Caesarean or natural delivery?

[Pinky333777]

I'm looking for the pros and cons of having a vaginal birth vs a Caesarean section, preferably from Mums who may have experienced both.
Thanks

I had a natural birth. The birth was straight forward, no pain relief (not in the UK). It was sore to sit down for a few days but nothing major. Feel free to ask more questions!

2 natural birth and csection here.
First was perfect on paper water birth at mw unit. I don't have many complains of that birth, in fact it was very beautiful but long and painful. MW did not stitch up well where consultant should of done the work. Could not sit or stand upright for several days.
Second birth was at mw unit and very traumatic with DS. Left me with multiple injuries.
3rd was emcs after labouring for 8 hours or so. Epidural was a bliss, csection wonderful and after that I honestly do not know why I never went for at least epidurals before. Recovery was hard during the first week but once that I was over the hill and it was all fine. If I knew what I know now I would of gone for elcs each time.
In a nutshell
Natural birth positives are quicker recovery
Negatives are if in mw unit they may not assess and repair tears properly. Pain can be crazy. I find the whole thing with no drugs sort of inhumane in this modern age. My second birth with ds was very traumatic, he was a huge baby and it was obvious before he came. They just left me and let him rip through my body, it was so so painful and scary.
Positives of csection that is done in very nice and controlled environment. I knew my dd was safe and my lady bits will not suffer no more. Recovery was harder but it was not so terrible although everyone is different.

I've had an induced vaginal delivery, an emCS, then 2x VBAC - all were 'good' experiences.

All things being equal, a normal delivery is what I'd recommend.

What particular concerns do you have?
Have you spoken to your MW/dr about it?

Had two planned elcs. Massively happy with both as both represented my preferred birth experience. What's your preferred birth experience?

Only had a normal vaginal birth. All I can say is flip it hurt (but might have been different and better with an epidural) but I'm needle/surgery phobic so the thought of a c section or even an epidural makes me faint.

So I think C sections can be calmer and hurt less at the time but I believe the recovery is longer.

What ever is medically the best option. That's what I would choose. Your consultant should be able to advise.

If you have a good vaginal birth then the recovery is quicker and it's healthier for baby.

If you have a good section, recovery should be relatively quick but longer than above and baby should be fine.

If you have a bad vaginal birth then recovery could be much much longer than a section (if you ever full recover) but the same could be said of a bad section. However, the number of 'bad' planned sections is smaller than the number of bad vaginal births, the 'bad' sections tend to be emcs.

Unfortunately I had a bad vaginal birth so I'm biased.

2 vaginal and one c section here. If I were to have a 4th (I'm so not ) I would have a c-section.
I'm rubbish at giving birth - For me my vaginal births were long, not text book ending with instrumental deliveries, lots of stitches.
Both recoveries were painful for different reasons but with a section I wasn't exhausted from a long labour, I was pretty refreshed and so more mentally with it.

3 vaginal, one undiagnosed breech (feet first). Ironically she was my easier labour/birth by miles!

Lots of ideologies swirling around about types of births.
Went for vaginal delivery because I genuinely believed (was brainwashed nothing bad would happen to me) it was better for all concerned but ended up seriously injured.
My sister had 2 EMCS and didn't enjoy the experiences, the first one particularly as it was a real shock. She went on to have another child, I didn't.
I suppose what you need to consider is that generally you have a 60% chance of a spontaneous vaginal delivery and 40% chance of instruments or c-section (these rough numbers change if you've already had a baby or if you're over 35 or have health issues etc). I wish midwives looked at each woman's chances of a spontaneous delivery and discussed it with her but currently that is not really the case (I've only heard of that sort of conversation when women are referred to an obstetrician).
All the best

How we deliver is such a tiny, tiny part of motherhood that I just cannot get worked up about it

IME and IMO the most important thing (apart from 'healthy mother, healthy baby' yadda yadda) is good communication that allows the woman to be part of the deacon making and the reasoning behind those decisions.

I can honestly say that whether the management of my recurring MCs, or inductions with epidural and then drip (a more medicalised labour and delivery is hard to come up with), the premature emCS at 31 weeks, and then my 2 VBACs - they were ALL 'good' deliveries, at the time and with hindsight.
I felt well looked after and trusted those managing my care (2 different hospitals due to house move).

And I think THAT is what had the biggest positive impact on my outcomes.

one section and one natural. they both had plusses and minus. the recovery with the section was a bit longer. the section was fairly relaxed...emergency but not very urgent. we managed to have sex three weeks after delivery with no issues.
natural...i found the actual experience more distressing. no pain relief and very fast. but once baby was born and I was stitched up I was able to move and shower etc. the next day I was out a long walk with the pram and there was next to no pain. sex... waited 9 weeks as I was a bit worried about the damage. it was fine.

Have had an EMCS & a VBAC.

EMCS was fine, not scary, but the recovery was brutal, which was the main reason I decided to go for VBAC with DC2.

VBAC was great, all went to plan & pain was very manageable, in fact it was more pressure than pain. Recovery was very easy. Will definitely go for normal birth if we decide to go for DC3.

I've had both.

1st baby was induced and after 2 hours of labour I had to have a ventouse delivery aswell as get an episiotomy. I had to get one big long stitch and my god did it hurt healing probs took me about 4/6 weeks to be able to sit down or pee etc

2nd baby was induced again and after 5 hours had to have a emcs. I need to admit I recovered so much quicker with csection than I did Vbac

I am now 37 wks pregnant and I have requested a csection (also sterilisation!) as I seemed to recover quicker

Why are you looking OP, are you pregnant? Researching? Student?

Whichever it is, you need to reframe your question. It's not a choice of CS or natural delivery, it's a choice of CS or attempting a natural delivery. You also need to clarify what sort of section you're talking about. Planned section is a different beast entirely to a Cat 1 EMCS.

Lastly, you'd need more information about the individual woman and foetus concerned. There's no one answer. If she's a 26 year old low risk second timer, probably VB unless she's particularly opposed. If baby's transverse, not so much.

One failed assisted delivery and ended up emcs and my baby came out unresponsive and needed resuscitating and was in scbu for two days. Awful - I was induced so for the next one ( 18 weeks currently) I am deciding at the mo. Think c section is safest all round for the baby 😏

The delivery is only a tiny part of having a child when it does not result in injury, particularly long term injury.

DD1 is almost 8, every time I look at her scarred face and every time I have issues using the toilet I'm reminded of the fact I was coerced into an instrumental delivery and away from a CS which is what I actually wanted. For some women and children the delivery will overshadow the rest of their lives - and almost no one informs women honestly of the full facts and statistics when embarking on an attempted VB.

DD2 was an ELCS, relaxing birth, much quicker and less painful recovery, she bf with no issues unlike DD1 (no milk for 6 days no one told me that was bad).

I've experienced both.

DC1 was a vaginal birth involving 5+ days of labour, failed epidural, forceps and 3rd degree tear. Could write a book about it! Suffice to say it was a more horrific experience than my imagination would have thought possible.

With DC2 I had an ELCS. It was absolutely lovely in comparison. The recovery was annoying, but the discomfort was completely insignificant, negligible, when compared to 5 days labour pain and sleep deprivation.

I found the decision to go with the ELCS very hard, agonised over it. Read every statistic and study out there. I am normally averse to messing with nature's way, so it felt really unintuitive to opt for a c-section. I was really worried about making the wrong decision and having to live with the guilt if something happened to the baby. I didn't actually make up my mind to have the c-section until the day itself (I obviously kept this indecision hidden from the HCPs so as not to jeopardise the ELCS option).

The ELCS was great but I will never know if it was the 'right' decision. If I'd gone for a vaginal birth, who knows, maybe I would have had a 2 hour labour and walked out same day. It was actually quite likely (statistically) that a planned vaginal birth would have been fine, given the 'path had already been carved' by DC1. I just couldn't take the risk.

Someone on another thread put it this way which I think sums it up really well... The uncomplicated vaginal delivery is the gold medal, the planned c section is the silver medal, a planned vaginal birth ending with complications (emcs or instrumental with tears) is the booby prize.

If you go for gold, you have a 60% chance of getting it and 40% chance of getting the booby prize (if you're a first timer). Whereas if you go for silver it's almost guaranteed that you'll get a good outcome (not as good as gold but better than the booby prize).

In terms of looking at the odds for yourself (if you are statistically-inclined!) the NICE guidelines (appendix C) have a useful summary of statistics on short-term outcomes of both a planned vaginal birth (including EMCS) and ELCS.

In addition there are also some studies showing a link between c-sections and some longer term disorders, like asthma and type 1 diabetes, these are what worried me most about choosing a c-section. The increase in odds is very low though.

Beware of statistics / headlines on risks of C-sections as a whole, because these tend to include EMCS lumped in with ELCS.

Natural Delivery is much better. You feel the pain only at the time of delivery but after the baby comes out its all over (except for any stitches needed - but thats through numbing) and then you can carry on with your daily activities afterwards.
But C-section is not really as smooth as normal delivery. You have to cope up with the pain for a few days as recovery is exhausting and even until years after you will feel the numbness around the cut. If you have a choice, I would recommend you to have a normal one as once c-section is done for one child, all children must be delivered the same way every time. All the best and I wish you a safe and smooth delivery.

You feel the pain only at the time of delivery? Bollocks. Also, vbac is a thing.

Mr csections were as normal as my vaginal birth

I've had 4 vaginal births.

Two of them were textbook. "Easy" labour and delivery, quick recovery etc.

With one of them, baby was posterior. More painful and more difficult, but recovery was the same as above.

And with one of them, baby's shoulder got wedged in my pelvic bone. Incredibly painful, and involved a very bizarre and excruciating manoeuvre from the midwife/doctor/nurses to get the shoulder dislodged. Very fortunate there was no shoulder dystocia. Baby was bruised and swollen for several days afterwards though.

In hindsight, I'd have chosen a c-section with that ^ baby, but there's absolutely no way of knowing that that will or won't happen during your labour. That baby wasn't the biggest of my babies, was in a good position from early on etc. and it still happened.

Ultimately, birth is an extremely unpredictable thing, and though you're more likely to have a relatively normal delivery, there's still a fairly big element or risk and uncertainty. If you can put that aside in your mind and forge ahead into the uncertainty confidently, then go with a vaginal birth, but if you're anxious about it already, it's probably worth considering the elective section. Elective sections are generally far more predictable than a vaginal birth.

ContraryLollipop thank you so much for your comment here. Currently 17 weeks pg with DC2 after induction , forceps and 3rd degree tear. Been given option of trying for VB or ELCS and I'm really hoping nearer the time I will just know, however atm I'm leaning towards ELCS. I just don't know if I can take the physical and emotional consequences of another birth like that, especially with a toddler in the mix as well. Your insight and experience is invaluable to me right now ! Thank you thank you thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxx

sarahdiamondiva I'm so glad you found it helpful. I found mumsnetter experiences to be invaluable support after the first birth and in the run up to the second one (only started contributing recently, after lurking for years benefitting from other people's posts )

It is such a tough decision and a very personal one, lots of factors to balance (e.g. whether you plan for subsequent kids, I probably will stop now at 2), and the annoying element of unpredictability.

Having said that, chances are you and baby will end up absolutely fine, whichever route you decide, so try not to stress and obsess over it too much (like I did)! Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy and the birth!

ContraryLollipop thank you so much ! I'm trying not to think too much about it yet and hoping I will have some kind of epiphany nearer the time ! Big love xxxxxxxxx