blacktreaclecat, I had an ELCS for my 1st DC a year and a half ago, for psychological reasons (birth phobia). It was a great birth and absolutely the right choice for me. It was on the NHS and involved being referred at my booking in appt to the consultant MW, who referred me to a perinatal psychiatrist, who recommended I have an ELCS, which was then 'granted' by a consultant. Bit of a long route! but I had my ELCS guaranteed at around 20 something weeks and was able to enjoy the rest of my pregnancy without being in crippling fear and anxiety every day.
Experiences seem to vary HUGELY across the NHS in terms of being offered an elective CS, and I'm sure others will post here about their experiences. I think a key issue is being taken seriously early on in pregnancy. A lot of MWs come back with an 'oh, everyone gets a bit worried lovey' type response and don't want to refer you to anyone else, or says 'we won't discuss ELCS until you are 38 weeks pregnant' - which isn't true btw. That's when you tend to be given an actual date and booked in (fair enough, silly doing it earlier) - but you can have an ELCS ok'd well before that, like I did.I think I had a good experience because I had an excellent community MW and dealt with a great consultant MW who could see how much trouble I was in.
Anyway - FWIW, it's worth being clear if you (a) would like a VB but are very scared about the prospect so are considering an ELCS instead, or (b) can't bear the thought of a VB to the extent that it is having a negative effect on your mental and emotional health day to day, and are sure you want a CS.
You will get helpful responses here, I hope! You will also get responses from people who do not understand what a birth phobia is and will just try and be generally reassuring about VBS. Kindly meant, but missing the point. Think about the difference between someone with severe depression and someone who's miserable and under the weather. You get the picture.
Obvious points - of course it is worth doing your research. I would be careful to distinguish, when you can, between info about planned CS's and info about emergency CS's. Mostly they are all lumped in together, which isn't helpful. You will get bored of people telling you 'a CS is major surgery, you know!' No shit. If you really want a CS, you may need to be persistent and very clear with your HCPs, be it MW, GP, consultant or the whole lot of them about the scale of your anxiety. If you don't tell them, they won't know and can't help. This is hard as no one wants to talk about things they find very upsetting. If it is easier, write it down and hand them the paper at an appt, telling them you find it very difficult to discuss so you'd rather they read this please. Or, you may find that you have to do very little to get a CS. Like I say, it varies hugely.