to think that some MNers are just a tweensy bit biased when it comes to elective CS?

[youcannotbeserious]

Why is it, when anyone ever posts that they want an elective CS / considering going private, LOTS of MNers start going on about the risks (I appreciate that they exist and, to be fair, they are explained in detail by the consultant and you have to sign a waiver so you are fully aware of them) and needing to be in an NHS hospital 'just in case' and you wouldn't want to be in one of those pesky private hospitals, but the same never gets said for home births which, as far as I can see, must have a reasonably equal risk of needing to go to transfer to a hospital?

Why is it that Elec. CSs are so frowned upon?

I'm genuinely curious - I had to defend my 'birth plan' several times here on MN - and I don't honestly see why it's so emotive... Should I run for it now?

"Unmatched by other private units, our maternity service is complemented by the full resource of our children's hospital including a special care baby unit and neonatal intensive care for babies born over 32 weeks gestation"

So, if your baby is born between 24 and 32 weeks, where will you be sent? The NHS.

That quote from the Portland, btw.

I had an emergency csection after a 43 hour labour for ds because he failed to progress, then an elective cs with dd. I know I could have had a vbac with but was terrified at the possibility of going through the same thing as first time around.

I breastfed both my dc in recovery at Queen Charlottes, West London. The support and after care were fabulous and it was all FREE .

Well actually twinkle the nhs did just that for my friend last week. I also had wonderful care on the nhs here in Dorset. I had a fab consultant carry out my cs who also works in the private sector, (he did camilla parker bowles hysterectomy). However I think if you want to go private then its your choice and you have every right to it.

"would your wonderful NHS have done that NO!"

Of course it would, or at least it could. And has done so in many cases. For every nightmare experience of 'NHS squalor' you will also find the opposite.

Isn't it amazing that so many of ue survive at all given that we have to rely on the squalid NHS.

to be honest, i don't know how i would have survived this pregnancy if i had relied on the nhs..they sent me home with an internal bleed without even LOOKING for a cause.

"if someone were to offer to pay for you to go to a wonderful hospital like the portland where people come from all over the world to deliver would you turn it down for NHS squalor?"

Well, I've only given birth once and only on the NHS but I have to say there was no squalor involved at all, apart from that caused by me inhaling biscuits like they were air and getting crumbs everywhere shortly after giving birth.

And I had fantastic care throughout my pregnancy and labour, all on the NHS. I know not everyone gets this but then going private is no guarantee of quality either. Most consultants work in both sectors, I believe.

Me too, I gave birth in an NHS hospital and had NHS care (not that I had any other option where I lived anyway) and the care was brilliant and there was nothing remotely squalid about it.

Oh, and the MWs and paediatricians I saw came from all over the world

I don't have any chips on my shoulders, and fwiw I hadn't heard of the Portland until this thread. But, given my knowledge of private healthcare, I couldn't believe that it had a level 3 neonatal facility for very prem babies, and on investigation, it doesn't. I'm not for one minute saying that you didn't and wouldn't receive excellent care, but I stand by my opinion that the vast majority of patients think that private=better, and that actually private=different and more immediate.

I base this on my experiences having worked in a NHS theatre suite, working alongside surgeons who had extensive PP lists, alongside NHS lists. Patients would comment on how different things might be if private. They didn't realise that the private patients got the same surgeon, the same anaesthetist, the same recovery nurses, and the same wards. They just paid for the privilege of being bumped up the list.

Oh, and in private health care, every swab, every needle, every syringe is charged for. Epidural top up £40, for example. In the NHS, nobody is sticking a sticker on a sheet to calculate how much epidural you have used, or counting swabs to work out your bill.

By lou031205 on Fri 27-Jun-08 22:12:01
Oh, and in private health care, every swab, every needle, every syringe is charged for. Epidural top up £40, for example. In the NHS, nobody is sticking a sticker on a sheet to calculate how much epidural you have used, or counting swabs to work out your bill.

Well, to be fair, Lou031205, the NHS are calculating how much each patient has cost and do have to calculate the bill.

It's just a different set of people picking up the bill.

It still all has to be paid for.

Maybe, if we stopped expecting miracles from nothing, we would pay a fair price for the excellent welfare the NHS provides.

But MRSA is not an NHS disease! Over a 1/3 of the population carries Staph Aureas on our skin. A resistant strain is (MR)SA. It just happens that people who are susceptible tend to be in hospital. And it is spread by contact.

Your private surgeon has also been in the NHS hospitals with MRSA.

i had my ds by EC in Watford General on the day it was voted the worst hospital for maternity services in the papers. And they were bloody brilliant, they were brilliant through my ECV at 39 weeks (as my DS was breech) and through my whole "birth", the midwives were fab, (other than one who had obviously had 23 children all breech vaginally while negotiating world peace) it was all lovely, 2 consultants oversaw my stitches etc and everyone commented on how lovely and neat they were all the theatre staff were fab and looked after me as i was on my own, held my hand, held the baby after he was born as i was scared to hold him for feeling dizzy. a really positive experience.

Sorry, meant to write: The NHS could provide an excellent service...

It's late and I don't get to sleep much these days!!

Not in the same way, YCBS. Budgets are set at ward level. I have never had to document how many sets of equipment I have used. I used to work in Angiography, and some of the coils we used cost thousands. When we gave injections, we would draw up with one needle, then use another for the injection, for the comfort of the patient. I am simply saying that the NHS is not the squalid system people claim. It is just a case that people don't realise what they are receiving.

For example, you pay £7.10 per item for prescriptions, whether that item costs the NHS £0.50 or £5000 - it is just a contribution.

I haven't read the whole lot but something on the first page got me going.

The phrase "elective caesarian" is misleading. NHS don't give caesarians on patient choice. They call them "elective" if e.g baby is breach, (can't think of any more medical terms) erm wonky or whatever. Elective CS are elected by the consultants, not the women having the babies. They are for medical reasons.

I had an emergency CS with my PFB. I was induced and it was awful, then foetal distress, me in a dreadful way, then they whipped her out and it was fab. I found the recovery easy and the bleeding very light. Got the baby on the breast in recovery room and still BF at 11 mo.

The procedure itself was wonderful, going from a midwife who told me I had a low pain threshold to a sympathetic and professional anaethethetist and surgeon. And when they put the spinal block in, aaahhhhh.

Yet apparently I wasn't labouring enough for the midwife, I was offered no pain relief at all, not even gas and air, and they looked at me like I was weird every time I jumped up onto tiptoes and vomited at each (non) conraction.

Next time, what to do? I would like a natural birth, but do not under any circumstances want to be induced, ever again. I could prob ask for CS, but that would be at 38 weeks or something, which doesn't feel right, getting them out before they're ready, or wait and hope, but I get the feeling my babies liked to be cooked for a very long time, and they will want to induce me again... arrrgh!

Sorry CHuckky, but that's not totally correct.

A woman can ask her consultant for a CS (reagrdless of medical need) and he may well agree.

I had an elec. CS for personal not medical reasons.

YCBC, I imagine though that your argument was very strong. I don't think you can just rock up and ask for a CS and they say, yes fine, except where you have maybe had a CS before.

Personally I think the woman should be able to choose the birth method of her choice. The reason CS is not available on the NHS is that it is very very much more expensive. They cannot afford to give CS to everyone.

There are risks involved in birth and pregnancy full stop. Any statistical differences in survival rates, once normalised, are pretty much negligable.

CP - I went Private. I don't expect the NHS to pay for my choices!

But I am sure there are quite a few Elec CS done on the NHS....

I had a elective c-section for personal reasons for with last baby.Long story short my experiences with midwives not good and no way do I trust them with the life of my baby.

To get an elective though you have to have a consultant agree to it. And they don't want their time treating emergencies (or playing golf) eaten into too much.

I still reckon it's pretty difficult to get a CS agreed on the NHS just "because I want one".

Maybe I have an old-fashioned view of the NHS, that it is there for need. While private hospitals are there for choice.

I still don't know whether to go VBAC or CS next. And I'm not even pregnant yet! But that's a whole other thread.

Personally YCBS, and responding to your first post, I have no problems at all with your choice of private hosp/CS. You are a grown-up, and the choice is yours. Good luck and enjoy, I say!

I had an elective c-sect planned. Then I developed pre-eclampsia.
I elected, initially, because I am epileptic and physical fatigue brings on seizures. My consultant was more than happy when I suggested / asked.