42% of UK births are c-sections

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Is anyone else surprised at this statistic? I’m sure it was only something like 20% when my now-teen was born.

Although I had noticed how so many of my friends/family members/colleagues having babies recently all seem to have had cesareans.

It looks as though the shift will only continue so potentially c-section will exceed 50% of births and be the more common mode of birth in a few years.

I think it’s really interesting! Will there be drive to try and push numbers down and increase vaginal births again? Or will it eventually become standard for most women to just book in for an elective section as standard and ‘attempting natural’ will be seen as a more unusual choice like home birth is currently.

Whilst true that people do love to talk about the bad, approx 90% of first-time mums have their vagina cut open or it tears open during labour. Ninety percent!!

And unless you've got an epidural, you will feel it.

And no, women saying that they didn't notice that sensitive bit of their body tearing because everything else in labour hurt so much doesn't reassure...

I literally know somebody whose clitoris got torn in half.

No issues with showing medical professionals my fanny. As I mentioned, I used to be a regular at my OBGYN’s office - many a doctor/nurse down there. I have no interest whatsoever in tearing my vagina or shitting myself though.

As a mother of 4 grown up DCs, all natural births, someone who’s had major surgery and also someone who worked in maternity and labour and delivery suites if I had my time again I would 💯 ask for a c-section. It hardly takes any time at all the mothers have an epidural so no prolonged pain (14 hours with first who ended up a forceps with episiotomy). I would much rather have a wound in a place that is easily kept clean. Controversial maybe but I think it’s barbaric in this day and age for women to labour for hours on end.

That stat isn't actually quite accurate - 90% of first time mothers experience grazing or tears during labour. Most are minor grazes or first degree tears that don't require stitches, or second degree tears that do require stitches but aren't major (certainly less major than having one's abdomen operated on!) and only 6% and under 2% of first time mothers have third and fourth degree tears respectively.

I did have a graze, and it wasn't even worth mentioning.

I'm not even sure how one's clitoris would be torn in half, but that sounds utterly horrific. I have to imagine that kind of injury would be incredibly rare, however.

Again though, I'm not against elective c sections, I just think all the horror stories are unhelpful. Decisions should be made in view of accurate statistics and risk analysis, not based on fear.

I can understand that you have your personal hang up about this but I think it’s quite sad to believe that one of the most amazing things a woman’s body is capable of is “gross”

You sound like you have a high pain threshold and far more resilience than me! I don’t want my vagina GRAZING or even a tear that doesn’t require stitches - I don’t want a very sensitive part of my body damaging in any way. I find smear tests uncomfortable and don’t get me started on when I got my Mirena coil fitted 😭. I would rather have the abdominal slit under GA. It’s an informed choice based on my knowledge of my body (among other things), it’s nothing to do with “horror stories”.

You need double the number of doctors to do double the number of c-sections. C-sections must be very expensive- plus people stay in hospital longer.

There’s no way this level of recruitment will have happened. So what the effect will be is less time on all the other stuff doctors do that makes the maternity system function properly. So the system will be under stress, midwives then under stress because everything backs up, and the impact is worse care for patients. Delays and planned c-sections become emergencies. If you know a lot of mums I think it’s pretty obvious when you adopt a system viewpoint

It’s obvious that there is a system level cause which has led to the majority of trusts rated inadequate in 10 years. Mix of population health and policy/ guidelines/regulation regimes.

I’m opting for VBAC this time around. I genuinely felt pushed into have a C-section with my first. My waters broke and still no progress after 42 hours but baby wasn’t in distress and I was fine. Consultants kept coming round and tried to make me anxious I think telling me baby wasn’t at risk infection because of my waters etc and asked me 4 times if I wanted a section and I said no thank you. Final time I was told I was having one and would be going to theatre in 10 minutes!

Oh for heavens sake periods are gross, period blood, dead endometrial tissue leaking from your vagina is gross hence the reason most women choose to use period products and not just bleed all over themselves.
Having a period is a part of normal life, its nothing to be embarrassed about but its hardly anything magical.
Are you seriously saying if you saw a woman sitting on a bus just bleeding all down herself you'd happily sit on that seat afterwards? The clots and smell wouldn't bother you cause its natural after all?

I’m glad. When I had my first 21 years ago they were on a big drive to keep the c section stats low. So they really did everything they could to stop you having one even when it was obviously necessary. I did get the c section in the end but only when I was at death’s door. Scary and dangerous.

Oh no, I'm a total baby when it comes to pain usually, although to be fair, I don't find smear tests uncomfortable! But a graze is a very minor thing, I think. A tear - even a small one - might be a different matter, I don't know.

Personally, having had both, I found the pain and recovery of a smooth (and that is an important point) vaginal birth to be so, so much quicker and easier than from an elective c section, despite a skilled surgeon. I developed minor adhesions that caused internal pulling and pain, and suffered from numbness and nerve pain in the area of the surgery site for nearly two years, despite doing everything right. I wasn't even thinking about sex for at least the first three months afterwards. Meanwhile, the vaginal birth I bounced back from in about four weeks, and was raring to go in comparison, haha.

But yes, you're right, it is all highly dependent on your own body and medical history, and how well you tolerate certain things. You also have to weigh up your comfort with the potential complications of either thing - whether it be a bladder injury during a c section, or a serious tear during a vaginal birth. There are pros and cons to both.

The broader trend towards c sections does concern me, but on an individual level I'm a big advocate of women choosing what they feel most comfortable with, whatever that is.

Why does the broader trend concern you? Why does women making a different choice from you, in increasing numbers, a cause for concern?

I find it insulting that other woman think im either not fully informed or im basing my decision to have a section on other womens horror stories.

its frankly such a misogynistic attitude and screams "that silly girl just doesnt know any better and doesnt want to push, she should be quite and let other people decide for her".

I actually do have a super high pain threshold but still dont want to risk any damage down there and I think that's such a sensible decision. When I spoke to the consultant and we discussed my choices she fully agreed and was happy I was informed and making a good decision for me.

I think it's misogynistic to say that women spend one week out of every month existing in a state of grossness.

I don't think any bodily fluids are gross when appropriate hygiene is performed. Obviously, wallowing in bodily fluids of any sort, or exposing others to them, can be an unpleasant biohazard, but when properly dealt with, no, it's not gross. It's just the human body doing exactly what it's supposed to do, and functioning properly.

Of course there are pros and cons to both. The point that I and others have repeatedly tried to make on the thread is that those of us choosing a c-section have weighed up the pros and cons just as much as those who choose vaginal. It’s incredibly patronising to suggest otherwise (as some have).

By the by, I’ve never heard of anyone bouncing back and being able to have sex 4 weeks after a vaginal birth - fair play if you did! Whereas I imagine if you recover normally from a c-section, sex is on the cards sooner (not that I care too much about that, plus I imagine sleep deprivation will mute my sex drive anyway).

As you mention 'horror stories', I feel you might be referencing me, so I feel the need to point out that I haven't said women aren't fully informed, or are making choices out of fear over horror stories, I've said it's important that they don't do that.

But if they are fully informed, and are making decisions based on risk analysis and not out of fear, then as I've said, I support whatever method of birth a woman chooses for herself.

@Bababear987 Put it this way - my kids always knew about periods from a relatively young age and I would never teach them that they are in any way "gross". Ultimately I am grateful for them as they would not be here otherwise.
My daughter has walked in on me changing my pad on more than one occasion and I've been age-approprately honest. It's blood that comes away from the lining of your womb if you are not pregnant Not gross, not scary, not something to be ashamed of. Entirely natural. Nothing to not discuss or be ashamed of.
I remember when my son openly asked me about periods when he was about 15 and around girls more - do they hurt, what types of sanitary products there are about, that sort of thing. It was lovely he had the sort of relationship.with me where those sorts of questions were never taboo.
And - this may genuinely shock you - some people even still have sex when they're menstruating!

But your attitude seems to be that nothing natural is gross when that's simply untrue.

Periods are nothing to be ashamed about but they're gross. Most women dont exist in grossness cause they clean themselves. But lets boil it down to the basics, anything your body chooses to excrete is generally a waste product, which is generally unhygienic, hence why we've come up with so many different ways to keep ourselves clean and not sit in waste products.

Now the female body is a miracle and we are all queens but who feels fresh on their period?

Would you happily go back to the days of 1 bath per month, using an old rag, or trade places with a woman in a developing country who has no access to period products? No you wouldn't cause its gross

I think that honestly, the average woman isn't particularly well-informed either way. She just goes along with whatever's suggested to her. Obviously, this thread has self-selected for people who are well-informed, but I don't think that's the norm.

Personally, I found that yes I did bounce back (literally, hah) very fast, and that having a major surgical wound in my abdomen was much more of a barrier to having sex than having vaginally birthed a baby. But then as I've said, I was young, and didn't have complications with either, so those are factors, and of course it's all very individual.

You're right though, sleep deprivation is possibly the biggest factor, in regards to that 😂

This is it, so patronising to assume women who have sections dont know the pros and cons but women who have vaginal births do.
If anything I've found that women who choose sections are much more informed and those who have vaginal births get a lot more surprises

@Bababear987 I'm wondering whether this may be a cultural difference?

I’m sorry if this offends, but I also find periods gross and do everything I can to minimise the smell / impact. I never use pads, only tampons, and purposely picked a contraception method that would make them much lighter. I HATE periods and look forward to never having one again. I would be just as repulsed by a woman who didn’t practise period hygiene to a degree that I could see or smell the period as I would a man who didn’t wipe and consequently smelt of excrement. I fail to see how aversion to period blood is in any way misogynistic. Hating menstruating women is obviously misogyny, but the actual fluid/smell? Quite the leap.

@Crushed23 Guessing you avoid intimacy when menstruating then? 😀
It's quite sad that you feel like that about periods insofar as you can't wait not.to have them when you hope one day to be pregnant.

Lol yes, the 1-2 days of full flow are out!

So we shouldn't be ashamed about spending a week out of every month existing in a state of grossness? Those two statements seem mutually exclusive. I'm not having a bar of it, and I think you've internalised some misogynistic ideas about a healthy female body.

As I said, with access to fresh water and basic period products, periods are not gross. Neither are any of the bodily functions that result in waste products. I agreed with you that it's unpleasant or 'gross' if one can't cleanse oneself of sweat, snot, blood, or faecal matter on a regular basis, but if one does have access to clean water and basic hygiene products, I don't accept that our body's natural functions are 'gross'.

That's a value judgement being made about a normal biological process, which isn't a healthy attitude to have.

ETA: I seem to have lost the quote, but this was for @Bababear987