Last time your contractions were 'forced' by syntocinon because of your waters breaking and the meconium staining. Your body was not ready to do it.
If your waters broke in the same way the next time, if they were clear then they would wait for natural contractions to start on their own. If they did not start then you would be offered C/S.
Your experience last time was that of an induced labour which can be very different than a natural one. No wonder you found it horrendous.

The drip can make it unbearable as you don't build up enough endorphins (natural painkillers)... if you have the drip put up when you are in active labour it's usually easier to manage and doesn't necessarily require an epidural though I see plenty of MWs offering it as the "special of the month" get 1 and you get the other free ... it really doesn't help women's confidence to be told you can't have the drip without the epidural.... yes you can in some cases!

I was induced first time and I believe it really made a difference to the pain levels. First time round they were overwhelming, I truly wanted to die to stop the pain. With my vbac although there was screaming (I won't try and dress it up for you!) and pain it all seemed manageable and I still felt human throughout it all.
Just wondered if the drip would have made a similar impact.