To ask for experiences of c section vs vaginal birth for EDS sufferers

[HiDiddleDeeDee]

Hoping for more answers in AIBU. I have hEDS and had a very traumatic first birth ending in anaesthetic problems and a very bad tear that took several surgeries to fix. I have to have a c section this time and I’m wondering if there is anyone with EDS whocan share their experiences of healing from c section with tricky EDS skin and healing time. Someone mentioned silk stitches on the EDS charity page?

My daughter has hEDS and had a c section 2 years ago. She has had many surgeries over the years and the c section was the easiest to recover from. She was walking within a week though she used a step to get into bed. Obviously eds is different for everyone but her section was a positive experience. I must tell you that although strongly advised to have a c section by the consultant and she was dislocating daily in the week before the birth, the midwife who admitted her was still pushing her to have a vaginal birth. DD insisted on a section and was glad she did.

Thank you for replying. Good to know if someone having a good experience. I am also finding reluctance from midwives despite very little experience or understanding of hEDS.

Really push for that c section and ignore the midwives. You are at a greater risk of dislocations when in active labour due to the hormones released at that time. I hope all goes well for you.

“Ignore the midwives” what terrible advice

OP, Decisions surrounding your care should be made jointly between yourself, your midwives, your rheumatology consultant and obstetric consultant. You should be given totally unbiased information which should be used to make a decision which is best for you and your baby, and which you’re happy and comfortable with I have hEDS and had two vaginal births, this was best for me as I was concerned about the recovery from a c/s. I delivered vaginally with no problems. My friend with hEDS had a c/s and also had a good experience. Good luck!

drinkgin

My daughter found the midwife totally disregarded the advice from the consultant and pushed my daughter to have a vaginal birth. There was no joint discussion, the various specialists did not communicate with each other at all.

Thanks both for your advice. This is one of the issues I am finding - none of the advice-givers at hospital (midwives, anaesthetics, obstetrics) seem to agree on anything or communicate with each other. So you’re left alone to make a decision which will align with one party’s advice and then you have to continually justify the decision to the others (making you doubt all again).

@sue51 well that’s a shame and shouldn’t have happened but not representative of all cases and it’s not good advice to ignore experienced health professionals.
@HiDiddleDeeDee your consultants should have a clearly documented plan in your records and your midwives should provide your care in accordance with this. Good luck.