Elected Cesarean NHS

[JoJo333]

Hi

I'm 41 and 9 weeks pregnant with my first child. I've had a 6 and 9 weeks scan and everything is fine. 12 week scan in 3 weeks.

I'm overjoyed as have had MMC before. Hence the frequent scans.

I suffer with anxiety and stress related problems and they are magnified now as my partner is being completely unsupportive. The baby was planned but my partner has since changed his mind.

Can I have an elected cesarean on the nhs without paying due to my anxiety and age?

Advise please x

Hi @JoJo333, congratulations on your pregnancy

It all depends on your local hospital. I requested csection as maternal request and my midwife arranged a meeting with a consultant. In the meeting with the consultant I explained to him both risks with csection and natural birth and I told him that I prefer the risks with csection. The whole meeting took about 15 mins and he agreed and set a date for me.
I told him I'm not scared of natural birth, I just don't like the risks associated with it.
If you tell your consultant that you are suffering with anxiety, he is more likely to send you for few sessions of counselling first and if that doesn't help then they will agree on a date.

Also you should know this: if your labour starts before your schedule date and it's not day time, you will have to wait till morning for a csection as they don't do the plan csection at night.

The only way to garantee a csection even if your labour starts early and in the middle of night is to hire a private consultant.

I hope this helps.

Also I just need to add, you are very early on in your pregnancy so before choosing your birth method, buy a book about csection and a book about natural birth and base on your research choose which risks you prefer. You might prefer natural birth risks or you might prefer the csection.

I think every woman who is going to give birth should understand and research what is actually involved in a child birth and not go into labour with close eyes.

We are living in a modern time with modern medicine. We now have options.

Just as a quick correction, if you go into labour prior to your elective section date, you should be offered the option of proceeding with a vaginal birth, or having what will technically now be an emergency section. As it would be a lower category of emergency section, you might have to wait depending on if there are any other emergencies, potential or actual, on the delivery suite.

If you are entitled to free treatment with the NHS, then you should be able to have an elective section on the NHS. However, you might have to fight to get it agreed to by the consultants. You're still very early days into your pregnancy. Talk it over with your midwife at your booking appointment.

Good luck with everything.

Good luck whatever you choose. I'm sorry your partner is unsupportive, what on earth has happened there?

I have to say I don't know why you want a caesarian if you are normal and healthy but I suppose you have your reasons.

I was able to opt for an elective csection on the nhs.

I'll be honest it wasn't easy and I had a lot of pressure on me to have a vaginal birth. Read up on things as much as you can so you can give facts to back up your reasoning.

I hope things work out well for you, sounds like you're in a difficult place at the moment.