Elective c section stories?

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Looking to ask for an elective c section due to personal reasons.

I’m half way through my pregnancy and have thought about this since I was about 5 weeks pregnant! I know it’s major surgery, recovery can be harder and longer than vaginal birth and so on.

However, I have read the NHS website in preparation for the resistance I’ll recieve when I ask for this. I did see ‘infertility’ was a rare side effect?

But as it’s my first baby, this scared me as ideally I’d like more than one child!

I don’t know if it’s just so rare they have to list it but now I’m panicking.

My reasons for wanting one stay firm and I still do want one, the only thing scaring me is the thought of it making me infertile?

Can someone please tell me this is just something they have to list as are all the other scary potential side effects (e.g haemorrhaging, severe infection, organ damage etc)

Birth has risks too...I had an elective with DD2 and it was wonderful. I was up and walking the next day (very slowly) and home within 3 days.

A week later and I was limping down the road with the pram and a toddler.

I was quite fit though....I even had a laugh with the suregon as he did it! It was marvelous to be honest.

I ended up having an emergency c-section due to pre-eclampsia, but I was planning a c-section anyway and frankly my reasons stand. It was very calm, controlled, quick, and the recovery was what I expected. This was what I wanted from a birth - planned and controlled. If I were to have a second baby I'd go for a c-section again, no question about it!

I had an elective last week. It was fine, abit uncomfortable and a difficult 24 hours after, but I pretty much feel normal already!

But yes, it can affect future pregnancies in a few different ways... The scar tissue is at risk of being damaged with a second baby and there are things that can go wrong with the actual operation which can end in a hysterectomy.

I requested the c section and was granted my wish pretty easily - but your consultant will go through all the risks with you in more detail before agreeing.

I've had two emergency c sections and one elective in May. Recovered very well from them and I'm 12 weeks postpartum. All went well considering two were emergencies.

To clarify I had two previous emergency c sections and one elective section. Elective section was done in May of this year so three babies in total. Not three sections in May 😂

I had an elective with my second, after having an emergency with the first, and also having a low lying placenta so it was the safest option (well the only one really but anyway!)

The two experiences could not have been more different!

With the elective, I had a spinal block instead of an epidural. This means that I could not feel a thing. With the epidural I felt the sensation of them "unzipping" me - then some windows of pain which resulted in them having to put me under to get the emergency baby out. However, elective baby was a much more calm experience due to the total lack of sensation which made my anxiety of feeling something disappear. I did get low blood pressure which made me feel fairly yuck for a minute or two, but they sorted that out with an ephedrine drip.

They were chatting away and were able to take their time and pulled out DD who looked angry and purple 😆. They stitched me up all nice and relaxed while I cuddled her. They were trialling something called TAP blocks, which were an injection of novocane into the transverse abdominal plane muscles, so they did that, and I was good to go into recovery for half an hour (this is for them to monitor you, not baby), then they wheeled me down to the ward in my bed still holding my angry purple looking bundle who by this time was looking at me as if to say "you must be my mummy!".

So we chilled in the room and my husband took a photo on his blackberry (!) which he emailed to me, which I retrieved on my laptop using a WiFi dongle I had purchased (!!!) and uploaded the picture to this new thing called "Facebook", which had only started the year before and was fast gaining popularity. The 40 or so friends I had on there were very impressed at how quickly I managed to get a birth announcement up onto the internet whilst still being in hospital 😆 (she's a teenager now, but is no longer purple, just occasionally angry)

I waited for the "sword of fire" to appear in terms of pain but the spinal block wore off, making me feel cold, then hot, then a bit stoned, then I could feel my legs, yet no sword of fire! A slight tenderness perhaps? Amazing, as I had been in quite a lot of pain after my emergency one but to be fair he was quite stuck. I was able to lift her out her cot, walk around, shower, and go for a wee within about 8 hours I think.

The next day, by dinner time they were stalking around looking for people well enough to eject in order to clear the ward for the next influx of babies, and I nearly made the cut except for angry purples lack of desire to eat anything (well, drink!) so if it wasn't for that and she had decided to be more cooperative we could have potentially gone home the next day.

They might make you wear something called TEDs on your legs - compression stockings. They are not sexy, but neither is passing blood clots out of your vag when you take a piss, and wearing a pad the size of a surfboard in your knickers. Why they can't outsmart this process with c-sections by getting Dyson to design a tool of some sort is behind me - this is Mumsnet so we can probably blame Brexit for that.

Enjoy! I hope your experience is as good as mine! X

Had an elective on Monday after a lifelong fear of giving birth so always knew if I had a child a section would be the only route for me. Like you, the risks scared me but in my head the baby was already in there so it was the only acceptable way of him coming out to me 🙈 It was the loveliest day ever! The actual operation was so so quick and calm. I lost over a litre of blood but no one told me and it wasn’t like there was a big drama going on. They just dealt with it and acted like everything was fine to me. I found the consultant during my pregnancy was emphasizing the risks much more than the ones in hospital on the day. During pregnancy they were telling me all of the risks which obviously include those of an emergency section. Things like needing a hysterectomy were included but I’ve had friends almost needing one after a natural birth so I really don’t think it’s purely relevant to tell c-section mums that. I think there is a minuscule increase in things like still birth and potentially miscarriage but it would be very hard to pin point how having a section caused these things. Most of the risks are relatively minor, especially if you’re fit and in good health. On the day the consultant said he didn’t expect any problems due to my health, age etc and the fact it was my first baby. So I felt much better when I’d heard that rather than the risk of death and stuff 🙈 I didn’t feel in danger at any point during it and actually just enjoyed the experience! I didn’t ever think I would. I will definitely have another one if I have another baby. I would leave quite a big gap though to try to make sure I’d recovered and had minimal internal scarring to worry about. You’ve got to weigh up the risks yourself, alongside your reasons for wanting a c-section in the first place. Everyone has different experiences it seems but most elective procedures I’ve heard about have been calm and controlled

I also chose sections because I was too afraid of a vaginal birth. It was the best decision I've ever made. The operations themselves i found to be pain free, efficient and and as bizarre as this sounds it was lovely. I couldn't have imagined a better way to meet my children. I didn't feel queasy or faint I didn't shake in fact I was thinking about lunch at one stage, and snacking on chocolate within an hour of surgery.

My recoveries were quick and virtually pain free. I've had worse periods then recovery from my sections. I was back to pottering around the house and going out for coffee within about 3 days and although I took painkillers for a couple of weeks just in case, I was pretty much back to normal by the end of the week.

Definitely relate to the worse periods thing.. my section was Monday and I’d stopped bleeding by the Friday!
8 days on and my incision is a bit nippy since I’ve taken the dressing off but as long as nothing rubs on it it’s fine! I would 100% do it all again. I was really surprised not to be in more pain in the first few days. From day 4/5 onwards I was walking around doing a lot of stuff in the house feeling completely fine, although going slower than usual and avoiding heavy lifting

It’s honestly different for everyone in terms of recovery. I read a lot of stories of people saying they felt fine just a few days later but you have to remember every body and experience is different.

I had a ELCS 8 weeks ago. Mine was booked in due to baby presenting as breech. They scanned on the day and told me she’d turned but I wanted to go ahead anyway. This was met by a lot of resistance which made the experience very unpleasant for me. (Left without food or water for 11 1/2 hrs, had to justify my decision to 5 different people, all v emotionally and physically draining).

Once in the theatre everything was calm and the staff were lovely. Worst bit of the section itself was probably the spinal block (nothing major, just felt like a bee sting for a few mins). You’ll meet your baby quite quickly and the rest of the surgery whizzes by because you’re so infatuated with your amazing baby. I felt mildly sick towards the end but they warned me this could happen and to let them know (which I did) and they gave me some medicine to stop the sickness which worked straight away.

I had a traumatic experience in recovery as I suffered a post partum haemorrhage due to my uterus not contracting. Unfortunately I had a terrible nurse who was not monitoring my blood pressure or bleeding correctly which turned it into an emergency. I almost went back to theatre but thankfully the doctors managed to stop the bleeding. I just want to share that part of my experience to highlight that these things can happen (although they can also happen with a vaginal delivery too!!)

Because I lost a lot of blood I was very weak for a while afterwards. Recovery wise it took about a week before I could fully stand up almost straight (spent a lot of time hunched over!). I also had (and still have, although it is better) bad back pain.

In terms of the wound mine unfortunately became infected and my body also rejected the dissolvable stitches and pushed them back out my body which re opened my wound. It was particularly painful just frustrating as I’ve been back and forwards to the nurse to have stitches pulled out and the wound treated and re dressed.

8 weeks on I’m not feeling pretty much back to normal and my scar is mostly closed.

I had a bit of a Rocky time with my ELCS but I think it’s important to remember everyone’s experience is different with birth.

I’ve suffered with a lot of emotional distress since the birth and feel very sad about my decision to go ahead with the c section. I think this is down to the way I was treated on the day and the issues in recovery. If you’re definitely sure or your decision it is your right to have the birth you want.

Good luck OP and hope you have a lovely birth! It’s a special time.

Should add as well:

• asked to fast from midnight the night before and take some tablets
• was allowed one sip of water at 6am the day of to take another tablet
• had to wear compression stockings before & during
• was given injections to administer at home into stomach for 10 days to prevent clotting
• bleeding stopped after 7 weeks

OP, here is a link that you might find useful, comparing the absolute risks of both types of birth. It’s not perfect data as EMCS and sometimes combined with ELCS, but it will give you an indication: www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng192/resources/appendix-a-benefits-and-risks-of-vaginal-and-caesarean-birth-pdf-9074971693

According to this article, a simple surgery can reverse the infertility in most cases:

endometriosisspecialists.com/how-c-section-scar-defects-can-cause-infertility/

I had an elective section. I'd have another.
I knew what would happen and when. My care was great.
I was driving after 3 weeks and my recovery far easier than friends who had tears etc.
I had a cd of music playing the whole time which gave me something to focus on