Why are so many women anti c-section?

[jivegirl]

Despite planning a peaceful waterbirth at home, I ended up having a very scary OP/ventouse delivery with my daugher nearly 2 years ago (delayed second stage, retained placenta, 3rd degree tear, plus internal tearing which had not healed after 6 months and required cauterising)

I have been offered a C-section and will see the consultant again to make my decision in just over a week. At present (35wks) bump is transverse, so the decision to have a section may yet be taken out of my hands. However part of me is secretly hoping the baby stays transverse so I don't have to justify having a section.

I can't understand why so many women seem to be anti-sections. It seems admitting a preference for a section is almost taboo.
I still get horrific flashbacks to delivering my daughter and can't think of anything worse than going through that again (my DP rates it as the most traumatic day of his life!! ) The thought of a calm, planned c-section sounds like bliss. Am I being naive?

I should also say that I will have excellent support from friends and family to help me cope with caring for an active toddler and a newborn in the weeks that follow - so I am sure I am luckier than many..

Would love to hear some opinions on this ladies!

That is not my post and I'm getting a bit fed up of being singled out for things I didn't write.

There is even one person on here who have had five successful sections, riven.

I understand that haveing a section is an excellent way to prevent tearing your fanjo.

The fact is, women do have a choice, even if you don't think they should. They just need to know how to go about making the request.

Oi, Expat my love, expatINENGLAND is also on this thread.

I wish one of you would change your name.

I've been here for years under this name, Athene. I'm staying!

'Don't sit down on the sofa ringing your mum to tell her its started, get out for a 3mile walk! Don't go into hospital when they're 5mins apart and 'starting to hurt'. Wait until they're 2min and so bad that you actually can't catch your breath when one hits.'

cushion, this is again assuming that one way is the best way for all women.

some women have SPD, sciatica or other conditions and aren't going to be able to go on a 3 mile walk.

it lashes rain and howls gales here most of the year. last thing i'd want to is go for a hike in such weathers whilst being in labour.

and some of us prefer to have pain relief rather than showing up at hospital utterly dessimated by pain.

i waited till i couldn't catch my breath with DD2 and wound up with a drug free delivery that completely scarred me psychologically.

not to mention, there's often a wait for epidural pain relief.

this time round, i'm going in asap and asking for my epi over and over again until i get it.

When are you due expat?

Expatinengland, how is it stupid to say that too many women give birth on their back? It is the most unnatural position possible for childbirth and leaves you with 30% less room in your birthing canal.

If you bother to read my post properly you'll see that I am pro-choice and that I have no problem with women choosing a CS because they had a traumatic time with a previous birth. My post merely pointed out that many women end up with an emergency CS when a little more knowledge in pregnancy may have made that avoidable.

Of course some women will have contractions that never become regular. Some even give birth without having felt any contractions. That does not negate the fact that many first time mums do go in far too early or end up strapped to a bed for hours when this could have been avoided. I know scores of women who went in closer 2nd time around because they knew they'd gone in too early first time.

Emergency CSs will always be needed. Some women, despite every effort, will just not be able to birth some babies for whatever reason. Better education and preparation could mean that fewer women need one.

Nah Expat, I don't at all think one way is best. Very pro-choice am I.

Just very pro education. Woman are being told to lie on their backs because it makes the midwife's job easier. It is a very unatural way to give birth.

Oh and I had SPD (walking was actually the only thing that helped), I lived in Glasgow and gave birth around Christmas so my long walk saw me brave west coast wind and rain with about 12 layers of clothes on!

I don't have SPD, but when I fall into labour, I'm due on Halloween, I really don't fancy a walk.

We are also quite far from hospital - in Argyll - so best to get going along as soon as if we can. If it's after the ferry stops running, the midwife comes out to the house and, either calls up the emergency ferry or the chopper over to Paisley.

video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8597620254789409121

The Business of Being Born - Ricky Lake's new documentary about birth in the US.

Cried four times watching it - some really moving births.

Warning though: the stuff on 'twilight sleep' births is REALLY disturbing.

I've never had a child in the US and I would not prefer it.

I had a bankrupcy in the US after being made redundant, having no insurance and then was struck by a drunk motorist who was driving a borrowed car.

I'm glad I no longer have to worry about that.

I've not found it a problem in the UK to give birth.

But I am also in Scotland.

After my emergency C-section, I couldn't understand why everyone didn't do it in the first place. I'd also had a difficult labour, though nothing like your experience and was just so relieved when it was over.
After a few weeks, though, I realised that the reason I'd felt slightly out of it for the first week or so wasn't because I was tired - it was the result of the anti-inflammatory drugs. I recovered quickly but still felt winded, as if someone had punched me in the stomach for a few weeks. I also think it must be difficult to look after a toddler and newborn after a C-section. If you have help, maybe that'll be different. I think another time I'd try for a natural birth but if it turned out it wasn't going to be straightforward, I'd probably go for a C-section.

Well you could always swim!

I don't think we're on opposing sides of this debate TBH. I made the point about three times that women don't always fall into one stereotype. I still strongly believe that better education would mean less fear and perhaps less intervention. Just as important is making sure women who have needed or chosen intervention don't end up feeling they have somehow failed.

I haven't read the entire thread so apologies up front if something similar has already been said.
I had planned a maternity unit birth for my first baby. Baby turned out to be breech and he was a big baby and I'm quite little so it was decided for me to have an emergency CS. We had to drive to the next town to a hospital there that could perform CS's.

I am so glad I had the CS. I had 7 odd hours of labour with contractions every couple of minutes and they flipping well hurt. No one can explain how much labour hurts Some can cope with that, some can't. So while I was lying in a room waiting to go to theatre, and hearing women givng birth in rooms around me screaming their heads off, all I could feel was relief I was not going to have to get to that stage of pain. The CS was a really lovely experience. All the theatre staff were lovely and reassuring and I can't describe the relief I felt when that epidural went in and the pain went away Bonded with my gorgeous little boy straight away, breast fed straight away and was up and on my feet next day and transferred back to maternity unit to continue recovery.Back home 3 days after CS. I was sore, but as others have said, it really only hurt to cough or laugh. I would do it again if I ever had another baby. The thought of giving birth vaginally is quite scary, and I am eternally grateful I didn't go through it. Totally positive experience for me; DH was fascinated by the operation and my baby perfectly healthy.

Each to their own I say. You have to do what feels right for you, not what you think other people think you should do. Too many people are too quick to judge and no one knows exactly what you're feeling and what you can cope with but yourself in my humble opinion, but hey, I've only had 1 baby so what do I know.

Whichever way you play it, c-section or vaginal birth, somebody will criticise you especially if anything goes wrong. It will be easy in that case to say well you should have chosen the other option. Plenty of women have elcs; it is an option open to you, so there's no reason why you shouldn't consider it. Having said that, a second baby can be a massively easier birth than the first (not hard in your case!) and an elcs, though it sounds smooth, has its own risks and unpleasant after effects.

No Fabsmum you are however from what I'm reading saying that c-sections should only be provided in an emergency or for a physical medical reason.
If that was the case then I would only have one child instead of the two I have now. There is no way I could have had a natural birth after my traumatic experience with DD. So by your rationale I did not "deserve" an elective c-section for my son as it was only fear that was stopping me having a natural birth the second time around. Yes, that seems totally fair to me and others like me...

I had a section. It was an uncomplicated pregnancy (aside from the bleeding early on and exposure to fifth disease etc) until I got to about six months when my blood pressure rocketed. I got signed off work with "border line pre-eclampsia", had issues with lack of movement, and she was breech. Everybody told me section, and weighing up all the options, all the facts that I had been presented with, I chose to go for a section.

Now, when I mention it, people go on about the lack of educated midwives able to cope with a breech birth, or other comments like that. But in fairness, I was not prepared to be a live lab rat so that a midwive could have training on a breech birth which could have ultimately resulted in a crash / emergency section which is what I did not want.

I never "promote" my section, people know I have had a section and ask me what the recovery was like, what happened etc, if they are in a position where they may have to have a section, but I just present the facts with a "this is how it was for me" attitude. I have the same attitude for breast feeding questions, as at the end of the day, I think that everything is about finding a good solution for mother and baby, which may or may not be the same as how it worked for me and my daughter.

When I do have another, I wont be pushing for a section or a VBAC. I'll just take it as it comes.

Riven, you make me very glad I didn't have babies in the States.

No, RF, in the world of fabsmum, there would never be any traumatic vaginal births.

Only good ones.

So there'd never be any reason for you to need an elective csection.

Also, in fabsmum's world, women who have fears about giving birth first time round shouldn't ever have the choice of having a csection - instead they should be patronised because of course, all they really need is counselling and support and their unfounded fears will go away.

In fact, women shouldn't have a choice about the mode of birth at all outside of medical necessity - they obviously don't have supreme right to their own bodies and are incapable of making an informed choice about what is best for them.

I haven't read every single post here so apologies from me too if I'm repeating what's been said before.

I went to all the NCT classes and came away with the impression that as long as I did eveything the 'right' way I could have a textbook vaginal delivery. In the end, after about 24 hours of non-progressing labour, the baby was in distress, I had pre-eclampsia and everything went very ER indeed (more so than I appreciated at the time).

I think people are against c-sections not only because of the increased risks in some areas (which I don't deny) but also because some authors on pregnancy and birth have overdone it on the 'why can't we be more like the tribes of [name your chosen country] where everything is so natural and where women give birth behind a tree and are back at work within 3 days' schtick. These authors never mention the mortality rates for mothers and babies in those countries. I think we all get brainwashed into preferring what's 'natural'. That's fine as far as it goes, but a natural delivery with no intervention would have left me dead or brain-damaged and maybe my daughter too. Three cheers for modern medicine say I!

I've had a maternal-choice elective c-section 11 days ago and it was a fantastic birth experience! 3 years ago I had a vb and now I've experienced both I'd have a c-section over a vb any day.
OP, you're right, many people are prejudiced against women who chose c-s. I have to do quite a bit of explaining every time I ell people it was my choice.
It's not for everyone, and indeed some women feel they have to use their vagina to give birth; mode of delivery doesn't matter as long as it's the woman's informed choice.

Good luck! xxx

Apologies for not reading every post and if I repeat what people have already said.
At the end of the day, it is ultimately the women's body and her decision as to how she gives birth, especially if she is fully informed .
Yes there are more risks involved with a c-section but there are also risks to both mother and baby during a vaginal delivery. Neither method of delivery is risk free.
With DD1, I was induced at 42 weeks, in labour for 24 hours and ended up with an emcs after being 6cms dilated for 10 hours!!! She was by this time distressed and after delivering her, they said she was completely stuck and would never have been able to be delivered vaginally. I refuse to say normally because this was never going to be an option for me, thanks to DD1 weighing 10lbs 2oz and in a deflexed OP position with a very high head.
When I found out I was pregnant again, there was no hesitation in choosing to have an elective and I know that for me, it was the right decision to make.
I have looked several babies who due to a difficult birth, have sadly not lived. I was very lucky and had a healthy baby.

what is getting lost in this debacle is choice and one birth does not suit all