If you had a c section

[GarnetsandRubies]

Do you suffer with incontinence / weak pelvic floor? Could you jump on a trampoline without leaking?

YABU = I have incontinence after a c section

YANBU = I don't have any continence issues

OP I agree with you completely that women aren't able to make informed decisions about how they give birth. And I agree very much that the risks of c-sections are always emphasised, whilst the risks of vaginal births are really minimised. Women should be presented with clear facts and be able to make decisions based on them.

Fwiw, I've had two ELCS because of severe tokophobia. I had great births, great recoveries, and no continence issues at all.

I had awful pregnancies (psychologically, not physically) because of my tokophobia, but I'm almost glad of it now because as a result, I had c-sections and really good births and no ongoing issues.

Yes, for me the long term issues of my c sections are recurring urine infections, I get pain due to adhesions and my stomach muscles have never healed properly. My adhesions are quite severe which adds more risks to any surgery I may need in future.

emsc here and no incontinence issues. However I have had issues with weak lower back since childhood and the c section cutting through my stomach muscles has made things worse.

I have had two c sections. One emergency, on elective. My last on was 8 years ago and I still have daily pain from c section scarring. I think I have adhesions.

@Silversun83 reading your stories makes me so fucking angry. Whose preference indeed women are treated like pieces of meat when giving birth (and indeed with other medical issues too). Makes my blood boil.

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind so pleased you had a good experience with your ELCS, my friends who have had electives are all really happy with their choice too women should definitely be given the cold hard facts.

I know quite a few women who have had horrendous injuries through vaginal birth, but I also know a similar number who have serious issues following both planned and EMCS (including severe life-threatening trauma for the baby). I personally have had one EMCS and one ELCS and I am grateful for both because if I hadn't had either of them both I and the children wouldn't have survived - BUT I also have some significant life-impacting after-effects. Some are due to pregnancy rather than delivery, however I have severe internal damage and scarring which means I would be risking my life to have a third child, I have had permanent damage to my bladder, the scarring adhesion is so severe I suffer from daily abdominal pain than can cause me to double over, I have a large distended pouch that makes it hard to wear certain clothes and my stomach is still dead to the touch in various places 4 years on from the ELCS, I have some internal damage, possibly a prolapse, that makes sex painful (under investigation- slowly!) and a crappy pelvic floor. Most of this can't be fixed with surgery and could affect me for the rest of my life. So while I understand entirely why you feel bitter about what has happened, please do not minimise the risks and possible life-long consequences of having a section.

Out of interest did you do any antenatal courses, as I recall my NCT class covering what percentage of women tore or required episiotomy during vaginal birth and the stats were certainly sobering. I think the reality is the NHS can not afford a majority of women having sections, and culturally it is perceived to be the less desirable choice for quite a few reasons (I am not defending this as a csection veteran who got a lot of questions about why I wasn't trying a VBAC - but other countries have a bigger emphasis on sections as routine). The trouble is, even if you had elected for a section you would have been facing a whole set of new risks and the stats for those are sobering too.

@Clocktopus

You can still have pelvic floor issues after a section because pregnancy itself (hormones, weight of the baby, etc) puts pressure on it.

This! The pelvic floor is under huge strain for 9 months, it is not just birth alone which causes the issues. Its such a shame that there isn't more information out there for women to be better educated and informed about this.

Your pelvic floor also supports your bowels and it is very common for women to also suffer bowel incontinence, not just bladder incontinence, but no one ever tells you this!

When do you propose the clear facts are presented @StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind ? Like I said above, largely people are dismissive of any negatives on here. You get told they're horror stories or scaremongering. The info is all out there to read. Should midwives be offering the info? And how? A leaflet? A conversation? How would they know they'd been heard? What would the psychological effect be of listing every single outcome early in pregnancy? Would it be better later on?

I am 100% on board with info being freely available but can't work out how you'd manage it being offered as a choice. You already have the option to choose a CS. How do we impart more info around that choice? How informed does informed look? Who decides? The risks are similar for both in many ways but you're dealing with the unknown so can't actually know which is better for your body and your baby until after the fact in some cases. I'm not sure how you medicalise birth in this way apart from encouraging women to do their own research according to their own situations.

Silversun I was also heavily encouraged to try a VBAC. One midwife even asked me why on earth I'd choose another CS. Read my notes and see what happened the first time perhaps

And I also had the warnings that I wouldn't be able to carry out normal daily activities for some time. Which I was well aware of since I'd already been through CS recovery. I worried the whole way through my second pregnancy a second CS would be denied after hearing of the complications at every appointment and nobody could understand why I didn't want to try for a vaginal birth. Luckily I was adamant it wasn't worth the risk and had an elective CS with a good recovery.

"Oh and the medical profession needs to stop solely comparing c-sections to "normal"/easy vaginal births and start comparing them to the all-too-common vaginal births that go wrong or are difficult. THEN we'll have a better understanding of the comparative risks"
Same thing should apply to csec, the fact that you had a good experience does not mean they are a piece of cake..........
Thanks to this type of comments people assume csec are the easy way out and dismiss traumatic experiences.

(Sorry . . . I'm pretty sure this didn't copy correctly)

@Samafe I don't think anyone is saying a c-section is the easy way out. It's just that, I believe (based on what I've personally read/studied, witnessed and experienced) that there's less chance of a traumatic and/or damaging delivery with a planned c-section than with a vaginal birth.

Emergency c-sections are a different kettle of fish - it's usually a dire situation and not comparable.

I also agree with @Peanutsandchilli - we're grown women. We need to do our research and make these choices. Unfortunately this means not taking at face-value the party line from the NHS which is biased towards vaginal births due to cost

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that my adhesions mean that I have been told not to have any more children because the risk is too great. With my third section I was in theatre for several hours due to them, it was utterly awful.

@furbabymama87

I've had 4 c sections and yes I have a weak pelvic floor. I wet myself a couple of times in my third and fourth pregnancies and I do leak pee. I always need to wear a pad.

Were you told this was because of the sectionS? Or is it possible it’s due to four pregnancies?

I have these issues after a C-section.

Unfortunately there's the risk of life long issues no matter how you give birth, but yes you absolutely should have been given the option to make an informed decision if a planned section was something you wanted to consider.

I'm still recovering nearly one year post cat1 EMCS, its horrific tbh.
At this point I don't think I'll ever recover physically or mentally.

I really think the responsibility is on us as women to educate ourselves about our options BUT I was so well informed and I was still refused a planned section by my hospital. They now have to foot the bill for my trauma counselling for PTSD on top of everything else, totally unavoidable.

Best of luck for the future OP.

I do but it’s generally sneezing, coughing and laughing fits that get me.

I probably should add that I’ve had two csections. One was planned because DD was breech and wouldn’t turn and the other was classed as an emergency as I was in Labour but failed to progress

One EMCS, one ELCS. No issues other than nerve damage after the second one (so I have very little feeling across most of my lower stomach area). This doesn’t really bother me too much, though, other than the tiny bit of feeling I have making me feel a bit uneasy and grim.

After my first birth experience, there was no fucking way I’d ever try a vaginal birth again. Far too much distress and trauma. I’d take the 3-4 weeks grim recovery over a minute of that any day.

I was lucky, though. Second time round my decision at my 16 week consultation for a CS appointment was immediately accepted and never challenged. I think me bursting into tears as soon as we discussed my options made them realise that I was far too fragile to even try to convince me otherwise.

I’m sorry for the pain you’re having to go through. Maternity services in the UK are a bit of a joke if I’m honest, and it’s no wonder so many women suffer from PND. I had it twice and I still believes it all stems from my awful first experience giving birth.

YANBU. I have no issues with my pelvic floor after two sections.

I'v had vaginal and c section births. No issues with my pelvic floor but I do have long lasting effects from my ELCS (breech baby) and they nearly killed me - I wish everyone didn't assume all ELCS go smoothly.

@ThisIsTrifficult

Had 2. One 'emergency' one planned.

I can jump no bother. Go running too. I could probably do with some pelvic floor training just generally but it hasn't stopped me doing anything at all
I realise how fortunate this makes me.

Same

I didn't do pelvic floor exercises but have recently bought a trainer to just make sure all is ok.

I had a birth with forceps, an emergency section and a scheduled section.

Ive had 3 c sections. Id say after each one i had very mild incontinence during the healing process but after one year it had been resolved. Its been 3 years now since my last one. I dont get any leaking issues but dont have what youd call a strong bladder and need the toilet fairly frequently. This could be scar tissue pushing on the bladder or something like that. But overall no real issues and if i lost weight im sure that would improve things too.

I had a c-section, the hospital I went to had a post-birth group session with a physio. Both times the physio was very clear that pelvic floor issues happen after c-sections too. That the more babies you have and the heavier they are the more at risk you are.

I have had 2 c-sections and no vaginal births and I have some issues with it (I also had twins so their combined weight/size did some damage, in more ways than 1).

I also had to be under a general for my twins birth, so DH and I both missed their birth. I’d take more ongoing bladder issues to have not missed that.

Calm down! You really would have rather dealt with ANYTHING than stress incontinence??

What about spinal damage and paralysis from a c-section / epidural? death from general anaesthetic? infections in wound? sepsis?

A woman I know has been left fecally incontinent after spinal damage from the epidural for her csection.

You are being over dramatic. And I am saying that as someone who feels their life has been pretty much ruined by the incontinence left from a traumatic birth, and is 6 surgeries down. But this wasn't caused by anyone not telling me the risks of csection vs vaginal delivery. As an adult, I was able to do all my own research while pregnant. What actually needs to happen is for medical professionals to stress incontinence a lot more seriously, and provide ALL women with post natal pelvic floor physio in the first 3 months post birth.

Three sections here and all were big babies with the smallest being nearly 9 pounds. No continence issues. I have a dodgy bit of stitching and a few areas on my stomach where I can't feel much but that's it.

Definitely think women aren't given the full facts. I was told to have a vbac with number 2. But they failed to point out that my chances of successfully managing this with continuous monitoring and a large baby were slim. I elected for a section after doing my own research. Third baby there was no discussion and was told it would be a section. Have been advised a fourth would be a very bad idea.

[quote StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind]@Silversun83 reading your stories makes me so fucking angry. Whose preference indeed women are treated like pieces of meat when giving birth (and indeed with other medical issues too). Makes my blood boil. [/quote]
To be honest it's only writing it all down that I realise how horrific it all was.

I think I read somewhere that the outcomes from birth go in severity from 1) Straightforward vaginal birth 2) ELCS 3) Vaginal birth with complications 4) EMCS.

Trouble is you can't tell which one you'll end up with!

I was considered an excellent candidate for number 1) - straightforward pregnancy, good BMI, fit and healthy - was doing yoga and walking two miles a day up to 41 weeks. Couldn't have been further from the truth!

Women are just not taken as seriously or believed - have we actually moved on much since women were treated for 'hysteria'?

Haven't there been studies on the outcomes for men and women presenting with the same complaint at GP/hospital?