Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have an elective caesarian for #2 after a difficult birth with #1?

32 replies

Cat98 · 22/03/2011 18:56

Or is it wrong to not even "try" for a natural birth?

I don't think there would be a medical problem but the thought of going through labour again is too much to bear! I am actually terrified, my first birth was 70 hours and after battling through for 2 days with nothing I ended with every form of intervention going, finally an emcs.

I know there are more risks to me with a cs, and it is a major operation, but medically is it worse for the baby if I don't wait for labour to start?

OP posts:
rosie1979 · 22/03/2011 19:01

YANBU

I had a friend who had an emergency c-section who felt exactly like you, she had an elective c-section with her second and said how positive experience it was from the first.

Be prepared to stand your ground with midwife/consultants - in her case she had to REALLY fight for an elective.

ilovemyhens · 22/03/2011 19:01

It's up to you really. I opted for an elective after an emergency section with ds1 and it was fine.

Sectioned babies are slightly more at risk of developing breathing difficulties post birth due to the lack of stress hormones whilst the mother labours, but I think the risk is minimal.

scotsgirl23 · 22/03/2011 19:03

There are all sorts of statistics about what is and isn't safest, but generally I believe an elective is safer than an emcs. obviously it's not a straight choice between the two as you don;t know how labour would go.

My DD was an elcs and I found it to be a very calm positive experience though

SardineQueen · 22/03/2011 19:18

YANBU Smile

Serious risks of giving birth either way are very low in the UK. I think that with CS the risk to the mother is slightly higher and the risk to the baby slightly lower... But either way in the UK the risks are all so low as to make no odds IYSWIM.

I had EMCS followed by ELCS and it was all fine.

hazeyjane · 22/03/2011 19:33

Yanbu, if you want an elcs after a traumatic first birth, and there are lots of very positive stories of calm, elcs with good recovery.

But when I had an elcs with ds, I wish I had been more aware that recovery can be very hard, people usually only post the positives on these sort of threads! I really felt that I had failed because I felt so awful after my cs, but I think it is just the case that all births and all people are different, and everybody recovers at different rates.

In my case I think a cs was worse for ds, because he was born with respiratory distress syndrome, and was in nicu and scbu for 8 days. It is possible that there was some mix up with my dates, because he showed other signs of prematurity, but the fact that he wasn't prepared for birth by labour starting was a definite factor in the readiness of his lungs.

The difficulty with these sort of threads (and there seem to be several atm) is that it is very easy for someone to say in hindsight, that they are happy/sad with the decision they made to have a cs/vb, but in reality when you have to make the decision there is no crystal ball, so all we can do is go with our(obviously well informed!) gut instinct.

Original poster
Cat98 · 22/03/2011 19:39

Thank you everyone for the replies.

Hazeyjane -that's just it! I want to do whatever is best but I don't know what my instinct is saying. Also (please don't flame me) but I personally could never imagine not trying breastfeeding, even though my experience bfing was also very traumatic last time. So why do I feel differently about this - I guess I'm not really as informed about risks/benefits.
Sorry to hear your ds was poorly btw. Thanks though, you are right good and bad stories alike help.

Can anyone direct me to any (unbiased as possible) sites with stats on the risks for Mum and baby please?

OP posts:
TattyDevine · 22/03/2011 19:51

I think there's csection.org.uk or similar (google that and you'll get the link, sorry lazy)

I know success stories either way for this by the way - i.e, emergency first time followed by VBAC which was a fantastic exhilirating and empowering experience, and emergency followed by elective which was a fantastic exhilirating and empowering birth also.

I think it has to be your preference, and for that to then go well to have a success story.

I know a woman who talked herself into trying for a VBAC and it didn't go well, she ended up with an emergency section, but couldn't have TAP blocks after (new form of analgesia which makes recovery literally seem like a breeze) - you can only have them with a spinal you see. She ended up rupturing/tearing her uterus and then having the emergency under epidural which wasn't quite working, it was very traumatic and a horrible birth. She is kicking herself for not having an elective like me. Our daughters were born on the same day in the same hospital, so it was amazing to see the difference in recovery between her and me. I had TAP blocks and no trauma.

If only you could fortell whether or not your VBAC would "work". Sucks eh.

dementedma · 22/03/2011 19:51

I had elective with DC2 and then DC3 after emergeny CS with DC1 and it was fine. if that hadn't been an option I wouldn't have had another DC - the first time round left me with PND and no bonding with DC1 at all.

redllamayellowllama · 22/03/2011 19:56

You know, this very internal debate pre-occupied every waking thought during my second pregnantcy. I only made the ELCS decision at 36 weeks and still questioned it. It was a lovely experience in the end and the process which delivered DD safely and kept me calm and feeling like I was in control, instead of the many variablesi felt a VBAC would bring.

There is no answer, but in my personal opinion, next time I will commit to having an ELCS early on and spend the rest of my pregnancy enjoying it rather than worrying about what could be.

GrumpyFish · 22/03/2011 19:56

RCOG guidelines on Birth after Caesarean will give you the stats (google this). You have about a 1% increased chance of your baby having breathing difficulties if born by EL(repeat)CS compared to vaginally at 39+weeks (greater increase if earlier). Generally the other "risks" to the baby are less with an ELCS than with a VBAC. The main risks to the mother are in future pregnancies, rather than arising out of this birth - the RCOG guidelines will give you all of the info you need.

It's definitely not wrong to make an informed decision that ELCS is best for you and your baby.

MarkStretch · 22/03/2011 19:56

I had a 24hr labour with DD and then an emergency CS after an hour of pushing.

With DS I was giving the choice, I chose an elective CS and it was great. I couldn't bear the thought of the same thing happening 2nd time round and ending up with a CS anyway. I don't feel like I have 'missed out' by not having a vaginal delivery, my elec CS was calm and my recovery time was much quicker than my emergency. Also it put to bed a few ghosts left over from DD's more traumatic delivery.

I understand your wavering though, it was a hard decision to make. Luckily my hospital were very understanding and I could have changed my mind at any point leading up to the section date if I had wanted to try for a 'natural' delivery.

Original poster
Cat98 · 22/03/2011 19:57

TattyDevine - I agree - I am leaning towards an elective but I need to be informed. Will have a look now. It's so individual ian't it. Thanks everyone.

OP posts:
redllamayellowllama · 22/03/2011 19:57

It's worth looking at the NICE guidelines on ELCS.

Original poster
Cat98 · 22/03/2011 19:59

Thnaks Grumpyfish, that's really helpful. And everyone else - it is so helpful to hear everyone's stories.

OP posts:
Portofino · 22/03/2011 20:00

I had an EMCS and whilst I would love to have experienced natural childbirth, if I ever found myself PG, I would be booking an ELCS straightaway. Like dementedma, my EMCS made it very hard to bond with my baby - I couldn't get my head round the fact that she WAS mine. I would not risk going through that again. Though maybe a bit hypothetical in my case.

mewantcookiesmenocanwait · 22/03/2011 20:31

I don't know if this will be any help at all, but I very nearly went for an ELCS with my third, having been through horrible experiences with my first two, so I definitely don't think you're BU.

Long story, but I ended up trying Hypnobirthing, and ended up with a totally natural homebirth, which is still a bit of a shock to me as I never in a million years would have thought I'd end up as an earth mother type! It took all the fear and stress away - I wasn't waiting in dread for the contractions to start, as I'd feared. I'm not trying to 'sell' the idea of homebirth as it's not for everyone, and obviously not if you had a bad time first time around for medical reasons which are likely to recur, but perhaps, if you're doing a bit of research anyway, you could look at other ways of having a different experience from the first time. I suppose I just wanted to say that it's not a straight choice between ELCS or another horrible experience.

kazwoo · 22/03/2011 20:37

I had an emergency section after a long very slow and awful labour with DD1. As soon as I became pregnant with DD2, I knew I wanted to have another elective section.

The healthcare professionals tried to change my mind along the way but were very supportive once I'd made my decision, DD2 was breech too which didnt help.

My elective section was a much more positive experience. My recovery time was shorter and I felt ready to drive after about 3 weeks (although I didn't).

Dozer · 22/03/2011 22:24

Yanbu. I read the various guidelines and a great book called "blooming birth". Tried for vbac but ended up with a second unplanned c- section, don't regret it though.

LoveLeonardCohen · 22/03/2011 23:03

YANBU.....I had a long and protracted process of medical intevention and induction that lasted a week! with DS1, ending with a EMCS. With DD2 I did want to try for a natural birth but booked for an elective CS at 41 weeks if I hadn't gone into labour. Elective was totally different experience. Calm, stress free...I say go for it if you feel you want to. It's not wrong to not want to go for natural

stealthcat · 22/03/2011 23:07

Another factor could be the size of family you are hoping for, CS will limit that more than VBAC, but if you arent planning a large family its probably not the biggest part of the decision.

LoveLeonardCohen · 22/03/2011 23:15

Just curious, how does CS impact on size of family you want to have. I have 2 but would poss. like another. How will affect that? No doctors have said anything to me about limiting the size of family.

scotsgirl23 · 22/03/2011 23:18

I was told that they prefer not to do more than 3 c-sections although I think this was more of an issue with the old style vertical scars.

Meglet · 22/03/2011 23:21

yanbu. Especially if you are desperate to avoid another EMCS.

(Gruelling EMCS and calm planned cs here).

dazzlingdeborahrose · 23/03/2011 18:53

YANBU. This happened to me. A very long and traumatic first labour followed by an EmCS. I wasn't going to let it happen again and stood my ground. Read the NICE guidelines. They are not allowed to refuse a request for an elective cs if the woman has already had a cs. They will try to persuade you otherwise. The registrar I saw initially with No2 wouldn't put me down so I asked to see the consultant, waited for over an hour. When he arrived he looked at the notes from my previous labour and the notes from my appt with his registrar and said "Advised 70% success rate with VBAC, she was a bit over optimistic. When do you want to come in?" Marvellous man.

dazzlingdeborahrose · 23/03/2011 18:55

btw, my elective c-section with my daughter was a wonderful happy experience - a world away from my experience with my first born. That said I'd go through it all again to have him :-)