C section or Vaginal birth?

[Kiyentai]

Hey ladies!

I know this is very much a "personal preference" but I really would love to talk about it. I am currently 27 weeks 5 days pregnant and our baby boy is healthy and on the right track. Unfortunately, due to COVID there are not a lot of birthing classes available to take or they are hard to get into, but I have been still browsing around. When it comes to Csection or Vaginal birth, I really do not have a personal preference, I more less am just thinking which one would be better for mom/baby and cause the lease amount of stress. I would love to hear both sides of the story.

I do know friends that have tried really hard to give birth vaginally and then they are in labor for 15-20 hours and actively pushing, and then the doctor says they have to go in for an emergency C section anyway. And then I have read about C sections, and then there is a bit of a recovery to go with it considering they slice you open in layers to pull the baby out.

I do not have a doula or anything like that, I do have an OBGYN and a great team of doctors/nurses that I really like.

I would love to hear your thoughts/experiences!

An easy vaginal birth is better for mother and baby than a c-section but a c-section is preferable to a difficult vaginal birth is my understanding. You never know what you'll get though.

I assume you're not in the UK if you have your own team of doctors and the choice available to you? For my first birth I gave vaginal a try pretty happy that in the healthcare setting I was in I could easily switch to C-section if it started to go pear shaped or look like it was going to be difficult (I assume it would be similar for you but plenty of mothers won't have that confidence).

I had a vaginal birth with just a couple of labial stitches and I was very grateful all had gone well when I was up at all hours breastfeeding, lifting my baby and generally adapting to motherhood. It would have been much harder if I had needed a cesarean.

However friends of mine have had horrible complicated assisted vagina deliveries (forceps, vacuum) that rendered them unable to sit down comfortably for weeks and caused long term damage. They obviously would have preferred to have had a cesarean.
It’s hard to know how labour and delivery will go for you so I guess you have to decide which risk you’re more comfortable with.

Given birth vaginally twice, induced both times. So have no experience of c section other than my friends and I feel my recovery was a lot quicker and more straightforward than c section.
Births themselves were also fine despite being induced. I would recommend starting off vaginal and seeing how things go if there are no other complications, as it is a major surgery to recover from with a tiny newborn to look after at the same time. All the best.

It's impossible to know- which is the problem! I had a non assisted vaginal delivery with my first and my recovery was truly awful- on postnatal Ward for 6 days and my NCT friends who had c sections were up and about long before I was.

People often say vaginal births have the 'easiest recovery' but it certainly wasn't true in my case. I'm pregnant again and have been told I am able to go for an elective c section if I wish to and that it's actually safer for baby- so that's what I'll probably do.

My understanding is also that it's generally harder to recover from an emergency c section in comparison to an elective- so might be worth bearing that in mind.

I've never had a c section but if you can afford one then why not

I've given birth vaginally and also via planned C-section.

I found the vaginal birth much better. I had to have the CSection for medical reasons so didn't have any choice as ds would not have survived a vaginal.birth, but unless there were clear reasons for having s CSection I wouldn't choose one over a natural birth.

Many congrats OP

I have had two spontaneous vaginal deliveries, 39wks 6days, 8lb 11ozs, DS1, 10 hours labour, a lot easier than I thought it would be tbh, I didn’t have pain relief or gas & air. I did sustain a bad tear, that required stitches, but healed well.

DS2 38wk, 9lb 3ozs. 2 hour labour, more painful but much shorter which made it bearable, so again I didn’t have pain relief or gas & air. I did tear very slightly but did not require stitches, this tear took longer to heal, I can remember it wasn’t right at my 6wk check, but it healed naturally a few weeks later.

A few of my friends have had CS, personally I would rather vaginal birth, as recovery is quicker.

My advice would be to any mum to be, to try not to focus too much on the birth, it’s natural to be concerned about something you haven’t experienced before, birth is different for everyone and the most important thing is to be flexible and be prepared that any plans may well have to change. Good luck.

@Kinsters

An easy vaginal birth is better for mother and baby than a c-section but a c-section is preferable to a difficult vaginal birth is my understanding. You never know what you'll get though.

I assume you're not in the UK if you have your own team of doctors and the choice available to you? For my first birth I gave vaginal a try pretty happy that in the healthcare setting I was in I could easily switch to C-section if it started to go pear shaped or look like it was going to be difficult (I assume it would be similar for you but plenty of mothers won't have that confidence).

You can actually choose Csec or vaginal in the UK under NHS too.

Thank you ladies for your responses!! It has given me a little more insight to what I may look forward to in a few months! I have read about the Foreceps/Vacuum and I have been told they give you the option on whether or not you would want that? Is that accurate? The foreceps sound HORRIBLE! The Vacuum sounds a little more humane.

I had an elective section (breech baby) and was off all pain relief by day 7. Granted two weeks on I lifted a bag of very heavy shopping for too long and regretted it as scar was sore for a day or so after but other than that my section recovery was reasonably quick compared to a lot of friends that teared or had an episiotomy.. I believe the odds of requiring an episiotomy in a first natural birth are relatively high (over 60%). You just have to decide a. What’s safest for you and baby and b. What support you can arrange no matter the delivery

You may also want to consider whether your car insurance had a hard and fast rule about when you can drive after Csec. Some policies won't insure you up to 6 weeks post-birth so would be worth checking with them first.

I had an EMCS after a fairly disastrous labour but would still recommend trying a vaginal delivery. If you're in a hospital setting it's easy enough to convert to an EMCS if things aren't going well.

Ive had 2 vaginal births one with forceps. You’re so out of it/ elated it’s all over and you have your baby so when they are stitching you up it’s a bit uncomfortable but over so quickly. I personally would’ve hated having C sections - I’ve seen friends really suffer with the recovery and never really got their pre pregnancies flat tummies back either. One friends C section scar caused her such a nightmare, she had a subsequent miscarriage and attached to her CSec scar- causing such complications and hasn’t been able to conceive since. Honestly don’t know why anyone would try and get a C section in advance of your first baby without having tried for a natural birth or experiencing either.

I had an emergency c-section a couple of weeks ago. Overall it was fine - much less stressful than I thought it would be, and I am healing well.

That said it is major surgery and I am limited in what I can do - can’t go for long walks, lots of chores are hard, get tired very quickly etc. I would opt for a vaginal birth next time if possible because I wouldn’t want to go through this recovery again if I could avoid it.