Did anyone have a negative elective c section experience

[Pendingmummy]

Trying to decide if I should opt for an elective after traumatic VD

I opted for an elective after a traumatic VD. It was painful the first night but I had an awful first week of pain after my VD so comparing the two the ELCS was less pain and less stressful. However now 3.5 years later I’m pregnant again and planning a VBAC as I feel like I can have a VD that will be a lot different to the first and a healing experience . Most VDs have a much better recovery than CS’s so I’m just hoping it goes better this time.

I will add that I would have no fears of having another ELCS I just feel like giving the VD another go as I’ve had a few years to get over the first experience (almost 5 years ago!)

I'm probably the ELCS horror story. Contacted infection during the surgery, infected haematoma (antibiotic resistant suoerbug) day2 wound bursts, readmitted to hospital for 2 weeks, 7 different iv antibiotics tried, eventually one worked. Pain was worse than contractions on the drip (with first baby that resulted in emcs which I recovered OK from). I'm probably the 1 in 1000 that you're warned about when you sign the bit of yellow paper agreeing with the risks... Worth bearing in mind tho. I will never ever have another one ever again... Done having babies now

@Inthesky42

I'm probably the ELCS horror story. Contacted infection during the surgery, infected haematoma (antibiotic resistant suoerbug) day2 wound bursts, readmitted to hospital for 2 weeks, 7 different iv antibiotics tried, eventually one worked. Pain was worse than contractions on the drip (with first baby that resulted in emcs which I recovered OK from). I'm probably the 1 in 1000 that you're warned about when you sign the bit of yellow paper agreeing with the risks... Worth bearing in mind tho. I will never ever have another one ever again... Done having babies now

@Inthesky42 sorry to hear this sounds awful, how long did it fully recover.

I don't know if you wanted to hear the other side of things or not, but I had an ELCS after a traumatic VD and oh my gosh, it was 1000x better, calmer and easier (both the actual birth and the recovery). I remember being on the postnatal ward after DC2 and the midwives asking me how I was, and almost being surprised when they saw how ecstatic I was about the fact that I could actually walk around the ward. Granted, I did have a particularly horrible recovery from my first birth, and maybe if someone didn't have that point of comparison then they might think the section recovery was difficult, but I thought by comparison it was the actual best thing ever.

I would also like to point out that I was told by a midwife and also my consultant that after 39 weeks, elective sections are actually safer for babies than natural births, if that helps you make your decision. (But natural births are the safer option for the mother in terms of mortality). For me, there were just too many possible complications with a natural birth (some of which I experienced the first time) and I would rather take the control and have a section.

Loved my elective section after a very traumatic vb it was a lovely calm experience. Apparently I'd almost began to hemmerage during it, but I honestly wouldn't have known, they were all so calm, it was only because they mentioned to me afterwards! 1000 times better!!

I had elective due to baby being breech. I spent almost an hour longer on the table than I should have, while the surgeon tried to get my organs back in place. I was literally being shoved up and down the table while they tried to push everything around. It was excruciating and I was told to stop tensing as it was making things harder. They wanted to knock me out but I didn't want that.
I now have abdominal adhesions, which is often caused by difficult sections, so I am in pain every day.

I've had 3. On the last one, my baby wasn't breathing properly as he hadn't cleared his mucous out of his lungs. Usually this happens as they are squeezed out the birth canal. Queue PPHN, collapsed lung and a blue light trip to a specialist hospital.

The other two sections were fine

I had a traumatic first VD, mainly due to midwives not realising I was in established labour (very long story, water had broken but they refused to believe that as well, I was left on the floor in the waiting room for 12 hours).

The second was extremely quick, 4 hours from first contraction.

My third was a high risk pregnancy (high risk of miscarriage, potential for birth defects) so I was under consultant care bi-weekly under the NHS.

I asked my consultant what would be safer for the baby ELCS or VD and she said that, as a third child, given two previous VD the last one very uncomplicated, she considered a VD better for the baby. The end of pregnancy was horrific for other reasons and both my baby and I was at risk due to something else but the actual birth was very straight forward, my body knew what to do.

I just wanted to put it out there that ELCS isn’t necessarily the safest option, even for the baby. There are so many parameters which influence this. OP, I hope you have a good midwife/consultant who can walk you through all the risks (and advantages) of each specific procedure and help you decide which would be the safest and best for your specific circumstances.

I had a very long hard VB first baby and needed an hour of stitching afterwards. When baby was born there were around 10 doctors/midwives in the room for both of us. Second baby I went into hospital at 1.30 pm and baby was born at 3.15 pm with just one midwife, no time for pain relief, just gas and air. All over so quick and I could have gone home that afternoon if I had wanted.

@MothExterminator

I had a traumatic first VD, mainly due to midwives not realising I was in established labour (very long story, water had broken but they refused to believe that as well, I was left on the floor in the waiting room for 12 hours).

The second was extremely quick, 4 hours from first contraction.

My third was a high risk pregnancy (high risk of miscarriage, potential for birth defects) so I was under consultant care bi-weekly under the NHS.

I asked my consultant what would be safer for the baby ELCS or VD and she said that, as a third child, given two previous VD the last one very uncomplicated, she considered a VD better for the baby. The end of pregnancy was horrific for other reasons and both my baby and I was at risk due to something else but the actual birth was very straight forward, my body knew what to do.

I just wanted to put it out there that ELCS isn’t necessarily the safest option, even for the baby. There are so many parameters which influence this. OP, I hope you have a good midwife/consultant who can walk you through all the risks (and advantages) of each specific procedure and help you decide which would be the safest and best for your specific circumstances.

@MothExterminator did you go back to the same hospital after the traumatic VD?

Its still extremely early days for me just trying to decide on what approach to take as my traumatic first VD was an induction . I'm glad that you and your babies are safe.

@plixy

I had elective due to baby being breech. I spent almost an hour longer on the table than I should have, while the surgeon tried to get my organs back in place. I was literally being shoved up and down the table while they tried to push everything around. It was excruciating and I was told to stop tensing as it was making things harder. They wanted to knock me out but I didn't want that. I now have abdominal adhesions, which is often caused by difficult sections, so I am in pain every day.

@plixy I'm honestly so sorry you had to go through this