why DON'T people want caesarians?

[HPonEverything]

Apart from the scar and it taking a while to be able to drive and lift things, what are the other reasons?

I really haven't looked into a caesarian but it now seems to be looking like a bit of a possibility, and I know a lot of people are very against it so I just wondered why.

For me the reasons are:

• recovery. I have had less serious abdominal surgery for a hernia and that was hard. The thought of trying to manage a newborn with a serious abdominal wound isn't a great one.

• wanting to experience labour. This may be nonsense, but I find the idea of elective caesareans a bit strange. If you have a vaginal birth, or indeed an emergency cx, then the whole process of labour takes you to a very different place hormonally which helps you bond with the baby and feed and gives you an adrenaline high which gets you through the first weeks. Or that was my experience anyway - I was absolutely elated most of the time, felt very bonded to DD and had loads of energy and was delighted to no longer be pregnant (I was miserable for most of the pregnancy)! The idea of having a set date and time to go into hospital and the baby being delivered just like that with no labour feels quite odd to me.

It was probably an NCT course and we all know that what they say is true. All hail the new king in town etc., etc.

Anyway, if anyone is worried about "birth canal bugs" - dirty sanchez anyone?

alpine the just didn't have the staff to take me ( it was a Sunday) I didn't get to see him again till 25 hours after he was born when they took my catherter out and I was able to go down without them

I know that if it had been a weekday the doctor would have seen me earlier so I wouldn't have been an emergency c section

Katy don't be scared, I've heard very positive storys about planned cs, a girl who was in hospital had twins by cs a few days after me and was very happy with her experiance

God these threads annoy me. Yes here i am (thanks crystal for introducing me ), one of those posters who spouts off the same stuff on the CS threads but i just need to dispell the myth that CS is great/easy etcetc.

For those idiots people posting 'ooh id love one' or 'why wouldnt you want one'. I'll tell you,

Because when i had a CS after two vaginal deliveries it was the worst thing that has ever happened to me.

• I felt violated, butchered, and despite being a nurse i never appreciated how it feels to be sliced open.
• five days after my CS i stood in my bathroom and my scar ruptured leaving me screaming and holding on to fat and bowel dangling out of the scar. I carried my insides across my landing and into my bedroom, to wait for paramedics, blue lighted bak to hospital for emergency surgery
• it was a slow recovery, 3 weeks later my scar broke again in 2 places due to MRSA infection. It took 2 mobths to heal
• i have had 18 months of counselling and therapy for PTSD. Taken medication. Had to give up my job as it involved me being in theatre.
• still experience pain 2 years on. Have regular flashbacks which are getting worse again as anniversary time nears.
• had to have gynae procedures since and scans.
• still have bowel problems which are painful and impact on my life
• i will never have another child as couldnt cope with labour physically or mentally.
• am currently taking legal action for clinical negligence

So thats why i think CS sucks.

However i appreciate it has a place when mum or baby is at risk, but it should only be offered in those circumstances

Sorry bumpsadaisie but CS's also give you very similar hormonal changes. You feel better because you are caryying quite a lot less weight, and the baby is no longer crowding your heart etc.

But I still wouldn't opt for a CS unless necessary as it is major surgery.

You are also stigmatised by people who are worried about too many CS's, and forget that elective CS can mean that mother and baby are known to be at high risk (for lots of reasons).

I have had 2...the 1st an emergency after 19 hours of labour including 2 hours of pushing!! the 2nd was because my daughter was poorly.. I agree any operation carries risks but so does natural childbirth too!! I am 17 weeks pregnant & at 1st was very keen on begging for a chance at natural birth just because I wanted to know what it felt like...( painful, was the answer from my midwife) !!!! but after chatting to her about my 2nd daughters pregnancy & birth I have decided I want another c-section because I don't think I could take the waiting for birth part of the labour..(not the pain, that does'nt phase me) I am just so anxious that this baby is born healthy that I know I would be a basket case during labour, my midwife agreed especially as I cried all the way through my booking app & 1st scan!!!
Im so relieved that so far all tests are normal that I just want this baby out in a controlled enviroment. The recovery can vary my 1st was tough, scar was painful as I had clips & stitches & I retained lots of fluid which keep seeping out the wound!! But my 2nd was fine, I had drains in overnight & was up & about the next day!! I think as long a you take the doctors advice & don't try to over-do things you can be right as rain in a week!!

The only negative thing I found was peoples comments..the worst being "oh your too posh too push"... !!!! grrrr no I have done a labour & plenty of pushing in my time but circumstances beyond my control meant I had to have c-sections to stop my babies dying!!!! There is a lot of competition I find amoungst mums about who had the least intervention & pain relief during labour...so what if you did it with just Gas & Air what do you want a medal!!!.... As long as the baby gets here safe & sound does it really matter!! I know someone who has had 3 kids naturally loved every second of each birth & with no pain relief but can't have a tooth removed unless she has a G.A !!!! Live & let live!!!

mummytime

Thanks - that's interesting to know.

bumps x

Mosschops..I am so sorry for your experience, totally horrendous but I am sure it is a very rare experience, I know that does'nt make what you have been through any the less horrible for you, & I don't mean to offend you but I have also heard horror stories of natural deliveries that would have otherwise been straight forward being botched by medical staff. A friend of mine was cut so far back that they actually nipped part of her back passage which caused her no end of problems for years & others that hemeridged due to lack of care & the placenta breaking up & not being noticed at the time of birth!!
We just all have to remember the vast majority of births vaginal & c-sections go perfectly smoothly as with all medical procedures or we will worry ourselves silly. x

mosschops - Surely you realize that yours was a botched CS done by incompetent fools parading as doctors, in an unhygienic hospital. Otherwise, your CS scar wouldn't rupture twice and you would not catch MRSA.

Incompetent fools parading as midwives also manage to do equally devastating damage with vaginal birth. They even manage to kill, sometimes. That doesn't mean vaginal birth is always that dangerous.

Normally, CS is a routine operation that is closer to a tonsillectomy than a kidney transplant.

Some of us here have had nightmare vaginal births and resulting physical damage that took years to heal, with psychological damage nowhere near abating. It's great that you had easy vaginal births but don't assume that is a universal truth.

OMG!! I'm now cr&pping myself after reading this thread!

Got an ELCS booked for 3wks tomorrow - I requested it due to 2 previous 3rd degree tears. I could try natural labour again, but hospital is happy to let me have a c-section to minimise any possibility of damage to my nether-regions / continence. I now feel like I'm a "too posh to push" mum, as I have instigated all the talk of ELCS throughout my pregnancy!

I have given birth vaginally twice, first time ended with episiotomy & forceps... told they can never use forceps on me again or I'll be ripped to shreds. 2nd labour fine & natural, just another 3rd degree tear.

I'm not worried about anaesthetic or surgery - my daughter went under general anaesthetic 9 times between the ages of 9-18months to have lots of major bowel surgery, she has recovered fine. Friends who have had ELCS due to medical reasons have all said recovery is fine, much better than expected.

But some of the stories on here....jeez, I'm now very nervous!! Huge sympathy to all ladies who have had awful experiences x

I had an incompetent midwife with my third baby :( was awful. After the experience I'd had with my second child - a lovely, matronly uber-experienced midwife, who made me feel I was in utterly safe hands - it was quite a shock to the system. I'll never forget the trauma of the birth of my third child - I still get flashbacks. Both were VBs.

For anyone having cs or a vb soon, do remember that there are horror stories for both types of births.... and good luck.

I decided against one (was offered CS or induction for macrocosmic baby) because I didn't want to be in hospital any longer than necessary - we don't have much family nearby, and I didn't want to be away from DS1 for longer than I needed to.

Also didn't want to try & manage (mostly) alone with a bloody great wound in my abdomen and two small children! Had induction, was up & out of hospital 12 hours after I had him, walked to preschool with DS1 the next day.

newmummy we should introduce our friends and even it all out abit as my lot haven't experienced any problems at all.

Yes like i said i appreciate that CS are necessary and can save lives. I also appreciate that mine was a botched job.

However there is no such thing as a 'routine' operation. All surgery carries risk, in particular anything around the bowel/bladder area, which seems to be problematic for a lot of people.
All hosputals are unhygenic, and all hospitals have some level of incompetent staff. Its the luck of the draw im afraid and yes i was unlucky.

Of course there are horrendous vaginal birth stories, but very few people think there are any horrors associated with CS, its seen as something the rich 'choose' thereby making it seem better in some way

My daughter was also damaged at birth (she got stuck in the birth canal and hell nor highwater was going to get her out) so after they had shoved her back up and ripped her out I decided on 2 c sections following her birth

everyone is different, but some women are unfortunate in that they have such awful experiences of birth and some peoples babies are disabled by that and some of them die.

Lets all stop having a go at one another just becvause the media tries to portray a csection as the easy option. In most cases they are medically necessary or they arise after complications and are of an emergency.

I've had two c sections. THe first was classed as an emergency due to pre eclampsia and my kidneys starting to pack in. Having said that, it all felt very calm and not like an emergency at all. The second was an elective because of a breech baby - the consultant didn't want to try a breech birth due to the risk of rupture from the previous scar and their were concerns about PE again too. It wasn't traumatic either. Lots of people have said that they didn't get to see their babies for hours after a c section as their babies were taken to NICU. I just wanted to say that isn't necessarily the case and will depend on the reason for the c section. Neither of mine were whisked away from me and were placed on my chest immediately. I'm not advocating c sections, I'd have had vaginal births if it had been possible. I just wanted to point out that they are not necessarily traumatic experiences.

mosschops i hear what you ar saying but you had a terrible and horrific experience. emotionally, before it went so awfully wrong, you were already feeling traumatised by being 'sliced in half'. I really do feel for you.

However, my c section experiences were fine: really, honestly fine. No recover issues and no emotional issues with the actual ops themselves. I would'nt suggest that one should choose one, but the worst birth story i have heard is from a natural birth. It's probably best to avoid the worst case stories and heed the middle of the road ones?

None of my DCs were taken to NICU. They were all placed on my chest immediately, and we had plenty of skin to skin time. The only babies I know who have ended up in NICU have been VBs, actually. So there you go.

A work colleague died due to complications arising from her c-section.

Yes, it's rare and a worst case scenario but the point is that, either way, you can not guarantee what result you will get. People have different assessments on the risks involved due to their one personal experiences. There is nothing wrong with that.

I think the one clear thing from this thread is that, shit happens, with both vb and cs. (I have had one awful vb, one ok vb, and one awful cs).

Riven and Mosschops, your stories are just horrendous. Mosschops, how have you found counselling? I was offered it, but it turned out to be the hospital doing some arse covering (I was not expecting the surgeon to be there, he was the last person that I wanted to see!) Ds has severe developmental delay, and gross hypotonia, he is under investigation by the paeds, I don't know whether his problems were linked to his birth, and I'm not sure we will ever find out.

I know it is terrifying reading about the extremes of what can happen (with both vb and cs), but I do think it is important to be aware of how hard recovery can be for some, and to let yourself recover, and not beat yourself up if you are one of the ones, who struggles.

Good luck to all the people with upcoming births.

Lol i agree childbirth stories are a bit like hotels on trip advisor.
Ignore the really good, and the really bad and just take the ones in between