Why vaginal birth?

[SantaSusan]

Inspired by another thread. I'm really interested to understand the reasons for most women opting for a vaginal birth.

Disclaimer: I really, really want this thread to be a nice discussion to share views. I'd hate for this to descend into a judgy or unkind thread! Obviously, however anyone chooses to give birth is their choice alone. And as long as your precious little bundle arrives safely at the end, then who cares how they got there!?

I ended up with an elective. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd have anything but a vaginal birth. However, for reasons I won't go into, it was decided during my pregnancy that a c section would probably be the best option for me. Everyone I spoke to absolutely loved their c section experience, and 99% of the comments online were so positive, so I wasn't worried about it at all once it was decided upon.

I had absolutely no pain during my c section or during recovery. I breastfed right away. I was up and about pretty much immediately. This seems to be the experience of most women who've had elcs. I would have an elective section again and again. If I'm lucky enough to have another baby, it'll be another section.

As such, I often wonder why more women don't choose to have their babies this way. It's so common in other countries. I think there's a lot of misinformation around c sections. The risks are also lumped in with those of emergency c sections, so electives are often painted to be riskler than they actually are.

You often hear people saying it's major abdominal surgery' in quite a judgemental way, which of course it is. But as far as surgical procedures go, it's generally very straightforward and in most cases, is easy to recover from.

I also repeatedly hear that vaginal is best as it's the most natural. But just because something is the 'natural' way to do something, doesn't necessarily mean it's the best. There's lots of things we do now with technology and with medicine that isn't the 'natural' way, and nobody bats an eyelid.

I can't quite put my finger on why I was so opposed to c sections previously. It's like it was subconsciously ingrained in me for no reason other than popular rhetoric. Which is why I'd be interested to hear why others decided a vaginal birth was best for them? Or why others knew they wanted an elcs? Has your subsequent birthing experience changed your minds at all?

I had a vaginal birth basically because it’s the most natural and the idea of c-section didn’t appeal to me at all.

I mean, I didn’t want a giant wound in my stomach impede me from looking after my newborn.

I had a vaginal birth because I preferred to have as little intervention as possible.

Additionally, there weren't enough anaesthetists to get me an epidural, so I can't imagine there'd be enough staff (anaesthetist, doc, nurses etc) for every birthing mother to have a c section.

I assume that C section isn’t usually first choice because it’s major abdominal surgery and comes with the associated risks.

I’m not in the UK, so I think it’s different here but you can’t just choose to have a c section here unless there are medical reasons. Insurance wouldn’t pay for it.

(I may be wrong, but threads I’ve read on mumsnet lead me to believe you can just choose a c section in the UK).

I've had both vaginal and elective c-section deliveries. I preferred the elective for its relative predictability. Note I say relative - I know things can go awry now and again! Mine was fine. I chose the elective for my third after a second vaginal delivery with shoulder dystocia, PPH and then I had sepsis! Terrifying experience. Third birth by c-section was cathartic.

I say each to their own, it's a question of weighing up the risks and benefits of both. I'm glad women get a choice these days.

I wasn't given the option both my boy,s were born vaginlly but with lots of intervention

Also I think i would prefer to avoid surgery unless it was necessary
The most important thing is though that the baby is born safely and mother and baby are ok.

My first was a vaginal birth 26 years ago, hurt like hell. My second was an emergency c section 24 years ago, took a bit longer to get over.

Because it's cheaper for the NHS. In the area I gave birth in, at your booking in appointment you get given a letter informing you that elective C sections are not an option.

It was the recovery for me. C section recovery may be straightforward, but for my vaginal births it was almost nil.

Recovery is usually a lot easy, it's statistically far safer for mum and there's advantages to baby too.

I was in Asda 15 hours after giving birth, try doing that after a c-section!

c sections are a lot more expensive so there's that.

I've had a VB, a section (elective) then and VBAC, after DS1 and 3 were born I was ready to go home and pretty much carry on as normal. I was in agony during my ES with DS2 and the spinal only took properly on one side. After DS2 was born I healed quickly but ended up with endometriosis after some of the lining of my womb shed inside me, I couldn't walk straight for days and the recovery was hard. I'd go for VB every time if there was a safe option.

I know you don't want to hear it, but why the hell would you have surgery if you didn't have to?

I've had both vaginal and ELCS, due to 3rd degree tear on VB.
The vaginal births were much quicker to recover from and I was less limited by tiredness as to what I could do afterwards. But I had pain from my stitches and painful sex for a long time afterwards.
The ELCS was more pleasant afterwards in that I wasn't terrified of going to the toilet and I didn't feel like my insides were going to fall out when I walked around (for about a week). But I really felt like I was recovering from an operation, much more so than the VBs.
I think a VB is easier to recover from than a section, but the ELCS was much less mentally traumatic than a birth with bad tearing/stitches

I desperately wanted a vaginal birth with all three of mine. I didn’t want surgery, I didn’t want the recovery time. I didn’t want to be unable to drive for 6 weeks afterwards. My first was a very difficult birth with lots of interventions and stitches that caused me pain for about 6 months. A c-section probably would have been easier to recover from but my other 2 were home births and much simpler.

Women have vaginal births because that's where the babies are meant to come out.

Asking 'why do people have c-sections when there appears to be no apparent reason?' would have been a more logical question.

Most women didn't have a choice and many still don't. 🙄

It's only very recently that this has changed legally and it's still not ideal because the staff trusted to ensure you give informed consent actively don't tell you your options or present them in a way that doesn't allow you to make a decision in possession of all the facts. For example they bang on and on about all the risks of the thing they don't want you to have but not the risks of the alternative (I had them pushing the VB when I wanted a CS with DC1 and they pushed the CS when I wanted a VB with DC2 so I got this from both directions).

Anyway having had both I'd take the VB any day over the CS all things being equal, because I felt more in control (many feel the opposite I know), but I'd fight to the death for every woman to have a choice. 🤷‍♀️

Yes, this. Not quite 15 hours, but 3 days after having dd2 I was strolling around Asda. My sister had an emergency c-section with her 1st and then an elective with her 2nd. Her recovery time was much much longer than mine.

I wanted the experience. It’s how babies are meant to be born and I wanted to do what billions of women before me have done. I loved both of my VBs but don’t judge those who choose differently.

You can't have a c-section at home...my home births were lovely experiences.

Didn't take long for the judgement to start rolling in after all! There are loads of reasons, which is why ELCS are becoming more and more popular. But of course, you don't think there are any good reasons - so of course they don't exist ;)

OP, you probably don't intend this but there's a very slight whiff of 'justify your decision to have a vaginal birth' from your post. Or maybe I'm being a bit of a sensitive flower...

Anyway. I've had three vaginal births and didn't consider an elective as a serious option, I think because I figured that if a vaginal birth went wrong, there was always the option of a crash c-section as a safety net, which felt appealing.

I had no risk factors, I was lucky not to have severe anxiety around childbirth or pain, I was (very) fit. I recognise it's not for everyone but it suited me.

I would always choose the most natural method, if there is a choice that is.
For some reason I spend my life feeling guilty so, had I chosen a c-section purely for convenience and something went wrong, I would think I only had myself to blame.

I went on a lovely walk with my new baby 2 days post c section. I know my case isn't uncommon either!

This.

During both of my DS' pregnancies, they have mentioned c-sections. The idea really put me on edge. I'm glad I had vaginal deliveries.

SIL had both an emergency and elec c-section and said the latter was so easy!

Oh no! Absolutely not my intention at all! Apologies if it reads that way!

I had both a VB and an elective section (recommended for medical reasons but not an emergency).

I would definitely have another c section if I had another child. I had a horrible experience giving birth VB and didn't feel I had the full attention of the staff who were rushing between ladies giving birth. I was also absolutely exhausted afterwards and felt very overwhelmed by the whole experience.

With a section I knew what was happening and why. I had a nurse with me the whole time whose purpose was to just make sure I felt okay and she took lots of lovely photos and I was in no pain at all afterwards. The second day I had a bit of pain but nothing terrible.

Being 'natural' isn't important to me. The main thing is safety of me and my babies.