Cesarean Birth Statistics

[iknowitsmadbutiwantit]

Hi.
I am not currently pregnant (unfortunately)(dd and ds already), but my sister is and we have had some interesting conversations recently. One of these concerned the alarming figures I read somewhere that 1 in 4 women in America have cesareans. Imagine our suprise, when we checked out the national birth statistics in Great Britain! A 25% cesarean rate is not uncommon in this country either! My local hospital, Colchester General, has cesarean statistics of 25 - 28% depending on where you research. I personally know of someone who was told she would have to have a cesarean if the maternity ward was short staffed!
Do these figures worry anyone else? or is it just us? Id be interested to hear other peoples opinions. x

Thank you foxytocin. If I do have another baby, I will follow those steps. I did see several different midwives (just the way my gp surgery was set up... not consistent - they all said the same thing).
In hindsight, I should have done more. I don't know why I didn't tbh. I just thought what I had was quite clear and with 2 letters in my notes that I carried around and the consultant - I sort of felt like I'd gone to the head already and had been turned down.

I kept saying it's what I wanted at every midwife appointment. As I was walking into the hospital after waters broke, I think I must have asked 7 times before settling on the "promise" of an epidural... which came 29 hours later!
You are right, though. I should have gone higher and done more to push for the cs. I will know better next time.

Anyway, should not go on now as I'm hijacking this thread

good heavens, no. don't worry. this thread has been hijacked many times, in many directions.

my first birth experience meant I did not want to be touched at all during childbirth. I am overdue a cervical scan and tbh, I know I am putting it off because I don't want anyone rummaging around my vagina.

with my second, i wrote in my birth notes that I did not want VEs just because x hrs had gone by and I ought to have one. It is possible to tell how a woman's labour is progressing by other reliable indications anyway.

Whenever you have a second, make it clear that you don't want any VEs but then again, you'll probably get a section.

cervical scan? I mean a 'routine cervical screen'

Thanks, foxytocin. I have "failed" my smear test a few times now . Could not physically open up to allow the tool inside. I tried so hard, but for some reason all the muscles tense up and I can't help it. People suggest valium but I just don't know.

People say that all the time - that they just said "no internal exams" and they were listened to... but I don't know how many times I politely said it, then firmly said it, then screamed it and no one listened to me.
DId they leave you alone with regard to ve's for your second labour, foxytocin?

The first midwife to examine me (before real labour even started... just after waters broke) said "oh, you're acting like a little girl". Then she sent me home.

We are seriously happy with 1. I think we may stick with 1.

I didn't have any VEs the last time not because it was a planned home birth (they tend to give you your way easier if it is your house) but because I gave birth before the midwives arrived. It was the best possible outcome for me. Relationships between me and the midwives had broken down completely with having to fight for a home birth and by then I had no trust left in them and the system. I visualised hoped for many times for dd to arrive before the midwives and I couldn't believe my luck. It is not normal to ring the labour ward for a midwife and then have panic set in that they will arrive and then be waiting, 1 or 2 or more hours to give birth and have to tell them to leave me alone. So I crawled over to my birthing ball and all my energy and concentration and visualisation went into getting that baby out. Maybe that helped, maybe it would have happened anyway but I felt like I won the lottery.

I know that you are not planning anymore and if you are it will probably be a c/s but it is a good thing to hear of good experiences and know that one day, that could be you. It was a very powerful and healing experience after the first one. I know there is still a lot of pain inside because even 6 months after having dd2 I was crying because of the treatment dd1 and I endured in hospital. That experience gave me a real phobia to hospitals for childbirth and would only go to one if I had medical complications but it was only for a c/s not for a VB.

Some of the phrases here from Mary Cronk will be helpful if you ever find a helth professional trating you like \ naughty little girl again.

Thanks How lucky that she arrived before the midwife arrived!!