To ask about your elective caesarian experience?

[AbbeyBelfast]

Hello folks!

I would very much like to hear your stories and experiences with elective sections.

What was your reason for choosing elective?

How was the procedure itself?

What was your recovery like?

Bonus points if you had an elective after a vaginal birth and can provide some insight into a comparison of the two!

Thank you 😊

Oh! And if you are on the slightly bigger side I'd love to hear about that too, I'm a size 14 or so, BMI close to 30, was the recovery and different? X

I've had 1 Emergency C, and 1 elective because of that. No problem with the elective - epidural, quick and pain free. Recovery no problem. Obviously you have to take care afterwards about heavy lifting etc, but that's it. Was weird knowing the exact date and time the baby was going to be born - but the plus side is, planning very easy.

Sorry was a size 8 in those days

1. Because that's what I wanted - MH not physical reasons

1. The procedure was calm, professional, and really quite a positive experience - I was scared on the day but it was fine. Putting the anesthetic in was the scariest bit.

1. Recovery was easy, but I was quite healthy - exercising 5 x per week throughout pregnancy. I was out of hospital the following day after surgery, driving again at 4 weeks and back to exercise at 8 weeks. The first few days were the hardest but mainly because of the hormone changes, and I had to inject myself with blood thinners at home once a day for 10 days. They didn't give me any painkillers - I made do with over the counter ibuprofen and paracetamol with codeine. Breastfeeding also went well.

Unfortunately, I can't offer a comparison, only had one so far!

What was your reason for choosing elective?
Twins - plus I broke my coccyx with previous vaginal birth and was told it could happen again!

How was the procedure itself?
Calm, quite relaxing actually. I fell asleep while I was being stitched up!

What was your recovery like?
I was lucky but had no problems at all with the scar and recovered quite quickly. The only problem I had was with the catheter and it took me about a week to get feeling back which was a bit scary but it turned out fine.

Bonus points if you had an elective after a vaginal birth and can provide some insight into a comparison of the two!
My vaginal birth experience was awful - induced, no pain relief, tears, broken coccyx, generally pretty traumatic and found it hard to walk for quite a while afterwards - compared to that the c-section was a really positive experience!

Bliss. No pain whatsoever - take the meds when given, do not play martyr and wait until the pain kicks in - too late by then.
Calm, controlled, safe and aesthetically pleasing as the consultant was most easy on the eye.
Happy DC, happy me, happy DH.
Did take the painkillers for about a week after being discharged and had no pain.
Best way to bring DC into this world!

Wow ladies, you lot really seem to have and great experiences with elective!! Thanks for sharing, it's incredibly helpful ❤️

@ScaredOfDinosaurs can I ask how you found the consultants and midwives response to your request for an elective?

@Hollybutnoivy your natural birth sounds very similar to my experience! And why I am desperate to educate myself on the elective process and hopefully go that route this time. Same question as above, did you find any resistance from medical professionals to your request?

Same question as above, did you find any resistance from medical professionals to your request?

I'm not in the UK I'm afraid and I was assigned an obstetrician for the birth who was very pro C-section for twins, so if anything, he was even more wary of vaginal birth than I was! Good luck x

Oh, I had EC because I wanted it. Why opt for pain if one could avoid it?
No problems with breastfeeding or bonding, DC most loving and wonderful and we have always been immensely close .

What was your reason for choosing elective?
Fear from the first vagina and crash section with the second.

How was the procedure itself?
Very laid back, very relaxing (as such) and was in and out in under half an hour.

What was your recovery like?
Crash section recovery was very un eventful, scar healed fine, just had to remember to not to try to do everything, elective recovery was easier as I 'd done it before with the crash recovery. Only thing that bothered me both times was the shoulder pain from the surgery, which is apparently normal referred pain and the midwives gave us peppermint in hor water which weirdly helped get rid of it.

2 planned c-sections. Due to my medical health issues and high risk. I really really wanted to give birth naturally but it was decided the safest way was CS.
First one was 37 weeks - I felt she was more like 36 weeks and needed help with breathing. I was fine healed quickly. But we had to stay in for a few days due to babies health.
Second time I pushed for 39 weeks before csection - they where very worried in case I went onto labour but struggled so much with my first baby (breathing etc) we agreed on 38.4 and she was born very healthy and no help needed. But flip side I was in a lot more pain :( suffered infections and struggled to pick up daughter , even simple tasks caused so much pain & still suffers blood loss. It took a good 6 weeks to be able to function a bit normal. Very very frustrating after having such an easy first experience! I got out after 48 hours but ended up back in with an infection shortly after.

You never know what will happen as much as it was a planned section both times very different outcomes.

I had one emergency c section and 2 electives.
My first labour was traumatic and I ended up having my baby under general anesthetic. It was so stressful but recovery was fine, much easier than I expected.
My first elective was also fine and recovery time was around a week. My second elective was not so good. I think my age, stressful pregnancy and weight all contributed to this.
I was weak and not very mobile and ended up with blood clots on my lungs.
It was probably about 5 weeks before I felt healed. This was my last baby anyway but I wouldn't go through it again.

What was your reason for choosing elective?

3c/4th degree tear with my first labour. Went into my booking appointment asking for a c section 😄 no questions asked.

How was the procedure itself?

Fine, we were second on the list but the first couple/midwife didn’t have their act together so we were done first and baby born at 9:55. If I remember rightly we had to be at the hospital for 7am. So pretty speedy! Surreal. I had veins in the wrong place/hadn’t moved out the way so I lost half my blood and had to have a transfusion and be in the high dependency room. But by day 3 (so 2 nights in hospital) I was absolutely crawling the walls and desperate to be discharged which took all day.

What was your recovery like?

Fine, much better than with the tear. Was driving by 4 weeks I think, one of our NCT group was a GP and confirmed you just decide for yourself if you’re ready. Had a 2.5 year old we had trained to climb into bath, car etc so minimal heavy lifting necessary.

Two CS - 1st emergency and 2nd elective for a host of reasons - hypertension mainly but also unstable lie (complete rotation twice during my 38th - 39th week of a massive baby) and SPD.

I had a BMI over 40 for both. Recovery physically was better for ELCS but fine for both. I found the procedure itself very hectic which was quite overwhelming but once the procedure was underway it was fine. The Obstetrician was superb and she had him out very quickly.

I healed very well but I did use a little dettol each day to clean my wound which I think helped - first time I got a minor infection.

The sensation is odd and I found lying completely flat uncomfortable because I have HH cup breasts and couldn’t wear a bra.

I tried vag birth first time but after 5 days of being induced and I got to a princely 1cm 🤣

1 vaginal birth which was very traumatic
3x elective c sections, spinal anaesthetic was the hardest bit. Catheter out the next morning, in the shower, took pain killers when they were offered. Home after 4 days, back driving after 4 weeks.

Missed your update - I was size 14/16 too. Nothing to compare it too but was fine. Vein thing nothing to do with my size. Only thing was sonographer commenting that it’s harder to see when there’s so much fat 😂

Elective because baby was in transverse position and had no intention of turning.

It was brilliant. No pain at all. Friends who gave birth naturally at the same time were in agony with stitches and infections. The C-Sec wound healed quickly and easily.

The only thing I really minded, in retrospect was that no one told me your milk doesn't kick in for days and days after an edipdural. I got so distressed trying to produce milk and would have handled it very differently if I'd known this was a side effect.

I had an elcs after an emcs.

I saw the m/w in the vbac clinic to discuss the reasons for my emcs, and the prognosis for future births. I was given a very balanced view of the pro’s and cons, and sent away to make my choice, no pressure. I chose elcs as dc1 nearly died, and only just escaped brain damage, and there was no reason why- plus they were slightly prem so I would have spent the last two weeks utterly terrified they were in undiagnosed distress like dc1.

Anyway in some ways the elcs was harder than the emcs. They had more time to site the epidural, but it took nearly 40 minutes as I had an undiagnosed scoliosis so they kept hitting bone which was frankly horrible. My back was an awful scabby bleeding mess.

My blood pressure dropped due to the anaesthesia so I had to be placed head down, and I couldn’t do anything other than focus on staying conscious. That dizzy sick feeling stayed with me for a good few hours, luckily dh took dc2 and sorted out dressing, weighing etc as I just wasn’t able to hold them.

Then I threw up every pain med they gave me. Vomiting after a section is fucking awful, so I stopped taking the meds and put up with the pain.

Other than that it was just the usual needing help sitting up, moving slowly, not overdoing the recovery. I think the recovery was better with the elcs but I knew to take it easy.

I saw on here that vaginal births are pain first, cs are pain after, which I think is true, especially watching women on the ward being discharged same day as if nothing had happened. I would have preferred a vaginal birth, but it wasn’t to be.

What was your reason for choosing elective?
I had placenta previa, so had no choice with c section, however I didn't mind either way.

How was the procedure itself?
Absolutely fine. I had some sickness during, which I think can be normal & my blood pressure dropped quite low. But they are on hand to administer any medication you need to help this & it resolves it quite quickly. I was very scared beforehand, & it was nerve wracking going in for the spinal & then waiting to go numb, in my opinion that was the worst part, because once the spinal kicks in, you can't feel anything. He was out in 10-15 mins, but then an extra 15-20 mins for stitching up etc.

What was your recovery like?

Recovered was fine actually! I was surprised. There was obviously a lot of pain, but with painkillers it's very bearable. Most frustrating part is not being able to get up & down as easily as before, that was the worst pain for me, but actually felt pretty much back to normal in a couple of weeks & that was even with getting an infection with my scar.

I had a footling breech (foot first presentation).
It was weird going in not in labour, and knowing pretty much when the baby would be born. Pain relief fabulous. I braced myself to stand up right asap.

I had two vaginal births after, and they were both very different too (one forceps nearly another CS the other very fast only gas and air). Biggest difference was I could start driving much quicker after the vaginal - but they seem to be less strict about that nowadays; and I got to go home faster. (Better pain relief drugs after CS though.)

I had an elective for breech baby

Procedure itself was calm and relaxed.....

BUT I'm an extreme example of when the risks in the small print come true.....adhesions and scar tissue from my c section ultimately destroyed both of my tubes. I nearly died twice from ruptured ectopic pregnancies and had to undergo 5 rounds of IVF at a cost of £35k to have another baby

I haven't had a cs but have attended many many many of them.

Elcs is a nice and calm environment imo. A lovely, controlled atmosphere. My trust offers enhanced recovery too. We encourage regular analgesia and early mobilisation. Usually discharged home the day after.

My BMI was only slightly higher than yours. 1st was an emergency c-section so can't help with that but second was "elective"

What was your reason for choosing elective?
No choice given breech and considered a big baby so chance of rupturing previous scar higher.
How was the procedure itself?
So quick! Went in for 7.30am was prepared and taken down for 9am. Music playing, talking to me, strange vinegar smell and an amazing first cuddle.

What was your recovery like? Long ish but I had learnt from first one not too overdo it, take the meds religiously and I was lucky to have no breastfeeding issues this time too.

My 2nd section was elective as 6 years previously I had an EMCS due to 'fail to proceed'
Bearing in mind that it was 39 years ago today, It went well. So, Having a baby LSCS style in 1982 by maras2
Overnight fast.
General anaesthetic.
Husband receives baby.
Come round and take baby from DH.
Put baby to breast.
Go back to sleep.
Baby in nursery overnight.
Bath for me in the morning.
Feed baby on demand.
Pretty much repeat for the next 10 days.
Spoilt rotten by staff with 4 meals a day served in either dining room or bed if not feeling too lazy well.
Compulsory 2 hourly cups of tea 'got to keep your milk flowing'
And unlimited analgesia and night sedation as all babies in the nursery for the night.
Very strict 1 hour only visiting in the afternoon and 1.5 hour for partners ONLY in the evening.
Home after 10 days and fall apart after forgetting how to survive on own as no paternity leave then and had been thoroughly spoiled in hospital .
Anyway, your experience will no way resemble this but best wishes and good luck. I'm sure that you'll be fine.

I’ve had 3 babies. 1st a vaginal delivery, 2nd and 3rd elective sections.

1st baby I had. 3 day labour, which ended in forceps delivery. Baby had shoulder dystocia. I had 3rd degree tears and 6 months recovery/physio (double incontinent for a couple of months, still 8 years on I have some hard scar tissue etc)

2nd baby I had placenta previa so had to have an elc, although I really didn’t want one. Placenta ruptured at 28wks and had to be in hospital on bed rest till 37 weeks when it was deemed safest to have the elc. It was horrendous, I was terrified. Everyone assumed I’d be relieved but I honestly was convinced I was going to die. No one addressed my fears and I was dismissed and told I’d get some counselling but nothing materialised even tho I begged them every day for weeks. I even wrote letters to my son in case I didn’t make it. I had to be carried into the theatre as my legs went from under me. I felt like a cadaver on the table. Everyone was chatting and laughing over my body. There was loads of people in the room. It was the worst experience of my life. They carried ds2 away and weighed him and put a hat on him before I even saw him. I couldn’t really believe he was mine for a long time. I felt very disconnected to him till he was 2yo. I had ptsd from the first labour which was exacerbated by the elc. It took ages to physically recover as both injuries meant my core muscles were very damaged. I ended up unable to move my back 6 weeks later and had to have intensive physio to just be able to sit up. I struggled to breast feed as well and ended up combine feeding.

3rd baby I was desperate for a ‘normal’ birth but spent months arguing with drs and midwives about it. No one could believe I’d risk the first labour over the second, but I’d still take it any day of the week! I had a sweep every day from 38wks but at 40+3 dd still wasn’t even engaged so had to have an elc. I had had some debriefing and counselling regarding the previous labours and was very insistent that there were as few people as possible in the room. The room was quieter and people kept checking on me rather than chatting about jazz over my head. Dd was put straight on me with cord still attached. I wore a kanga wrap and they didn’t take her to weigh her till I’d had a while with her. It made all the difference and I was very connected to her and felt like I’d finally had a good birth experience. I physically recovered very quickly and I breastfed well, till dd was 3.2.

My advice would be, be very direct and insistent with your wants and needs. I wasn’t in the first and second babies and I suffered because of it. You assume others know best and that they will do what’s best for you, but it isn’t always the case.