Planned C-Section or natural delivery?

[Ineedadviceonnames]

In my first birth, I was induced at 37 weeks following multiple episodes of reduced movements. I had an epidural as I moved into established labour and following that I really struggled to know how to push baby out. I ended up with a forceps delivery and an episiotomy which it took me months to fully recover from.

This time around, I've been advised that if I go for natural labour they would want to give me an epidural earlier in labour (if I wanted one) so that there's more time for them to insert it between contractions. However, I was hoping to have an opportunity to see how my labour is going before deciding whether I wanted an epidural or not.

This is leading me to considering a planned c - section to avoid a repeat of my last experience. I'm under no illusion that the recovery would be easy, but then it wasn't last time either.

The question is, do I give myself the chance to see how a natural birth goes or give myself a more predictable (and hopefully less stressful) birth experience? I struggle a lot with the unknown and I feel like this is also pulling me towards a C-section but then I worry I'm making the decision with the wrong priorities in mind.

d'you mean high BMI risk factor or something else (think there's a word missing in your sentence). In v general terms... we do sometimes suggest to women with obesity that having an epidural in earlier may be a good idea, but no one's going to pin you down and insist on it! Was the spinal really difficult last time?... usually if a spinal's gone in without too much drama then that's pretty reassuring if you do decide to go without an epidural but then something happens that means needing to go to theatre. And if you're going to the same unit as last time they should be able to look up how deep the epidural/spinal space was, which can be reassuring for the second time round. If you do decide to try for a vaginal delivery again, top tip is that it's probably a good idea to ask to speak with an anaesthetist pretty much as soon as you get in so they can see how things are going and you can make a plan re. if/when to make your choice.

re the other things that were problematic last time - it's really not that as easy as you'd imagine to predict how numb someone's going to get with an epidural. Usually the aim is to be able to feel the contractions but for them to just not be painful, but it's not wildly uncommon to not be able to feel them (or conversely some women need much more local to get to the point that it's comfortable). It is pretty unusual for the epidural to just 'fall out', and even more unusual to not spot that. Occasionally the catheters 'migrate' on the inside so it looks like it's ok from the outside, but aren't ending up where they should on the inside and that is trickier to spot though. It is normal to be 'clear fluids only' once on the synto drip or with an epidural and the reason for that is that the risk of inhaling solid stomach contents in a real emergency is relatively high in obstetrics, and if you are needing/choosing medical interventions there may be a slightly higher chance of having to go to theatre. Clear fluids does include isotonic sports drinks and fruit squash though so you should be able to get a bit of energy in (not the same as a meal for sure, but better than just water).

if your interested, there's a website called labourpains.org that has loads of info about epidurals/other pain relief options and the anaesthetic plans for different scenarios...might be useful if you still have questions or to help know what sort of things to ask on the day.

I had my DTs at 36+5 due to severe pe via a surprise elcs. The whole experience was wonderful (leaving aside DD dramatic entrance to the world) and I’m terrified of anything medical happening to me - they made it so I felt completely in control of the situation.

I was out food shopping when they were 5 days old, back to driving two weeks later. In the extremely unlikely scenario I have anymore kids, I’d go for another section!