Vaginal Birth or Elective Section?

[VictorianSqualor]

What would you reccommend a first time mother and why??

No, Starlight, I can't either.

I'm going private.

SmcK - apologies if I missed it but why can you not get an Elective?

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thanks for that positive story SazzlesA. I had an emergency c section last time after a very difficult labour, and think i will go for an elective this time. The first time round i did feel i had 'failed' but your story helps me feel a bit better!

I'm guessing Starlight that you've been looking through British Doulas which is a doula agency and so charge fees. Have you looked at Doula UK which doesn't charge any fee and may have a trainee listed for your area? Trainees can charge no more than £150.

can you just decide to have a c/s? I had a vb with ds but then the placenta wouldn't come out and after much agony had to go into surgery (and lost 3 pints of blood) anyway so i missed the initial bonding with ds. If i decide to get pregnant again (and thats a big "if"!) I would feel so much better knowing that I could just have a c/s and get it over with. Friends I speak to who have experienced both vb and elective caesarean say that the c/s was much better. They were not tired afterwards and felt better able to care for their baby. Can I just request a c section and the nhs will say yes?

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if you have the choice, i.e. if there are no medical indications for a CS, then a c/s is significantly more risky for mother and baby and the recovery time is much longer. having a cs can also interfere with establishing bf.
I would choose a vaginal birth every time.

Having just had a VBAC I would definately say a vaginal birth is better. Neither are easy options, there is no easy option imho and I will admit just as I got to transition i was shouting "Just give me a section!" but that was more because I was scared of the unknown iyswim. Having been through both now the only way i would have another section is if it was an absolutely necessary life or death situation.

I agree...I've had a straightforward vb, a crash cs and a vbac, and can't imagine chosing to have another cs.

But despite the fact that dd2 was born by cs with no warning, and I had a general anaesthetic, neither my bonding with her, of ability to bf was affected at all.

moodymammy I'm surprised your friends that ahd CS's and VB's say they were better able to care for their babies after the CS, it is major abdo surgery and hard to sit up for days let alone get on with looking after your baby!

I had a quick and easy receovery with DS (EL CS, I say 'EL' but I was told I had no choice ) and breastfed/bonded no problem but it was still bloody hard to pick him up or walk to him quickly if he cried etc.

I'm not, TBH - I'd say the majority of my friends have preferred el. CS and there are a couple who would absolutely refuse a VB again.

I do think that recovery times varies from person to person. I was up and about 4 hours after first elective c-section and driving car, doing the shopping etc after 2.5 weeks. With C-section no.2 I was again up and about very quickly matter of hours and driving towards end of second week. Didn't find it hard to care for DC after either in fact after DC2 I packed husband back to work after 5 days as he was getting under my feet I have not had problems with stitches, infection and all the other horrors you hear about. Recovery and coping with a section will always vary massively from person to person. Key has got to be individual choice

A straightforward VB can be done at home with a midwife.

Any kind of c-section needs to be done in a theatre with a team of staff.

To me this indicates that there is less risk involved with a VB.

That's true, MP - but there is no guarantee that it WILL be straightforward...

i agree with Pruners. For some people a VB is safer than an elective c-section. For some people an elective c-section is safer than a VB. You have to take personal circumstances into account when deciding.
Just out of interest, those who say VBs are always safer than c sections, do the statistics [i guess there are some] include emergency c sections in them, or are there statistics comparing safety rates of VBs with elective c-sections only?

From the research I've done (think limited Googling!) then the CS stats include Em. CSs too.

I am shocked that people realy think that cos you pay a few grand for a private birth you are necessarily getting a better deal! OK you will get one-to-one care, special treatment, but buying yourself a section is ludicrous. No, no, no!

Its much easier, though obviously not cheaper, for a private hospital to perform a CS than support a woman through a long, natural labour!Why do you think these private dr's like doing them? Loads of money for a few min operation!

I wouldnt have a baby in a private hospital, even you paid me.

Carmen... I don't think for a moment I am getting better care. Not sure where that idea came from.

I am going to the private wing of an NHS hospital. I completely appreciate that I am paying for the privilege of appts when I can make them, one to one care (with the same consultants who work in the NHS) and better (but unecessary) facilities such as a private room, en suite, TV etc,.

One of the other benefits is that the consultant will talk through ALL the options. You will not feel forced one way or another. My consultant happens to be quite wary of el CS and we are therefore talking of an induction in my particular case, but as many have said, birth is a very individual thing.

I am not paying for a CS. I am paying for the choice.

For the record, from the few appts I've had under the NHS, I feel the people who work within that sysyem deserve MEDALS, they work under enormously difficult conditions, and they do a great job. But, they don't have the time to devote the care or attention people need (this is not a critism of the people, but of the system).

Personally i dont think there should be a choice of method of delivery(unless medical reason/emergency). There is a reason babies are born vaginally is cos they are meant to. Why would someone want a choice on how babies are born? Dont really understand this.

And i really hope that you are happy with having an NHS consultant in a private wing of and NHS hospital, as im my experience, going on where i work, i would be bitterly disappointed in what i got for my money!

well after a rather awful birth experience and emergency c section i was put in a very overcrowded NHS ward [one ward was closed because of lack of staff] where staff were very limited and no one came if you rang a bell. It was frightening. Don't know if private is any better but i would be interested if there was one around my area.

Now paying for a private room is different IMO, and totally owrth the money, it's about £100ish a night at my hospital, and I shall be paying for it, you have more midwives per person so better aftercare in that respect, plus your own room so visitors are not going to be annoying to yourself or other patients.

I asked for a private room with DS but they were all booked so they found me a side room with just myself and another bed (different hospital though so less private rooms) and the thoguht of being on a ward is horrid to me.

Well, I checked around lots of different places (one place even offered cosmetic surgery while you were 'in' )

And, yeah, I like the look of this place.

As I said, many of the 'services' I'm paying for having nothing to do with child birth (weekend / evening appts, more regular checks, more time for appts, private room, en suite, guests allowed)

I'm afraid I don't agree with your argument at all... I discuss my situation with my consultant and if I choose that method of deivery for me and my baby, and I am not putting increased pressure on an already overdtretched NHS, that's my choice.