Vaginal Birth or Elective Section?

[VictorianSqualor]

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

i will...x

i wish i'd had someone like you around last time i gave birth Lulumama. Things might have been different, but if they hadn't been, at least I would have known that i had done everything i could with the right support and guidance.

I think it's terrible that we have to come onto a parenting forum to get the support we need during childbirth and to get the guts to actually stick up for ourselves and get what we want, deserve and are, believe it or not, entitled to.

I know without MN I'd be booked in for a CS in three weeks time and panicing like hell about it.

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You are right, VS, but at least there is mumsnet, not nothing.

ruty very kind. i wish i had had someone like me, when i had my first, and i know i would not have had the birth i had. there is a lot you can do this time. are you near pruners then?

do you pruners? tempting. I don't have much confidence i my own ability now that's the prob so i may be a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy..[again sorry for hijack!]

pruners used to live near me lulumama, alas no more...

oh, what a shame ! i got very excited when schneebly moved near to me... it is mumsnet come to life !

i never even got to meet her either.

oooooh. shame.

I do worry that some people really think that their sex lives will be buggered having a normal delivery. Mine hasnt been(so far!).

Starlight,

I have CAT'd you! chk your mail!

xx

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Would have to have been a hell of a long 'wee while' for me to have benefitted if that one's true....

Ime orgasms are much qiucker and stronger too after vb
VS, I said iy was ridiculous to offer women who had not given birth before ceaserean beacuse it would be unneccessary and more dangerous than vd.
Our bodies are made for this. I just cannot agree on it being offered as a matter of course

VS-I am glad discussing it is helping. I think half the problem women have is that there is no one to actually listen to their concerns

I agree it shouldn't be something you sort out when booking in like you do which hospital you're going to.

If midwives were to say 'So how do you want this baby to coem out then?' as a normal question I'd be extremely disappointed, ther normal, natural way that our bodies are designed for is VB, but at the same time I think that people who have a very real fear of VB should be listened to and not have to 'stamp their feet' to recieve a CS.

Same goes for VBAC, induction, instrumental deliveries, basically everything surrounding childbirth.

We should be told the facts, all of the facts and not pressured into, or techinically refused anything to get us the best birth experience possible.

Birth trauma is very real as is PND, and I'm sure a large factor of both conditions is not being listened to wrt birth preferences.

I agree VS-I believe a genuine phobic should be listened to and offered couunselling and then gibven the option of cs if all else fails to remove the phobia.
On the other hand, I think a fear of childbirth is quite common esp in first time mums.
I think information, compassion and awareness of options is very imp.
I also believe that if us mothers got together and lobbied hard and insisted on changes in maternity services we would be listened to.
Maybe we could use MN as a platform for that?
I also agree that by lessening birth trauma we are lessening predisposition to PND.

expat = another less radical alternative than having to go abroad might be to have an induction at term with a mobile epidural prior to starting synto, we occasionally do that in our unit and it works well for traumatised multips.

You basically have a completely pain free and non traumatic experience and as you have had previous successful VBs, your chance of needing a c/s or instrumental delivery is less than 5%.(much higher for 1st timers though!)

It might be worth discussing this option in a unit closer to you.

Sorry - just stumbled across this new study today and thought it was interesting in relation to this thread.

Most of the time when elective c-section vs vaginal birth is discussed we only seem to talk about the pros and cons for mums re recovery, complications etc.

This study looks at the affect of mode of delivery on neonatal mortality, comparing elective c-section for low risk women with vb (from what I can understand the vaginal birth arm of the study included those babies born by emergency section when the mothers had gone into labour: "All U.S. live births and infant deaths for the 1999 to 2002 birth cohorts (8,026,415 births and 17,412 infant deaths) were examined. Using the intention-to-treat methodology, a "planned vaginal delivery" category was formed by combining vaginal births and cesareans with labor complications or procedures since the original intention in both cases was presumably a vaginal delivery. : ").

These were the conclusions:
"Results: The unadjusted neonatal mortality rate for cesarean deliveries with no labor complications or procedures was 2.4 times that for planned vaginal deliveries. In the most conservative model, the adjusted odds ratio for neonatal mortality was 1.69 (95% CI 1.35?2.11) for cesareans with no labor complications or procedures, compared with planned vaginal deliveries. Conclusions: The finding that cesarean deliveries with no labor complications or procedures remained at a 69 percent higher risk of neonatal mortality than planned vaginal deliveries is important, given the rapid increase in the number of primary cesarean deliveries without a reported medical indication."

Food for thought I'd say.......

Ref:
MacDorman MF, Declercq E, Menacker F, et al.
Neonatal mortality for primary cesarean and vaginal births to low-risk women: application of an "intention-to-treat" model.
Birth 2008;35(1):3-8.

"

Very interesting Sabire. It always seemed to make sense to me that VD would be safer for the child, and I guess that's proof.
Food for thought indeed....

Mint, I have now chosen to forgo antenatal treatment completely.

There IS no choice in this trust, and we can't afford to move right now.

I phoned my surgery today, but the GP has opted out of maternity care, so there's no choice but the hospital I've filed a formal complaint about, or the other, slightly less crap hospital.

If I went into either one of those places they'd be about the last people on Earth to express any sympathy or understanding for how I feel about the 'treatment' I got in those places.

expat, it must be very hard for you. I can't think of any solutions- but maybe you should go for antenatal treatment just to have everything checked out.
I feel very angry that you are in this situation.
Is going to stay with SIL still an option?

no way i'm putting up with those midwives, mrsruf.

the more i think of it, the more it makes sense if i want to get a bloody epidural in a timely fashion the more going abroad seems the best option.