To C Section or not?

[DeSelby]

I am pregnant with my second, and have been told that I can probably have an elective C section if I choose (induction last time, big baby, retained placenta, PPH, severe anaemia & blood transfusion). I'm not sure, although afterwards was awful last time the birth itself was ok & my son took straight to breastfeeding. Recovery was ok. With a C section should I expect more problems breastfeeding? What is recovery like? I will have a toddler & baby to look after! And also I would hope to have another in a couple of years all being well, is that ok after C section? Thanks!

From my own experience, breastfeeding was not a problem, recovery was easy (and easier than what some of my friends who had vaginal births went through) and they usually tell you to leave two years between CS and next birth, may that be ELCS or VBAC.
I'm sure it won't be long though until somebody comes round to post completely the opposite. Which doesn't mean that either of us is wrong, but just that it's possible to have a fab CS as it is to have a crappy one.

I'd recommend reading around in the RCOG's guidelines and have a long chat with your consultant about the choices which are open to you.

A lot on the internet which has been written about the topic is heavily biased into one direction or the other, with statistics being carefully cherrypicked to support whatever cause they line up to. That's why I'd recommend to stick to reputable sources like RCOG, NICE when doing your own research.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

I had EMCS after a long fruitless labour and had no problems with feeding, and less than 48 hours later I was proudly wheeling my newborn about in her pushchair at the local shopping centre. I think it's the luck of the draw though, my friend who had EMCS a few weeks later didn't manage to establish bf and found recovery more of a struggle (popped a stitch, etc) but she was still driving after about 4 weeks. One thing that MAY be a factor IMO is that mine was done by a consultant in a large teaching hospital and my friend's was done in a DGH - I think I was stitched up better!

Thanks for the responses, very helpful.

QT, I feel my recovery was ok in that I am fine now but at the time I felt like I'd been in a carcrash, I had PPH, manual removal of placenta & had to be resubmitted after a week as I fainted & fell down the stairs due to severe anaemia. I don't want to experience that again but not sure if C Section is the way to avoid it so was interested in others experiences & the pro's & cons.

With DS I had a forceps and 3rd degree tear birth. I was offered a CS this time and didn't want it. However DD was breech so I ended up with one anyway. I was gutted.

Turned out to be a lovely experience. Far better than the birth I had with DS and I have felt far better afterwards. I had my GPs bring DS to the hospital less than 3 hours afterwards. I didn't feel shattered after, DD latched straight on in recovery and actually came out rooting away.

If I do have anymore, I will certainly be opting for a CS straight away and I really was upset at first when I found out I had to have one. I started a few threads on it.

I had a retained placenta with my first and had to have a manual removal.

Had an EMCS with 2nd because he was brow and distressed.

I have stupidly fallen pregnant again so have to make this decision myself.

I must say for me personally whilst the section was physically harder to recover from, I found the manual removal very traumatic and still upsets me now to think about it so it has definatly left more metal scars than the section even though my spinal failed and I felt them cut me and was then promptly knocked out, the manual was much worse, either that or I've blocked alot of my section issues as it was only recent.

Thanks, QT!

Nunnie, it sounds like you've had two pretty bad experiences, due for a straightforward birth this time I hope.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. Am veering towards the CS - would really like to avoid manual removal of placenta & for the most part your experiences seem positive - will discuss further with my consultant - thanks!