Planned c section versus vaginal birth

[duckling3]

Hi, has anyone here had both a planned c section and a vaginal birth and happy to share you experiences. Which did you prefer and what was the experience/recovery for both like?

I'm due with my first later in the year and reading up on birth options. I am pretty terrified of birth - all methods - and everything I read online is designed to make you think vaginal birth by far the better option in a low risk pregnancy. Thought it might be interesting to get some real experiences and thoughts to see if that really is the case.

Please no horror stories!

How do I go about talking to someone about an elective section?
I’ve tried asking my midwife and she didn’t have a clue put it down to natural anxiety about birth. I’ve read mental health is classed as high risk enough to be able to ask about an elective section. All I want is an appointment to discuss options, I feel even talking to someone about my options for pain relief/section would ease my anxiety. I have severe anxiety disorder and am terrified of giving birth, I’m just scared of having a panic attack during labour.
I’ve spoken to my doctor too who also didn’t have a clue who to refer me to so he’s written a letter to the maternity unit asking who to refer me to. I feel like I have no one listening to me tbh

@squashie34 Just over two weeks until d day!

@cafedesreves I wasn’t given a choice of the date but I didn’t ask tbh. Was happy with 39 weeks which is what they offered me.

@Wotsits4357542 your midwife should refer you to a consultant with whom you can discuss your worries around vaginal birth etc. If there is no 'medical' need (although I feel mental health is absolutely a medical need!), and is based around fear of birth or anxiety you may be referred to the perinatal mental health team to discuss this further. Hopefully the work they do with you can be enough to give you the confidence to attempt a vaginal delivery but if you still insist on an elective they have to either honour your request or refer you to another consultant. Have a look at the NICE guidelines as they will show you how a request should be handled by the medical team.

@squashie34 my midwife had no idea what I was on about! I said can I be referred to a consultant and she looked puzzled and asked if my pregnancy was high risk.
No mention of perinatal mental health team either. Healthy minds is not going to help my situation as it isn’t just my anxiety it’s anxiety around the birth alone right now.
I don’t even know if I’d want a section I just want to put my mind at ease and know I have options and get a bit of a plan in order to manage my anxiety if it does arise during labour and having options on pain relief or medication during labour would put me at ease tbh. It’s making me feel anxious about the hospital I’m going to as I’ve had a bit of a rubbish experience with them so far.

@Wotsits4357542 do you have a number for the community midwife team? It might be worth giving them a call and explaining if your midwife didn't know what you meant - or how many weeks are you? You can mention to the sonographer at your next scan if you have one that you're trying to see a consultant but you don't know how to do that as midwife isn't helping.

You very often have to be referred to perinatal mental health before they will grant the section simply so that they can talk to you about your anxieties around birth and vaginal births and they will explain to you both options - sounds like it actually could be invaluable to you as like you said you aren't set one way you just want to know more. Have you also tried the online positive birth company class? That helps lots of ladies understand birth and then makes them feel more at ease.

Vaginal for me every time. For me the planned section was safe, and did the job. It’s like having an operation and I felt the baby was just simply being ‘removed’ rather than giving birth. It was literally nothing compared to the amazing experience of a vaginal birth with my first. An experience I will remember for a life time and quite honestly one of the best / most memorable experiences I have ever had. But I was was lucky and had a fairly easy vaginal birth with only gas and air. If I had had lots of interventions i may not have felt the same way.
If I was to do it again I would still choose the vaginal birth. Yes it’s a risk because you don’t 10”% know how it’s going to go but if you are a low risk pregnancy, I would go for as little intervention as possible. Midwife led unit or similar and stay home for as long as you can. The recovery from my csection was painful and felt like I was getting blowtorched / burned across the stomach for about 3 days and then I was sore afterwards. My wound got infected and I needed antibiotics. Very hard to get around for the first few days with a new baby. With a Vaginal birth if all goes ok then you can be up and around in a couple of hours.
Also the not driving for 6 weeks was a real pain.
Also my stomach from the csection will never be the same- where they cut through muscle (or tear it open more accurately) it never fuses back the same and I am left with a pouch (or apron as a lot of people call it) on my lower tummy. It’s worse on one side and very noticeable if I wear a bikini. It’s not fat, just loose skin but only on one side!

My first was born vaginally. I had an elective preterm section with my second as the baby would have died otherwise (I had vasa previa). I had a very straightforward experience and a textbook recovery but still it was a fairly painful experience. My uterus didn’t contract afterwards so I was on a drip to give me contractions for 24 hours. The pain in general was quite strong for a few days, and it all came after the birth when I had a newborn to care for.
On balance I’d take the vaginal birth.

I'm so conflicted about this and really don't know what to do. The pain in labour just seems unbearable and the idea of being awake for days in agonising just before the baby arrives seems awful to me. As does any kind of intervention/stirrups/forceps/ventouse etc. Having an episiotomy or dreadful tearing also worries me greatly.

But I really want to have three children and don't want to risk my fertility being compromised by a c section.

Does anyone have any data on the risks of the different ways women give birth? How many end up having assisted delivery etc?

@cafedesreves this is definitely something to think about if you want three children - I believe the risk increases with each child too.

Your hospital trust should have information available on %s of women who delivered naturally, were induced, needed intervention, emergency Csection etc. You may find it on their website or you could ask your midwife for it?

Have you tried the positive birth companies online course? That could help you a lot.

I have had one vaginal and 2 c sections. The vaginal delivery ended up with a forceps and an episiotomy. I would pick the vaginal birth over the c sect in terms of recovery.

I have a meeting with a consultant to discuss different options in two weeks time. @squashie34 I'd love to hear about your experience with a section if you felt able to share... really hope it goes/went well!!

And @PoodlesAreMySpiritAnimal really hope it went well and would love to hear your experiences too

@cafedesreves of course I will! My section is tomorrow 😯 starting to feel very real now!

@squashie34 OMG best of luck!! You'll have your baby in your arms in no time 😍😍

I haven’t had a c section but have had two natural births- a very long first stage following premature PROM with pethidine and quite medicalised and a lovely 3 hour all in water birth. Both were positive experiences, I recovered well and dare I say enjoyed experiencing labour and felt a high for days! Love recounting birth stories and felt proud of myself for doing it even though it was hard. If there’s no medical concern I would consider trying a natural birth you could have a great experience and generally it’s safer and better for mum and baby. But obviously consider your mental health there’s nothing wrong with a c section. My worst fear was induction — interventions — ending up with emergency c section after 4 days (a few friends and NCT who had this sort of experience) and mine was worlds apart. It’s hard as it’s so beyond your control but if you go with the flow birth can be very empowering and positive! It can also be horrendous and traumatic and frightening (whether vaginal or c section) so I’m not saying it will be all roses and do what you need to do I would never judge anyone either way.

2 planned sections here. For me, they were the best experiences of my life, and the procedures were utterly painless. There was some discomfort in the few days afterwards, but nothing that ibuprofen and paracetamol wouldn't get rid of.

It was amazing.

@Babyboomtastic that's great. Did you have a medical need or was it your choice?

Tokophobia, but essentially it was my choice. I'd rather not have children than risk a vaginal birth personally.

I’ve only had 2 elective c sections . They were both really straightforward, calm and wonderful experiences.

Part of me does wonder how I would have coped with vaginal birth. I just wasn’t brave enough to face the unknown.

Had 2 of each kind. Would chose to deliver naturally each and every time.

My 1st c section was an emergency, and was terrifying for many reasons. Baby was also born "flat" and needed resuscitating due to the anaesthetic.

2nd one left me with adhesions and 20 + years of abdominal pain. I'm grateful that my DC were all born safely but I'd never choose a section in a million years.

@squashie34 thinking of you!! Hope all well

@cafedesreves sorry for the delayed reply, currently living in a newborn bubble of sleep deprivation!

Our little lady was delivered very quickly at 11:35am as I encountered a large bleed at the beginning of the section due to my endometriosis which meant that she still had some fluid on the lungs not squeezed out and spent a night in an incubator on the neonatal ward followed by another day on SCBU establishing breast feeding. Nothing life threatening just ensuring she was ok. I received blood back after the section to top up what I'd lost.

Was it the elective Csection that I planned? No, but never at anytime did I feel hugely anxious or panicked and I felt so reassured by the sheer amount of people in the theatre and their constant reassurance- I would still take this birth over a complicated natural birth any day which shows me i definitely made the right decision for me.

As everyone says an unmediated vaginal birth will always be safer but even after going through my worst fear of 'things going wrong' I consider it a really positive experience and my recovery has been fine X

@squashie34
Thank you so much for sharing! Sorry to hear it wasn't all plain sailing but so glad that you are having a wonderful time with your new baby now and recovering well!

I have only had c sections. Planned and emergency. Emergency I was back and up and running within days and scubadiving etc within 6 weeks. Planned c section -out of hospital in 24 hours. But recovery was dreadful. Both related to how they were as babies. Emergency c section baby was a dream. Planned c section baby was demanding to the other end of the spectrum which sucked the life out of me.
Not had a vaginal birth. Everyone I personally know who has one was left with life long problems. No one with a c section has. That's just my personal experience.

@cafedesreves just thought I'd update too 6 days in, I'm up and walking about , bed I g carefully etc normally with very little pain relief at all (I remember maybe 2x a day to take them!) and we are going to head for a short walk tomorrow- recovery has honestly been great!