caesarian after 3rd degree tear

[twentythree]

I have to decide whether to opt for an elective caesarian after nasty 3rd degree tear with DS1. Has anyone else done this? Or decided against it in favour of vaginal birth? Any thoughts welcome!

not personally but a friend of mine just had a csection after a 3rd degree tear first time. They offered this to her cos they thought the baby was going to be big, turned out he was only 8lb.

Anyway, she did say that the caesarian was more traumatic and took her longer to recover from than vaginbal delivery. If she had a choice she would have given birth vaginally but she didnt want to risk it.

HTH but im sure there are lots of people on here who've been through it

will watch this thread with with interest, have had an antenatal today, and am in exactly the same position, part of me wants to go for a vaginal delivery, and hope it wont happen again, part of me want to take the c section, another part of me just wants someone else to do the whole labour thing
I have 6 weeks to decide..............

I've just been reading an old thread from a while ago full of people saying how fantastic their elective caesarians were so that has started to slightly sway me! Would welcome any other views...

Me me me.......

I had a 3rd Degree tear and told the consultant I wasn't going to have the baby any other way than by C.Section!!!

No way was I going to go through that again.

I't was so much better, had the date to go in, all great. I was up and about within 3 days, healed 3 times as fast. Highly reccomended

Thanks for that - how did you find looking after older child straight away? My DS will be 2.8 years and is a right old handful.

I found it fine, when your in the later stages of pregnancy I stopped picking up my toddler so she wouldn't expect to be picked up all the time, I bought some reins. My DD1 was 20 months when DD2 was born and is also a handful - vanishing in shops etc..

A C Section's not as bad as you think, don't get me wrong the first week is painful but not as bad as youre thinking

Get a good double buggy & strap toddler in secure(I found the phil & Teds side by side wonderful, the only pram that doesnt make a difference with two different weights in, usually they feel like a shopping trolly if you know what I mean, I know theyre expensive but well worth it and believe me I'v tried them all, you can push it with one finger)

I had an episiotomy and third degree tear with my first delivery. With my 2nd I had an episiotomy which needed a few stitches. It was nothing like the first time (thankfully). Recovered quickly and well. 3rd and subsequent babies, no episiotomies or tears.

i had my dd by elective section 2 weeks ago today for exactly the same reason (and my ds is now 2.8 as well!) i was like you and couldn't decide what to do. in the end i came to the conclusion that i couldn't risk having a repeat of ds birth, so went for the caesarean. yes it's scary and yes it bloody hurts for the first 24 hours and no you won't be able to do much for the first couple of weeks BUT oh my god was it soooo much better and more positive experience that my first baby. i feel absolutely fine now and my boobs are hurting way more than my tummy! the scar is really small and un-noticable and it's not painful at all any more, tbh it's not really uncomfortable at all. i have recovered 10 times quicker after having a caesarean than my vaginal delivery - i can't reccomend it enough!!!!

< sways towards a c section >

I opted for a c section after traumatic first birth, and it was fab, best ever moment of my life.

Staff were fantastic and really put you at ease, you get to see baby almost straight away, and then NOTHING matters after that, you don't even think about being stitched up.

Recovery much much faster than vag delivery,and no poohing probs either(Episiotomy and going to loo do not mix well!)

hi
slightly ot as i didnt have a 3rd degree tear, but dd1 was injured instead during birth, so for dd2 i did go for an elective cs. would really recommend it, you don't feel a thing, the first week of recovery is difficult and painful but in a manageable way.

best of all, if you decide cs in advance, the rest of your pregnancy is so much more relaxed without the mental tension of thinking about what happened last time, you feel like you're back in control of your body and your baby, it's great. all the best,whatever you decide.

I had an elective section just over 2 weeks ago and feel fantastic. My first birth was dreadful and took me weeks and weeks to recover. This time was a dream for me. Granted there was alot of pain in the first 2 days but this gradually eased. I have managed to cope fine without much help at all - even husband had to work away. I also have a toddler who i made sure went to nursery 3 days instead of 2 which helped alot. Started driving yesterday!

I had an elective csection with DD1. I think it depends on how you feel about hospitals in general as to whether you'd prefer it. A section is an operation in an operating theatre with all that goes along with that.

I found it very overwhelming and scary even though DH was there throughout the whole thing. Seemed a long way off from the "giving birth" I had heard about.

Afterwards it didn't take long to be back on my feet but those first few days were quite medicalised too with catheter, surgical stockings, anti bloodclot injection every day etc. etc.

If those things don't bother you then you might prefer a section for its predictability.