Tell me about your elective sections

[Chanel05]

I had a cat 1 emergency section in September 2020 that involved a very long labour and a massive PPH, requiring a blood transfusion.

I'm 28+4 with my second and I've been going back and forth between VBAC (I got to 10cm with my dd and it was only her positioning that resulted in my emcs) and elcs. I've finally decided on going for an elcs after being swayed towards VBAC for most of my pregnancy.

Now that I've made my decision, I'd really like to read positive posts about electives after emergencies if anyone could share with me!

I chose ELCS at the last minute (literally 42+1 weeks as I was very against induction) and it was great! I think because I had time to mentally prepare the pain after was manageable and everyone was very supportive etc, no problems BFing, home the next morning 🙂

I had international private medical aid and so was extremely fortunate to have an ObGyn who is very well regarded and is head of a major London NHS hospital. With my second section I asked him if it was safer for baby and me to have another ECS or a VBAC and he said that an ECS is infinitely safer for both of us.

from a psychological point of view you will know the date and time and everyone around you will be calm and or elevated for you. When I had my second ECS they found out that my placenta was attached into the uterine wall and so had I had a VBAC I would’ve been rushed into surgery too and might’ve had internal damage. I was then doubly glad I’d had an ECS.

I meant to add - good luck OP! You will be fine and sitting holding your new baby after a smooth delivery!

Plenty of people will be along shortly to tell you how wonderful their ELCS was.

Personally I think this is your decision, and you should make it based on your own risks. There are pros and cons to a CS, and it’s best to be mentally prepared. iMO many issues post natally are when people expected the delivery to go one way, and in the end it didn’t.

i chose an ELCS over a VBAC, and no it wasn’t all fairly lights and symphonies. It was not a nice experience, the recovery was brutal, but it was still the better choice for me.

have you spoken to a VBAC m/w? My hospital ran a clinic and I found it incredibly helpful in decision making. A specialist nurse went through my previous birth, what went wrong, the likelihood of it happening a second time, and all the positives and negatives of both types of delivery. Also pain relief, trial of labour, all eventualities. It was completely impartial and didn’t push one way or the other, just gave me all the information I needed.

Elective. Recovery is so much easier than an emergency C.

Thanks for your sharing your experiences so far!

@Reallyreallyborednow I've had an appointment with my consultant to discuss the positives and negatives of vbac and elcs based on my previous labour and I was told that I had around a 70% chance of vbac. Consultant did explain that I had a higher chance of PPH, since I've had one before which is something I've thought about a lot. My dh is quite traumatised from the scenes during my emcs and I really have to consider his feelings too.

Aww, the dream! Honestly amazing! Can’t speak highly enough of it and would recommend one to anyone. Obviously there are risks to consider etc etc but there is a baby in there so there are risks of both ways of coming out! The difference is no one discusses the likelihood of having a prolapse like the girl at my work now has from a vaginal birth or the fact you’ll continually pee yourself like all of my friends who had one.

Ive posted really lengthy accounts on a few of these posts so I’ll spare you the details 😂 but it was literally a case of turned up, put a gown on, sat for an hour or two walked in, sat on the bed, nippy cannula into my hand, a quick bee sting feeling in my back as the local went in then didn’t feel any pain as the spinal went in. I could just feel people’s hands on my back so didn’t know if the needle was actually in or not.

Lay back, bit of a delay at this point waiting on the numbness coming on, I could feel more than I expected and that freaked me out a bit, curtain went up, 90 seconds, baby lifted up and the curtain went down. Didn’t feel the washing machine feeling people say, only ‘bad’ bit was I’d say 3-5 seconds of someone through the curtain doing the cpr action on me to get him to move down. It was painless though! Recovery was fine too, a bit of moaping about the first 5 days then I just moved very slowly the next few weeks. The only bit I hated was getting up out of bed but I just slept in a pregnancy pillow so I didn’t have to sit myself up again and I was okay. Good luck, I’m 100% doing it again!

Ive had a natural (first) and ELCS (second). With my first she ended up being a ventouse delivery, however I’d managed very well up until that point with gas & air and the birth pool. DD was in an awkward position which is why she needed ventouse and I also had a second degree tear and episiotomy. Saying that…I was walking the postnatal ward within an hour of her delivery. Sore yes and I had to be very gentle with myself for a few weeks afterwards but once a week or two had passed I felt physically fine and I never had any issues lifting or carrying her.

DS was born via ELCS 3 weeks ago as he was measuring very heavy. It’s a completely different experience. All very well managed and you’re kept in the loop about everything at every turn. All you have to do is show up really and the rest is taken care of! I’d never had surgery before so was extremely nervous but everyone was incredibly nice and calm and I trusted everyone involved in my care. Once the spinal was in I felt absolutely nothing apart from someone pushing down on the top of my stomach at one point. DS arrived totally chilled and meeting him was so special and I really felt like I had a chance to soak him all in! Recovery however (from a personal point of view) has been tougher than with a vaginal delivery. I wish I’d put some more plans in place for help with things postnatally and my DH has ended up needing to take extra time off work. I also got an infection in my incision but this is being managed now with antibiotics.

Sorry for the long post OP! In summary, if you’ve had a section before you will know about the recovery side of things (which I didn’t). From an emotional perspective, an ELCS is a very well managed procedure so if you’ve already been through an EMCS I don’t doubt you’d find this a much more calm and reassuring experience.

Op, you must have had your baby by now??? How's things? Or are you still pregnant?

Hello! Baby is now 10 days old :). I went into spontaneous labour a week before I was due which was when my section was booked for and from first twinge I was ready to push within 4 hours! I could have gone with vbac but decided to stick with a last minute section as that's what I'd decided on !

I had a horrific 1st birth culminating emergency c section. Next 2 I was offered the chance to labour but after speaking to a midwife I knew dec8ded to opt for elective sections- best decision ever. Both times I was in for a couple of hours before to get prepped, had baby - took ages cos of scar tissue but in recovery was able to do skin to skin & 1st feeds. I was up & abke to focus on baby & establish8ng BF after a couple of hours. 2nd I was home after 4 days, 3rd after 2 days. Recovery was so much quicker. Totally different from 1st time when I was in hospital for 10days & DS1 in SCBU for a week.

Congratulations on the new baby. I am due next week
:) baby number 6
@Chanel05 all natural labours but a couple were induced, to help speed things up as I have terrible slow labours

Hoping for a spontaneous labours and a water birth. :)

I had a similar experience to you with child number 1. 2 and 3 were electives at age 28 and 42 and were wonderful in comparison. No trauma, minimal recovery time (was fine to walk to shops etc within a week) and no post-natal depression. I'm also able not to wet myself on a trampoline or when coughing, which is an improvement on many friends' experiences with VBAC. So I'd recommend the electives.