To think that people seem to think that a birth is only traumatic if it ends in an emergency c-section??

[anyoneelsedonethis]

I have massive sympathy for women who end up with em c-s after attempting natural birth.

Am I wrong in thinking though that unless you end up with an emcs people just dismiss your birth as non-difficult/traumatic???

Some people end up with horrible ventouse/forceps/tearing experiences but no-one really seems to give much sympathy for these. That is wrong I think.

I'd go see your consultant. Look at a 'mid way' - maybe a planned induction IF your cervix was favourable?

I'm guessing the hospital don't want to face the situation of needing to section you [for what ever reason, could be something totally unpredictable like fetal distress in labour, unable to push him/her out etc] at 4am when there's already a section going on and consultant anaestetic cover won't be in in time......you can imagine as you don't want to be in that scenario either!

I dunno - dunno your circumstances and would need to see your notes - but I have seen cases where there is a tentative attempt to trigger a labour, if that doesn't kick off then back to the section plan. If it's planned for this could be done when a GA section can be done as safely as possible. You would need to be aware of the potential for having your care postponed at short notice - if another women in labour was so much as hiccuping they would put you off - Induction or section that is. Yours need to be done when all guns are manned so to speak.

They all do in fact, but you know what I mean!

Not naughty to look in your notes - doesn't everybod!?

Besides, in a meeting with the consultant I'd simply ask to see them and be taken through them.
I'd want to know more about what the surgeon said in the notes, and what the notes suggest is the reason. That's a fairly decisive statement and suggests his difficluty at section was - well - bloody difficult!

Many sections can prove a challenge but the surgeon part of the obstetric brain usually relishes that so yours was clearly an interesting day at the office for him/her!

Oooo wish you were coming to my clinic we could have agood root through and a chin wag about the whole thing. If yor consultant is aware of your needs prior to meeting and has time to root through the notes they will be very happy and interested to go into this with you. Consultants love consulting!

I don't think what you said is true. I was in labour for 5 days resulting in an emergency c section and I do not think that my birth was more traumatic than other friends of mine who didn't have an emergency c-section. Out of all of the 9 girls in our NCT group, not one of us has had a straight forward birth - c section or not. Our experiences were all very unique and shouldn't be compared.

Only read the OP, but I personally have sympathy for anyone who had a hard time during birth, however they birthed.

After my second birth (elective section) I was on a ward with two women who had had vaginal births and suffered fourth degree tears. It was a big eye opener. One woman had had an awful shoulder dystocia birth and both she and her child were damaged. The other women had been told she would need further surgery as she was doubly incontinent . She was also told she would not be able t to give birth vaginally again. The poor woman was completely bed bound and looked shaken to her core.

I was a bit achy, but that was the sum of my woes.

C-section isn't always awful and natural birth certainly isnt always starightforward. No brainer, really.

I'd personally find a ventouse or forceps delivery far more traumatic than a CS. In fact my first three birth plans specifically stated that if intervention were need, they were not coming anywhere near me with the salad tongs and we'd go straight to theater instead.

This really bugs me too,my SIL and I had babies within days of each other, she had a section and was holding her baby 1.5 hours after she entered the hospital, I seen her a few hours before she went to hospital and she wasn't in considerable pain then, so only had a couple hours of pain at the most.

I had a vaginal birth with nearly 3 days of contractions,9 hours in final stages of labour, syntocin drip, failed epidural, major drop in blood pressure which resulted in me vomiting constantly and it ended in my LO being taken out with vacuum!!!

but she had an 'operation' as she calls it and wont just say c section, which I think she does to try and make people think it was something else worse than a section, so a lot of people don't even ask anymore questions about it.

Really pisses me off!!!!

Another zombie thread?

To be honest, I've had people comment on my EMCS and say "Well, at least it was an easy birth!" Yeah... right.

I was in labour for days, the hospital kept turning me away because I wasn't dilating quickly enough and when they finally admitted me they gave me Gas & Air and then left me to get on with it. Hours later they come back and go "Hmm, 5cm! Well done you. Epidural?". I just nodded. They then moved me to where I was meant to be in the first place, set up my epidural and then decided to check on me every time I went to sleep. I was absolutely knackered and just wanting it to be over and done with, and then this bloody consultant swans in to break my waters. Once she's done that she swans back out, comes back in 3 hours, tells me I'm not progressing as I should and gives me something to help widen my cervix. 5 hours later she checks me again and goes "hmm, you're 7cm on one side and 9 on the other, can't feel the head anymore but we'll just up this drug for you". My mum, a nurse, then went ballistic because if I'd been given any more cervix-widening drugs my contractions would have gone past 8 per minute, putting both me and baby in distress. She argues the toss with us and promises she knows what she's doing. She then tells me that she wants to keep me on this drug for another 5 hours, and then go from there. My mother stormed out and got a second medical professional who just glared at this consultant and went "We'll be prepping you for theatre, you should be holding your baby within the hour".

The bitch of a consultant then flounced out, making herself incredibly scarce, and then came back the next day and berated me on my decision to have a C-Section, and I "would have been fine delivering vaginally" if I'd bothered to listen to her, even though my DS was BACK TO BACK (). That's the first time I'd been told! She then chucked some leaflets at me about weight loss, told me I'd better start sharpish and then left.

Not exactly the most traumatic, but nowhere near how I'm imagined it. And thinking about that consultant still makes my teeth itch.

And does anyone know what "watabout me" and "StarlightMcKenzie" are on about? Or are they just posting "Message withdrawn"?

StealthPenguin - look at the dates, its a very old thread. Those posters have probably left Mumsnet and asked to have all their posts deleted.

Oh........ Sorry! It was on the first page so I just assumed...