Elective or vbac?

[MsChatterbox]

Hello all,

I'm pregnant with my second. My first I had a c section due to failure to progress. I got to 8cm after 36 hours. Had time limit due to waters breaking. Scar healed nicely and very quickly.

With those facts what would you recommend?

I am just looking for what is less risky. I am not worried about following pregnancies as I only plan on two and don't feel like I need to do vagina birth for the experience. But if its less risky I will go for vaginal. Thanks!

@Chillisauceboss good point. Both ended up being medicalised. My first was induced early due to health reasons, so Tuesday, Wednesday pessaries and no progression, (contractions but minimal dilation) 48 hours later I was 2 inches and waters were broken. 4 inches 12 hours later. Syntocin drip and eventually epidural. Stuck at 6cm, eventual EMCS 4 days later. No 2: 16 days overdue, admitted, waters broken, no progression, syntocin and epidural and EMCS after 2 days, I reached 4cm that time.

Clearly not made to birth naturally! 🙈

I had my second via elcs in April and I'm so so glad that I did, though it took me until 38 weeks to really decide to go with that option. My DD1 was emcs as she got thoroughly stuck, I recovered well physically but I know that had she been born vaginally my mental health would have been a lot worse than it was (I was extremely delerious and not even able to consent to the section, dh had to for me) so I was wary of that happening again.
Second section was so calm and lovely, I felt like a part of every moment, I got to hold my dd2 immediately and she never left my side. She's 6mo now and I am having issues with my scar this time but they are not awful, I'm having physio for building up the muscles again and time will heal the rest, I've gotten off lightly compared to others I know who has vbs!

Thank you everyone for all of your stories. They have really given me food for thought. It's so difficult to be in charge of such a big decision with 0 medical knowledge. I find myself swaying towards elective. But of course that is elective with no complications and complications can definitely happen!

Sorry to jump in with questions but do you get asked which you'd prefer?
I had an emergency csection with my little girl after failing to progress and next time just want to go for a planned csection but worried I'll not get the choice and they'll try push a VBAC.

When you meet with consultant they ask you what you’d prefer. They might push you for a vbac if they think you’re a candidate but they can’t make you. If you say you want a elective after trauma of previous experience then they have to listen in the UK.

Had a similar experience with ds - emergency section under GA - failure to progress then fetal distress. I had an elective section with dd - it was very calm compared to ds's birth, I knew what to expect and recovery went well. Go with the elective.

I would opt for ELCS, I had emcs after a failed induction & 48 hours of induced labour for DS & after knowing how bad labour can be & suffering the disappointment of it ending in emcs, I always said that if I had got pregnant again, I would go straight to having a section.

I had ELCS for breech with DC1. DC2 I wanted to try for VBAC but my consultant would not allow me to be induced, so we agreed to book a CS in week 40 with the proviso that if there were good indications that I would go into labour naturally we would cancel it. Well 40 weeks came and there was absolutely no action, cervix still high, baby hadn't dropped, so I had another ELCS.

So I've never had labour which I feel a bit odd about, but that's the way life works sometimes. Glad to have two healthy children!

My history was very similar to yours- 1st birth waters broke, nothing happened, got pessary, nothing happened, got drip all day, progress very slow then stopped at 8cm and head would not engage, EMCS. Like you I only wanted two children and I didn't really give a toss about experiencing the magic of vaginal birth but midwives and consultant seemed quite positive so I went for VBAC (whilst secretly thinking "yeah if it isn't going well I am so going to play the get out of jail free card toot sweet and get a section").

Induced via Foley as got to 40+4 and nothing was happening; that didn't work; got syntocin and after a long night of toil, (for me; the baby was happy as a clam in there), gas and air, snivelling pathetically, remifentanil and a cervix that was ignoring my plaintive cries of open sesame, 12 hours later baby and cervix suddenly got their shit together, I gave her a couple of shoves and out she hopped as cool as you like. No epidural and the last bit wasn't that bad. Small tear, fab stitchup job by fab midwife. Home the next day and I drove #1 to nursery the following day and then took #2 for a walk in the park. Stitches healed great.

One thing that gave me confidence was the monitoring. Such close attention was paid to the baby's heart rate trace and toco etc that if she had been distressed at all or the uterine scar had started to split I know they would have whipped her out the sunroof in no time.

She's cuddled up beside my as I type and I expect #1 will have appeared in the bed by the time I wake up . No problems bonding with either of 'em- my cervix may not be very quick to respond to oxytocin but my brain is...I was madly in love both times!
I was 37 when I had the first, 40 for the second.

@powershowerforanhour I absolutely loved reading that 😍😍. Thank you for sharing ❤️

Oh @powershowerforanhour there's hope for us all!!

I had an EMCS with my son 5 years ago due to his heart rate dropping whilst pushing (cord was around his neck). I found the EMCS very traumatic due to the emergency situation and the recovery was hard (again probably due to the fact that I had basically been through a vaginal labour - well almost!). I vowed to never have another CS if I could avoid it....but my mind has now changed. I am 33 weeks pregnant with baby 2 and decided about 16 weeks that I was wanting an ELCS. I wrote myself lists - pros and cons of each and met with the consultant to discuss. The deciding factor for me was that I could not risk going through my last labour again and ending up with a EMCS and unfortunately no one can guarantee that. The consultant was very supportive and basically said that my previous EMCS was so traumatic due to the emergency of it and that it was like running a marathon before then having a EMCS. Everyone tells me that ELCS are much more calm and generally the recovery is a lot easier, so fingers crossed! I also like the practical aspect of knowing the date and having childcare etc arranged (especially as I am due in December!).

I am not planning any more children after this and my husband has 6 weeks paternity leave, both of these also helped guide my choice. I would have loved a vaginal birth but I have accepted that it's not going to happen and I am now very content with my decision. I fear that if I had my heart set on a VBAC and ended up with a CS I would have been gutted. At least now I am planned for a CS and if I end up going into natural labour before the date then that is also fine.

It's hard op because an easy vag birth is better than CS but a hard one is prob worse than CS...

Dc1 I had long labour then emcs, fully dilated but she just didn't come out - prob her head got wedged in funnily or something.

Dc2 straightforward vbac, I found it quite healing after first birth which was a bit traumatic with long hospital stay etc. I couldn't believe it was over so quickly and I could walk about, was easier.

What I did with dc2 is say I'd go for straightforward vbac or else CS as far as poss - so no induction or intervention, if that was recommended I would have gone for CS. I know you can have complications midway through labour but it seemed to head some of the worry off.

Age, BMI, length of time since last birth?

@DawnOfTheDeadleg are you medically qualified to give an opinion if age / BMI and legnth between births are given?