Vaginal Birth or Elective Section?

[VictorianSqualor]

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

Not going to bother telling my GP surgery I'm pregnant.

Apparently I'm due 31 October.

What about scans are you going to go private?

Going private at 20 weeks.

I hope it all works out for the best this time round.
it's not like the 12 week scan can really change anything it picks up anyway, so I can see not having it may be easier in the long run ratehr than having all the hassle with the NHS.
(fanFKNtastic was me btw for cods challenge.)

I'm sure it'll be fine and whatever happens I'll be in to see someone at 36 weeks.

Well expat my thoughts and best wishes are with you
Keep us informed
There was someone on another thread saying how great Italy is by the way

everything crossed for the best of luck to you expat

oh, no, i'm going back to the US to stay with my family if i go abroad.

but no, not going to bother with the antenatal 'care' here.

thanks!

Just reading through the thread, a lot of people's feelings about their VB/CS seem to be affected by their experiences of hospitals/pain relief/labour/post-natal care etc. If you had substandard care during your labour and postnatal stay, understandably it will affect your feelings about the birth.

Just a shame that so many of you have such rubbish treatment. I had em c/s 4 months ago for foetal distress - 22 hours after being induced, 11 hours in "proper" labour. My feelings are very positive about it because I had great care throughout the labour, lovely mws, everything explained to me at all times, great pain relief pretty much as soon as I needed it and good post-natal care with my own room and bathroom. This was not through going private but all on the equivalent of the NHS here in NZ.

Undoubtedly having such good care has helped me to feel good about the whole experience. Yes I got tired very easily and obviously took a while to fully recover physically. But emotionally and psychologically, it's all positive. No probs with bonding or feeding either.

i only had the one labour which ended in vb it was great midwife and pain refief were great

Message withdrawn

I think the knowledge we had and the choices we were given makes for ahuge point in the discussion too anna.
Often the concurrent theme is that we weren;t given choices, or didn;t really have a clue as to what was going on so felt out of control.
Control seems to be a big issue in childbirth, I know it is one of my biggest worries this time round.

Message withdrawn

Having had to have a c-section with dd1 I would say VB.
Takes so long to feel normal after a section with restricted lifting, bending down, pushing pram are all more difficult with abdominal surgery.
Risk of wound infection.
I am due in 2 wks and have asked to try a VBAC.

I agree control (or lack of) is a huge issue.

I felt in control for (most of) the labour as I had everything explained to me - never felt matters were out of my hands.

The only time I felt out of control was 15 mins when I was waiting for epidural, having constant, overwhelming contractions, with no break in between. 15 mins in an entire labour is pretty good! I remember saying over and over "Where's the anaesthetist? Where's the anaesthetist?" and being rather impressed I could still say the word...

"expat - antenatal care isn't an obligation
I would just want to be kept an eye on past 20 wks tbh
to be sure of no high bp and signs of pre-eclampsia etc"

I was so peed off with my NHS care with my second that I was toying with the idea of doing my own routine antenatal care: blood pressure, urine tests, measuring fundal height, listening in to the baby periodically with a doppler etc. At one clinic I attended they used to get you to test your own urine anyway - I thought that if I could get hold of the test strips I could do it all myself at home. It's not rocket science...... I thought if anything deviated from the normal I'd see the midwife, but otherwise.......

my GP will not provide ANY antenatal care.

i wouldn't terminate a pregnancy except in the case of incompatibility with life, which should be picked up at the 20-22 weeks scan - we'd have to go private to find out the gender, anyway, which we really want to know this time round. the 20 weeks scan wasn't even offered in some trusts.

i already have a bp monitor, so yeah, Sabire, i like your idea of getting hold of home testing strips for everything else.

shouldn't be hard to do online.

and then if i pick up anything either go back to NHS lothian and say we've moved back or go abroad.

i wouldn't trust anyone in this trust related to antenatal or maternity care to look after a pregnant guinea pig.

if i run into another 'consultant' who simply CANNOT speak English i'm going to go spare.

it's ridiculous that i should have to break out the French to a point across with someone i'm supposed to trust with my life.

whatever is safest for both mother and baby is the best answer to this question.
i had vb but did end up with 3rd degree tear after it, so vb does have its down sides aswell.

expat I would love to go abroad I don't blame you for feeling that way. I also filed a formal complaint [about the midwife who took my son away and fed him without my consent] and don't want to go back. Even tho I'm going for my antenatal care the idea of giving birth their fills me with dread.

Message withdrawn

is it good pruners? I have no idea. I don't know how it works, requesting to go elsewhere, especially when ironically the prenatal care is very good [high risk clinic within hospital]

Message withdrawn

i did see birth afterthoughts after the birth, it just seemed very disconnected from the actual staff and running of the hospital. Prenatal care is good, but brisk, no real time to discuss concerns that aren't physical, from their viewpoint anyway. I'm being scanned every two weeks at present. Want to go to Holland where friend knows great obstetrician but can't really see how to do it, travelling and staying out there etc!