Deciding between elective c section vs vaginal birth with epidural

[Hann376]

i have quite bad anxiety and terrified of giving birth (first baby). I would definitely want pain relief (probably an epidural) but I’m terrified of having a traumatic birth due to induction (which is probably likely as it’s my first baby) and the consequences of having an epidural (e.g., episiotomy or forceps leading to third or fourth degree tear with long term problems).

I am thinking of requesting an elective c section as most of my friends have had really positive experiences with c section (and recovery seems to be way better than having a complicated or traumatic birth) - can anyone share experiences of either?

If I was prepared to give birth without pain relief I would go for a vaginal birth but because I’m determined on having an epidural I understand the likelihood of more interventions and a complicated labour/delivery is more likely so is it better to have a c section ?

@Pistachiochiochio I had friends that found it harder to recover from their c sections but from my own experience it was a very fast recovery time and I walked out the hospital 3 days later feeling good. But as I say it is a personal decision and always hopefully the best outcome for mum and baby whatever route is chosen.

In your shoes, I'd book the section. The NHS cannot be trusted to provide sufficient pain relief once you're in labour and not in a position to enforce anything.

^ this

with your anxiety, you’ll have a date and can mentally prepare for going to theatre, you’ll not have lots of unknowns to think about. Obviously there are risks with c section but there are risks with every birth

id also not talk about it in real life, as everyone has an opinion, which they live to share. Just keep date and surgery secret until after the birth

best wishes for birth

I’ve had both, 1st was emergency c section and 2nd vbac

id not rate the recovery or pain that much different afterwards, infact I was walking better after c section than vb initially.

Elective c/s aren’t painful and you won’t necessarily be in pain relief for weeks. I went home on day 5 on Panadol which I took that fist day at home but otherwise I was drug free once home. Nurses were very kind and brought my baby to me at night, during the day I had visitors most of the time, even just my husband or mum so they helped. The procedure itself doesn’t hurt - they put an emla patch on my back and hand so the local anaesthetic didn’t hurt and after the pain free local they put the drip and epidural in and they didn’t hurt at all either. I was exactly like you, utterly terrified (and I know that’s silly but it’s how I felt) and my baby’s birth was just peaceful and exciting and wonderful. Afterwards your tummy feels sore but it’s like you’ve done too many sit ups in the gym it’s that sort of pain and mostly when you move, you’re not laying there in constant pain or anything. Choose whatever suits you best and don’t worry what people think.

I've had a vaginal birth with epidural and elcs (for medical reasons, planned as soon as I got pg). Both were fine. No pain at all, no stitches and no instruments or other interventions. Breastfed both dcs with no problems. Recovery from vaginal birth was quicker, but not a problem having a slower recovery with elcs as my DH had 3 months paternity so he was on hand to help amd do nursery runs for eldest. After a few weeks there was no difference.

In hindsight I'd probably choose the elcs though simply because there are always going to be changes to your vagina after vaginal childbirth and I'd rather have avoided that.

Yes I would book the elective. I had a planned c section and it was a very positive experience.

And I will second the pain free and up and around quickly.

Hi OP, not sure how far along you are or if you’ve had your baby yet.

To offer some perspective, i have had one vaginal birth (DC1) and one ELCS (DC2). Reasoning for ELCS was that DC2 was measuring very big despite no risk factors like gestation diabetes. I was considered low risk for both pregnancies apart from DC2’s general size.

When it comes to birth, you are entitled to have the birth you want. If that is an ELCS then go for it, I certainly don’t regret mine.

However, I would just give one small caution. Everyone I know who has had an ELCS really really loved it. I loved mine too, mainly because I got to meet my DC2 at the end of it. But that does not mean it was all an easy ride. I found recovery a lot slower and harder than a lot of my peers did. I’m fine now but it was a slow journey, much slower than when I had my vaginal birth. I needed a lot of help and couldn’t walk comfortably for a good 5 weeks.

I only say this because I’m often a bit wary of how many women say they were up and about and pushing the pram out for mile long walks and hoovering the floor a few days after a section. Yes perhaps for some, but not for all. Please make sure you take the full
picture into consideration when making your birth choice.

I have had two elective C Sections and they have both been absolutely brilliant experiences. Across my peers I know of ~10 c sections and only one had a bad recovery. I never had any hardcore pain, just discomfort, and only ever took paracetamol and ibuprofen and I dont have a high pain threshold at all! I was very concerned about long term birth injuries from vaginal birth after some real horror stories from peers. Unfortunately I dont trust the NHS to do everything they can to protect my long term physical health whilst delivering a baby, mostly due to staff shortages etc. That said, whilst I have had brilliant experiences I have also heard of very painful c section recovery. And have some friends who have had wonderful experiences of vaginal birth. So it is worth doing detailed research of the risks And benefits of both and then making some decisions.

I was induced baby is 12 weeks honestly if I was to do it again having done it now I would do it as natural as possible the whole thing was 13 hours start to finish and I gave birth on gas and air , I didnt have time for an epidural in the end it all happened very quickly but honestly I didn't need the epidural as The gas and air was magic but make sure you have a tens machine for the contractions that really helped me. If I have another one and don't need to be induced I would probably opt for an epidural as contractions are a lot and if labour was longer epidural would help even just to rest. Im definitely not afraid to go again . Best of luck OP x

I laboured with my first son with no pain relief until he got stuck and needed a ventouse, for which I had an epidural. I did suffer a third degree tear but healed really quickly.

My second son was also born without pain relief, a water birth in the midwife-led unit. Also tore again, but 3 days later I was sliding down a wavy slide with DS1 at the local farm.

I'm not saying it was perfect, nor do I want a medal for no pain relief but just wanted to take some of the fear out of the situation.

I feel the same…I have a section booked in just under 2 weeks but I consider trying vaginal with epidural if I happen to go into labour before that.

Just wanted to pop by and say I'm in a similar situation, first baby, terrified of birth. From the start I've told my midwife I'd like an elective CS. Had a meeting with the consultant at my 20 week scan, he was great, had no push back, just informed me of the risks which I already knew of having done a lot of in depth research myself, but he didn't say them in a negative, put me off way, just precautionary but also told me the risks are low.. I knew before I even became pregnant that this would be how I wished to have baby.

I'm still terrified of the csection, but feel better in knowing what I'm walking into and what to expect after, the thought of medical intervention and the what ifs of a vaginal birth brought me far too much anxiety which I didn't want to have throughout my pregnancy. There are quite a few threads on here regarding elective C-sections if you search for them, they're really informative and 95% very positive. I think planned vs emergency are very different experiences.

I'd suggest if you want peace of mind and the knowledge of knowing what's going to happen (within reason of course) then an elective would be the correct choice for you. Happy to chat with you if you'd like, as know exactly how your feeling ❤️ xxx

I was 40 weeks + 16 days overdue so went in for an induction. I found the exams so incredibly painful several medical staff were advising I should labour with an epidural. I did this, and they also used syntocinon but that didnt really feel like a choice as I was not asked. I was fine during labour, until I got to 9cm dilated and then I needed an emergency c section as babys heart rate dropped for 10 minutes. I found the whole thing traumatic and I have little memory of the first few days. Recovery has been very difficult. It took me such a long time to get out of bed even with assistance. I couldnt walk upright for a week. I couldn't get my baby from the cot or feed properly as I couldn't take any weight on my stomach. It's about 8 days following birth. I still struggle to get out of bed, I can't do anywhere near the thngs I could before, in terms of energy, motion and strength. The 1 mile walk I used to do regularly is impossible for me still although I'm improving how far and fast I can walk.
TLDR; recovery from emergency c section is incredibly rough and impacts how you can care for you're baby (at least for me)

OP please update and let us know how you got on!
I am in a similar position to you with the same concerns

i decided to book a c section (they ran through risks but were totally fine saying was my decision) but funnily enough went into labour early and decided to go with it as the contractions weren’t as bad as I expected. I managed with just gas and air however had a really long pushing stage and had to have baby delivered by forceps in theatre and also had an episiotomy (all the reasons I hadn’t wanted a vaginal birth in the first place haha)

bur after all that it was all fine and although recovery wasn’t ideal after forceps and episiotomy the actual labour wasn’t as bad as I thought but that was just my experience

go with your gut and I’m sure whatever you choose will be fine and it’s all over very quickly and you’ll have your beautiful baby at the end!!!

Thankyou for updating!
aw I’m so pleased you had a positive labour even though it wasn’t quite as planned.
how long did you find recovery took after forceps? And how early did you go into labour?
why is it so unpredictable 🤣😓 xx

I had an induced labour plus epidural with my first pregnancy and an elective c-section with my second pregnancy.

My induced labour was fine and the epidural was wonderful but I'd always request an elective c-section now that I've had one. It was glorious.

I think I was sore for a few days after and took it easy walking for a good few weeks but I’d say one of the main benefits for me of forceps over c section was I found it ok to breastfeed after as I did the cradle hold position which is hard to do if you’ve had a c section. However there are lots of other breastfeeding positions you can do if you’ve had a c section that was just my experience as that was the breastfeeding position I ended up feeding in all the time!

I went into labour around 2 weeks early so was all fine and not too scary!

oh also worth mentioning that I had a choice the whole way through labour and could have requested a c section at any point. Right before they took me to theatre I had to sign a consent form to have forceps and episiotomy and c section (if the forceps hadn’t worked) but I could have chosen to have c section straight away instead of forceps so that is always something you could have in your birth plan and insist on - if you would rather have a c section over assisted delivery :)

Does nobody just go iinto labour naturally, after a while go to hospital and give birth any more? If there are problems some intervention may be necessary, however most births are straightforward. You might need a few stitches if you have a small tear or an epidural, other than that all is well and you go home.

I think it’s very much regional / hospital dependent but assisted delivery rates sbd induction rates seem really excessive now and most people I know had some form of induction and/or assisted delivery (forceps or centouse) and/or episiotomy with first birth but maybe that’s just my area!

UK has one of the highest rates of forceps use in the world though - I think medical staff are too risk averse and if things aren’t going quickly enough for their liking the first step is to try to intervene

I've had two births with epidural, forceps and an episiotomy but only my first was an induction. Neither of them were traumatic and I'd go as far to say I had a positive birth experience both times. I recovered well both times, was out and about after a few days and driving within a week. No complications or anything like that and I've definitely had a much better and easier recovery than those that have had c-sections.

to be honest I’ve had a 1) forceps and episiotomy birth, 2) a c-section birth and 3) an epidural and ventouse VBAC birth. I would pick the 1st and 3rd birth every time over a c-section. The c-section recovery was so painful and so long. For me personally, the c-section was so much harder and I was elated I managed to have a VBAC and dodged a second c-section.
we are all different though. It’s useful to an extent to hear others stories but try and find what your gut is telling you to do. Trust your instincts.