Hi. I'm early days of my pregnancy. I have two boys already. Both vaginal births, both overdue (one induced at 40+13). Both my boys had heads on the 99th centile and were super hard to push out. With the first I pushed for 2 hours and 37 mins (no epidural so lack of feeling wasn't affecting my pushing). Ended up with episiotomy and assisted delivery. It was 2 weeks before i could leave the house and walk more than a few steps. 2nd birth was only 2 years later. Induced . Again no epidural, 1 hour 40 minutes of pushing, tore, lots of stitches. After this one I had to return to the hospital for checks a month later I was still almost completely incontinent.
Now pregnant with my 3rd and living in France, I am terrified of attempting a vaginal birth again and I'm considering pushing for an elective section. Believe me this is not a decision I take lightly. I know it's not the 'easy option'. I'm not afraid of the pain of labour. I've done it twice without epidural, I'm scared of not being able to push the baby out again as it was super stressful and with my first baby he was in distress with was very scary. Has anyone had similar problems with babies 1 and 2 and found it was it totally different 3rd time round? I feel like I've completely lost faith in my bodies ability to get my baby out. Has anyone had a csection for similar reasons? Would be interested in your views. I was so relaxed with my previous two because I didn't know what to expect for the first and I had been reassured that the second would fly out once I got to the pushing stage but I know that to be entirely untrue now. This time I'm so scared. It's been 4 years since my 2nd.