to think elective repeat caesarian is a valid choice?

[schmee]

I'm currently pregnant with DC3 and would like to have a repeat c-section. I had a planned c-section last time as had twins, one of whom was breach. I haven't seen the consultant yet, so I don't know if I'll be allowed one on the NHS but I hope so.

I remember last time round people saying "oooh I don't blame you if you're having twins" when I said I was booked into for a section. I really don't understand what "blame" has to do with it, particularly as the decision was made to safeguard the health of my twins. This time round if I say my preference is for a repeat c-section the response is even worse, with people from frenemies to strangers feeling able to question my choice and try to get me to reconsider. WHY?

I wondered if people here think repeat c-section is a valid choice. And whether anyone's mind about planned sections had been changed by watching One Born last night which showed what a calm and baby-focussed scenario a scheduled section can be.

Lady, I don't have a "scar across my stomach* any more than you do.

I have a very small, thin, circa 4 inch long along my bikini line, which even if the area is shaved is barely perceptible.

So please, do stop trying to misinform people as well as be smug and offensive.

Ooooh, I like the teleporting option.

Would that make me "too posh to push-or-be-cut-open"?

Bemybebe - I think for me an elective section will be a safer option because I probably became septic from ascending group B strep - hence no waters breaking, less risk of sepsis, less risk of massive PPH. However, even if this wasn't the case, I still feel elective section would be justified - firstly regarding the risk of scar rupture and secondly I do feel that psychological trauma - which can include PTSD - is a potentially valid indication. So I guess we'll have to agree to differ :)

Right I am going to step away from the thread now!

Rinabean The phrase that springs to mind right now is "Just because we can, doesn't mean we should". A caesarean is surgery, in no other area of the NHS would you be able to request major surgery just because you wanted it. It's madness!

(Disclaimer that I am only talking about woman having sections with nomedical indication for such, including previous birth trauma/section).

schmee - yanbu. tell them to but out.

i think all this moralising about birth methods is such bs. i get really fucked off when i read things like 'vaginal birth is such an acheivement' 'i had a cs because my body let me down' blah blah lots of women oppressing other women and making birthing into a competition. fuck that.

i had an emcs with dd. every now and then when i discuss it some well meaning friend says 'oh, i'm so sorry - maybe next time you will have a natural birth' then what? i'll be allowed in a special natural birth smuggery club???

God, people do get incredibly high handed about section.

I was all for whale music and candlelight with my first. Ended up having an emergency section.

Researched my arse off in order to have a VBAC with my second. Ended up having an emergency section.

Any future babies will be coming out of the sunroof and I will be bloody well happy about it. Anyone who judges me for that is a knobhead.

LadyOfTheManor Well done; you were the first person to trot out "too posh to push."

Have you ever thought that perhaps the people who you think act as though they are "above" vaginal birth are actually putting a positive spin on what is probably been a complex and emotional build up to the decision they ultimately made - ie a planned section?

I have had an em-cs, followed by an elective section (although throughout the whole of my pregnancy, I planned a VBAC, and even had to fight for deviating from the hospitals standard proceedure for VBAC - continuous monitoring, no birhting pool, nil by mouth, etc) When people make slightly snidey comments about how bad I must feel not giving birth "properly" I always smile and just joke that I had my children "the civilised way" As those who have had sections know it's never that straightforward.

You would have no idea of the circumstances that were behing my decision, and you would probably think that I was one of those who couldn't be bothered with the pain.

Oh and as for taking up a bed - I was in hospital 48 hours after a section. My best friend spent 8 days in hospital after her "normal" delivery. You really can't make these sweeping statements.

Mcdreamy - I agree with you, I think. Just can't imagine anyone wanting section as an alternative to going through labour if all pros and cons fully explained! But I may be wrong there....

Suspect I tend to get a little defensive over these issues following unsympathetic comments from various wellmeaning people about "Oh, so you had it easy then...."!

Rinabean
I agree why does it not make sense to not want to go through labour? I most definitely don't feel like I missed out It's a bizarre attitude that we must suffer. I think it's great that people have natural births but it certainly wasn't for me.

I had two electives. Utterly delightful.

DrMcDreamy - why shouldn't we, though? I think the "should" is the fact that many women want to. I really think that as there's no real shouldn't it should be a should. (Should doesn't look like a word any more. )

You say you can't request major surgery just because you want it in any other case. I think the reality is that in any other case, if there was a fairly easy (ie there are people & equipment for it pretty much everywhere, you're not likely to die) surgery you could have to avoid/minimise pain, you'd have it. I'm struggling to think of anything where this could even be a consideration but I think that's just because medical care to avoid pain is basically a given in our society.

Not bothered reading the thread, I can guess the contents.

I had an ELCS with my second baby. It was FUCKING AMAZING!!!!!!

I was on a high for weeks afterwards - my baby wasn't batterered, bruised and traumatised from forceps and netiher was I.

LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a maledude, and my partner showed me this thread, so I wanted to say this:
I find the idea of childbirth fucking terrifying. You're pushing a human being out of your genitals! If there was an option to take it out^instead of forcing it through a tiny aperture, I know what I'd choose.

Anyone on this thread who thinks elective is wrong is, quite frankly, nuts.

Note to bemybebe: "Psychological trauma is not indication for an ELCS in my view." What the hell do you think general anesthetic is for? I went through a lot of surgery and hospital as a child, god only knows what it would have been like if they hadn't been able to knock me out. Psychological trauma is one of the best reasons for elective. (Thanks to Valhalla for that one!)

What is wrong with wanting a choice?
Why should we have to suffer unnecessarily, or be forced to give birth in a way we prefer not too when the choice is there?

I think taking the option away, or forcing women t give birth in an environment that is negative for the woman will only cause more damage for her MH in the long term would it not?

Maybe if we had the appropriate levels of staff to help women in giving birth there would be less worry over how the labour would go.

I can tell you now you get a lot more after care after a section, get appropriate pain relief, checked on regularly.

My section was a dream, i didn't even finish the pain killers i was sent home with!

Some women are better mothers because they had a section, mentaly i could cope with the risks of a section Vs Vaginal delievery.
I didn't know my reaction to the actuality of a vaginal birth would leave me so disturbed i would eventually beg ask for an abortion at 32 weeks.

I had a few medical problems aswell, but none that would of majorly prevented a vaginal birth.
But after talking with the consultant and midwife at 32 weeks they signed me in for my section then and there.

I hated pregnancy so much because i was constantly living in fear at the expectations of the pending birth.
My eyes were so sore from hysterics every day my skin was peeling away around them.

I do want another child, but probably won't just from fear of being put into a position where i have to give birth vaginally.

I would actually rather die, or have an abortion.
That is horrendus even to me, to say that, but it is the truth.

Oooh, did I mention that I am SMUG AS FUCK about my ELCS? I really am.

At least I can admit it!

LOL bonzairob!

Maybe the NHS should stop giving out free vasectomy's because they are not really needed, just use protection
There are plenty of 'unnecessary' surgey's performed on the NHS!

"Psychological trauma is not indication for an ELCS in my view".

So are you saying that a woman who has lost a baby during an attempted natural delivery should not be allowed an elective section next time?

Ask any woman whose baby has UNNECESSARILY DIED IN CHILDBIRTH whether she feels elective sections are a waste of NHS money. Just spend a little time on the SANDS or babyloss websites, or in a baby cemetery, and you just might change your mind.

Back to the OP - the c section is safer so you have absolutely every right to request one. Wishing you a safe delivery and a live, healthy baby.

I too loved my electives - not quite so massively keen on the first emergency c-section though.

And of course I am way too posh to push

OP - I would find out which, out of a Csection or VBAC, is statistically the safest method for this pregnancy. Surely that's by far the biggest deciding factor for any mother, isn't it? Finding the safest option for the baby, and for herself (bearing in mind that you aren't much use to your newborn and any existing children if you are dead).

FWIW, I had a vb, Cs, and then VBAC. My second child needed to be born by CS for medical reasons; my first and third didn't. I loved my CS, it was bloody wonderful, but I would not have felt ok about exposing my 3rd child to any increased risk through simply choosing a Cs for non medical reasons.

But violethill, you exposed your VB children to an 80 per cent increased risk of oxygen deprivation at birth by choosing VB.

Isn't being killed by your partner one of the leading causes of death in pregnancy? So if you really care about your baby you'll break up with its father. No sense in exposing it to unnecessary risks! Relationships aren't medically necessary, after all.

I had a traumatic birth with dd1. Won't bore you with details but dh and I spoke to a consultant who agreed to c-section before we even started ttc.

Turns out I'm having twins so people are fine with it but I was planning to say it was due to medical reasons and it was what I'd been advised and leave it at that. It would have been a bit of a lie but to explain dd's birth fully takes about an hour as there were so many elements that went wrong due to general mw incompetence.

Good luck and ignore everyone who tells you they know best... unless they are you, they don't!

Exactly the same experience as marylandcookie.

I felt so pressurised to have a 'normal' birth after the first EMCS. I went for a VBAC but it went just as badly and ended up being another EMCS. I honestly salute people who choose elective c-sections.

It is nobody's fucking business how you choose to give birth.

Another one with a barely visible scar - can't see it as it is along my bikini line, so it just looks like the crease of my bikini line.

I can't give birth naturally I'd like to have a go but I am what is considered a high risk pregnancy so was originally planned to be brought 1 week early with DD and then another medical condition arose and I had to be brought 2 weeks early! (I think some old female ancestors were fiddling with fate and making sure I didn't have to go through the pain lol!)

I had a very positive elective c-section. DD was due in the January, planned for the December. I knew the original date in the October! Fantastic! The actual section was smooth, relaxed, petrifying (ie because you know what they're doing even though you can't feel anything) and overall a very positive experience. The recovery was awful! But I think it's because I hadn't expected any pain or to react to the painkillers they sent me home with!

I decided to BF and felt this gave me the right to look down on anybody smug enough to suggest that by having an elective section I was wimping out. Met a couple of utter bitches other new mums at baby club, one of whom sneered and the other laughed saying 'oh you've had it easy'. Some people have too many opinions and not enough brain cells to back them up!

I personally think that the NHS should not fund a C-Section, repeat or otherwise, unless there is a proven medical or emotional (ie lose of baby during natural birth) need. I believe women should have a choice as to how to give birth, but not at the expense of a struggling health care system!