Fear of natural birth, elective c-section help.

[lnleviathan]

Hey all im currently 35 weeks pregnant. Im very stressed about natural birth and im planning to go for an elective c-section. This will be my first birth. I know it takes longer to give birth naturally when its your first. I know c-section also involves pain. But when i search about the both types i find there are not many positive stories about natural birth. C-section gives me feeling of control and calmness eliminating the fear of the uncertainity. I know birth also needs mentally to be prepared and you have to be somehow decisive to go through the birth more easily. When i ask my mom who had 4 natural births and one c-section, she tells me for her c-section was a better experience. My sisters had c-sections and yes i remember them suffer in their first walk and a fews days but nothing like screaming or crying as we mostly in natural birth. I know natural births can be also quiet but you know babys gonna come out somehow and its a choice between to types of pain in the end. I have anxiety disorder (ocd) maybe thats why im very stressed.

what do you guys think?

It's your choice but I know loads of people who've had straight forward vaginal births, including home births. I've had three easy vaginal births with no pain relief needed. In one case the baby arrived very quickly and there was no time for intervention but I didn't need it anyway.

I'm currently being treated for cancer and the first thing my consultant said to me was to stay away from the internet. There are scare stories out there about everything. They don't always reflect real life or the majority of experiences.

In terms of what you’ll go through.

natural birth comes in waves of pain, so you’ll have contractions that will be a build up of pain in your stomach/ back it’ll peak and then start to fade, that’ll happen every 3-10 minutes, maybe closer but by that point I didn’t know my own name let alone timings 😂 but you can get pain relief that either numbs it or takes the edge off, and then when your ready to push and the baby crowns that is like a burning sensation, but it’s over pretty quickly usually.

a section will be very calm, you’ll be walked down to theatre sit on a table they will do your spinal and then lay you down, the operation takes about an hour with baby out within about 15 minutes, you’ll go to recovery for an hour after then go up to the maternity ward, you’ll feel ok for the first day, and then it’ll be pretty painful for about a week

both have good points and bad, but you’ll have a lovely little baby at the end of it either way. Best of luck 🩷

I have one DD, born when I was 42.The labour was induced and lasted 14 hours (average for a first birth). I had two epidurals because the first one didn't work. Immediately after the birth, I asked myself: 'Would you do that again?'. The answer was yes. Once home, I was so glad that I didn't have an operation to recover from at the same time as looking after my lovely daughter.

The preamble to this story is that I was very frightened in the weeks running up to the Llabour but told myself that millions of women give birth every year, that I would be in the hands of professionals, and that the female body is designed (not very well) to give birth.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best of luck.

I’ve had both. My first was a vaginal birth. Induction, back to back baby, 3b tear, repair in surgery. My second (13 years later) was an elective section. If I have another, I’ll be opting for a section again. The recovery was quicker, less pain, and I felt much more in control. I also haemorrhaged both times, I lost 2.1 litres with the section. Still felt better afterwards. I opted for the section because I didn’t want to risk another tear, I knew I wouldn’t bounce back as quickly as I did when I was 21!

I agree definitely. I read comments of women who hated natural birth as well as others hate the c-section. I see people really wanting natural birth stronglt even unmedicated, i think they are already mentally prepared and trust the process. But im not one of those :(

Much of the problem I think is even women who’ve had both can’t compare.

if you’ve had both it’s usually because the vaginal birth had complications. So compared to that an elective c-section will seem far easier.

someone who’s had a straightforward vaginal birth won’t choose a section for their next births.

Hi op, one natural birth, emergency c section and elective c section here. Elective c section every time. Yes, I was a bit nauseous after anesthetic but I felt that the Elective was much more calmer and a quicker recovery to the others.

I’ve had both also. OP are you very young?

nausea during/after a section is usually quite different to the nausea people may get with a GA. During a section under spinal it's more likely to be due either to BP changes (easily fixed) or due to the drugs we have to give to help the uterus contract and control bleeding. Having had nausea with a GA before doesn't necessarily mean there'd be a problem with a section, but equally it's really not wildly uncommon to feel sick/actually vomit in theatre with a section.