ELCS for second baby

[pancakesunday]

Hoping that someone might be able to offer me some advice as I don't know where to turn to be honest. 7 years ago I had an awful labour with my first child which started with me being induced and ended in forceps in Theatre and a third degree tear. Consequently I struggled mentally after the birth and it has taken me a long time to get over what happened.
Fast forward to now and I'm 7 months pregnant. I'd always said to myself that I would have a C Section for any further pregnancies to avoid the risk of what happened the first time repeating itself.
Since I have mentioned this to a few midwives and the consultant that they referred me to, they seem to be trying to get me to have a natural delivery as they keep saying the recovery is quicker. I really don't know if I could do this again naturally.
When I mention my concerns they keep telling me that it's up to me to decide (avoiding taking responsibility that sounds like to me!) but my head is all over the place and I'll need to decide within the next few weeks.
Please can you tell me about your experiences if you've been in this situation and the outcome - positive or negative. Hopefully I'll be able to make up my mind 🙂

I had my first baby 6 weeks ago so not quite the same but induced. Vaginal delivery and ended with a third degree tear. They told me any subsequent babies would be CS due to damage down there. I’m more than happy with that as there is no way I can go through the recovery of a tear like that again. ELCS wound feels much calmer and under control. Yes still a major op but for me it would be the way I would want to go.

Sorry about your experience

They’re fobbing you off saying a recovery from a vaginal is quicker. It might be. But for a lot of women it is not the case, it depends what kind of birth you have. Others find caesareans quicker to recover from than others. They really ham up the section risks and downplay the vaginal ones.

In your position I would want a caesarean but there’s no right or wrong. Good luck.

the recovery is quicker.

The recovery from a textbook vaginal delivery, possibly. I had ELCS 4 months ago. It is true that in the first 2 -3 weeks I was moving very gingerly and would have really struggled to look after dc without it. But by 12 weeks I was pretty much back to normal (still unfit after a year off exercise, but otherwise fine). The women in my NCT group who had vaginal deliveries are still dealing with ongoing pain, prolapse and incontinence, while being fobbed off by HCPs. I do wonder exactly what research the whole "vaginal delivery = quicker recovery" thing is based on, and what exactly they defined as "recovery".

Aagh that third sentence should say

"... moving very gingerly, needed a lot of help and would have struggled without it."

@pancakessunday I also had forceps in theatre and a 3rd degree tear. Throw in an episiotomy in there too for good measure.

It was 3 years ago and am lucky not to have long lasting effects after having a couple of months physio after the birth.

I have opted for an ELCS this time around (in 2 weeks!) and the midwives and consultant I met with were all supportive.

I agree with previous posters about the myth of "recovery is quicker"

True for straightforward vaginal births yes. Not so true for birth injuries. Sure stitches will heal but it's the unseen or unspoken recovery that could take longer. Pelvic floor issues that women silently suffer or may need further corrective surgery from. Not to mention any mental trauma from the birth or difficult recovery.

I struggled with my decision for a while too as there's nothing I want more than just a straightforward VB... but as that is not guaranteed and I don't know how my body would recover from yet another birth injury I decided to go with an ELCS. Fingers crossed I don't spontaneously go into labour before my date and all my plans go out the window!

My recovery from my ELCS was much better than my recovery from my vaginal delivery, which like you ended with a 3rd degree tear and a lot of damage.

I think that with non complicated births a vaginal recovery is quicker- certainly most of my friends who had straightforward births seemed to up and about much quicker than I was and yes you may have a straightforward birth but I was told that if I had another traumatic birth I was potentially looking at becoming doubly incontinent, so it was definitely an ELCS for me!

I was back at work 8 weeks after my ELCS, I wouldn't have managed that after my vaginal birth.

Thank you all for your replies. I had been told after my first baby that I would need to have a section for any further pregnancies and that has always been what I wanted based on their advice and the trouble I had after the birth. I'm under a different health authority now and they seem to have a different opinion but I'm so scared to end up with other issues like a prolapse, which could be a possibility. My consultant also said last week that there is exactly the same chance of this birth taking the same path as the last one. They're not really selling it to me!

I've never had a vaginal birth, but my recovery from am ELCS was embarrassingly easy. I was up and about within 24 hours, and a bit stiff and achey for about 10 days and that was it. Never more than a bit uncomfortable, certainly no pain.

I was very vigilant about staying on top of my painkillers, but compared to my friends who've had episiotomies or severe tears it was a breeze.

I tried for Vbac with my second and ended up with an identical labour (60h+) and emergency section, baby in exact same back to back stargazing unbudgeable position! It was the hardest decision I ever made to try for Vbac and obviously it didn’t work out. I’ll always know I tried of course, and was beyond proud of myself, but I’m not sure that makes up for the awful few days I suffered knowing I could have made a different decision. I recovered much faster from the second section than my first fortunately (the reason I wanted to try avoid section in first place) and the whole experience of the section second time was very calm and almost elective like, as it was at my request, due to failure to progress, rather than any distress from baby. I’m going for elcs with my 3rd unsurprisingly!

I had a traumatic birth with my first and an ELCS with my second. I found an ELCS much easier/quicker to recover from.

I had a third degree tear with my first baby when he got stuck with a shoulder dystocia during a waterbirth. I was booked for an elective section with my second but I ended up with a vaginal delivery because I went into spontaneous labour during the night a week before the date and the only surgical team was doing an emergency when I arrived. The baby was born an hour later. I still had a couple of stitches but nothing like the first one and I was home before he was twelve hours old and driving the next day. Second baby was also a pound and half heavier than first.