What mode of birth did you have? And were you very active in pregnancy?

[ZEWatson]

This is not an 'I'm better than you' post. Purely I'm interested to see if there's any correlation between level of fitness during pregnancy and the mode of delivery.

My question is what mode of delivery did you have?
Unplanned C section, planned C section, or vaginal (including forceps and instrumental).
AND
Were you very active into your 3rd trimester of pregnancy? I'm talking muscle building activities, high impact aerobic sport etc. Not regular walking or light exercise.
I've read there is a correlation between women who regularly do high intensity sport during pregnancy (weight lifting, sport climbing, fast running ) and how their body doesn't identify labour signs and changes of hormones due to the body being so adjusted to dealing with high stress activities and therefore higher levels of unplanned Csection.

I'll start- I carried on my usual sports during pregnancy of running 3x a week up until 41 weeks, climbing until 30 weeks and swimming until 42 weeks and I never went into labour, despite induction and had an unplanned C-section at 42+2.

Weight lifted in my first pregnancy, was induced but had an uncomplicated vaginal delivery.
Had to stop weights in second pregnancy but did swim 3 times a week up to 39 weeks. Spontaneous vaginal delivery on my due date.

DC1 - EMCS due to failed induction at 42 weeks - Did some walking in 3rd trimester, had stop due to sciatica

DC2 - ELCS due to transverse lie - she was stuck in an awkward position that i meant i had breathing problems for the whole 3rd trimester so hardly any exercise apart from a bit of walking

I did very little exercise during pregnancy apart from the occasional walk. I had two natural vaginal births with no intervention either time. No pain relief the second time either (no time).

I did CrossFit up until the day before he was born. Didn’t even get to labour. He was born via emergency C-section due to placenta abruption at 39 weeks. They have no idea what caused it.

My DTwins were born at 36+4 by emergency C section. I had pre-eclampsia, which I had no idea about as I didn't get any symptoms. They checked if I was favourable for induction, which I wasn't, then they had to deliver them right away as they were showing distress. I commuted to and from work up until then, but had a desk job. No other exercise.
DS was born at 40+2 by planned C section. The fact I'd had one before, he was big and there was a lot of fluid (no GD or anything though) made them take this route, however if I went into labour before that they'd take me in and monitor me. He definitely showed no signs of being ready to come out, despite me trying long walks and other exercise. Hadn't really exercised that much through the whole pregnancy, apart from the odd swim.

Planned C-sections x 2. Very similar to each other.

Exercised daily and fairly hard up until the day before birth (running, spinning, weight lifting, TRX - stopped boxing and MA due to twisting). Recovered very quickly, no diastasis recti, no weight gain, retained muscle tone each time, small identical bumps.

For my eldest: unplanned section after 2 day labour in which baby got stuck. Very active pregnancy, swimming numerous times a week throughout it. Planned section for number two, active in the sense of chasing after a toddler and working with kids throughout, walking a lot with big toddler in carrier and kids in buggy and so on until 7th month.

Reasonably active after 14 weeks, I had a mc before so was very careful initially. I was v active pre pregnancy. so after 14 weeks, i did preg yoga twice a week, 1 swim class a week, and walked every day.
Dd was breeched , so planned c section.
Very smooth pregnancy and uneventful big day.

In my case, I don't think my levels of activity would have made a blind bit of difference!! I wasn't particularly active but wasn't inactive!!

First baby EMCS after long labour and failed forceps - he tried to come out at an angle - if he hadn't been 10lb 6ozs they said he would have been born 'normally'. Second baby - more active during pregnancy as running around after a toddler, fairly fast labour (4 hours to pushing stage), shoulders got stuck so EMCS. He was 10lb 6.5. Final baby I was much more active as had two toddlers and we did lots of walking in the fields etc. Elective CS almost forced on me. She was attached very high up with a short cord so wouldn't have been born 'normally' without one or both of us dying. She was 10lb 7oz.

Mid active, less active than before baby but I swam throughout the week and did big hours long walks with the dog thorugh the woods.
EMCS, never went into labour, induction failed, they just kept upping the drip till the contractions were ripping me apart but my cervix didn't budge.

I was moderately active in my first pg (walking, swimming and pregnancy yoga) and had a spontaneous vaginal birth in hospital, no drugs, mild tearing but no stitches.

Second pg I was a bit more active. Still walking and swimming but also Bodybalance, Bodypump and gym workouts. Had a spontaneous vaginal birth at home in water. No drugs, no stitches. Was very lucky. 🍀

3 vaginal births despite babies of 9.8, 11lbs, 9.3lbs, plus gestational diabetes in pregnancies 2 & 3. I was 33, 37 & 39. Not very active in pregnancy. No organised exercise. Just walked the dog every day.

All 12 babies in wider family (4 women) born vaginally despite

• 2 babies over 10lbs, 5 over 9lbs
• obesity, hypertension and first birth at 38
• poorly controlled type 1 diabetes.
• gestational diabetes

The reason for this is all babies born between 1985 and 2005.

These days at least half would have been caesarean births.

Mode of birth is hugely down to model of care, which changes according to time and birth setting.

I had hyperemisis for 26 weeks, then pretty active (CrossFit daily) until labour came on (41 weeks).
Very long labour and vacuum delivery with tearing. Had an epidural thank goodness.

Very active both pregnancies - I had terrible nausea and vomiting that only went away when I was on the move. I was in the gym doing TRX work the day before birth both times.

I've had two planned c-sections. The first one for a breech, the second because I point blank refused a VBAC. Very, very easy recoveries both times and no lasting effects from the surgery - scar numbess, overhang etc.

Pretty much rotted on the sofa with hyperemesis the entire 9 months. Awful diet, zero exercise.

Went into labour at 41 weeks, vaginal delivery, no complications, no interventions, no pain relief. 😁

Non assisted vaginal birth. Wasn't very active at all in my 3rd trimester aside from lots of gentle walking and baking!

With my first I was t sporty, just active. Lots of walking, continuing with life. I did go to the gym for the first 2 trimesters. Had a natural VB - no pain relief or complications or assistance,

Second I was very inactive due to PGP so I barely walked as much as I wanted to. Did pregnancy yoga once a week and followed YouTube tutorials when I felt achy - again another VB - no complications.

I was active throughout both pregnancies doing running, weights and yoga although a bit less with the second. I did have 2 vaginal births but only just with my first. He was in an awkward position and it was a really difficult, long labour, they were starting to say I may need a
c section but he did eventually come out! Second birth was much quicker and easier.

Two vaginal births and pretty lazy towards the end of my pregnancies. Just pottering round really.

Home births x 4 last was twins, no interventions all natural and quick. Didn't change eating or exercise. Just the way I wanted it 😊

First was vaginal,second emergency c section,third vaginal.
No "exercise" as such but I did a lot of walking.

I do think that if I had been fitter in terms of core muscles,things might have been easier.

Very active, cycled 10 miles to my 36 week scan, did weights throughout & all my usual long distance hiking. Classified as underweight bmi so got extra scans anyway, which turned out to be very useful as I had been saying for months he was the wrong way due to rib pain, never felt him turn during my pregnancy and he was breech at least in scans from 30 weeks, although the midwifes told me at every manual check he was the right way, I didn’t challenge them though because I knew the scans would be more accurate. Opted for elective c section, as there’s absolutely no way they’d of turned him, I was all baby and he certainly felt wedged to me. Easy recovery so would do it again.