Birth: Options with no partner?

[tigger2022]

I have a long time to decide but I'm doing this on my own. My biggest anxiety is that I will go into labour on my own and be unable to get to hospital. I have friends and family close by, but nobody that I could reliably call in a crisis. Has anybody had an elective C section and would it work in these circumstances? My mother and grandmother both had extremely traumatic births (both almost died) that affected their relationships with their children so I was leaning towards that option anyway.

You can have an elective C section for any reason (maternal choice), although in some trusts you may have to be prepared to push for it. Other people request an elective section and have it easily approved.

Note that you would still need some sort of plan for how to get to hospital if you go into labour before your section date – babies have their own timetables. That said, my husband can't drive at the moment, and we have no family nearby, so I had the same transport problem, and we actually had a list of about 4 people who were prepared to drive me to hospital. It's one of those situations where if you possibly can help, you do, so you may have more options than you think.

The other thing to think about with a c section is your recovery. Have you though how you will manage physically with you recovery. You will be restricted in what you can do following a c section to include not lifting anything heavier than your newborn, housework and driving post c section to name a few. This will be the case for a least a few weeks post c section and maybe upto approx 2 months depending on how you recover.

When I had my c section the things I struggled with and needed help with (but could of adapted to with planning) included driving to midwife appointments post birth (had to get lifts), moving the pram (without help I had to use a sling for the baby for month or so) cooking (couldn't lift a pan of pots off the hob) cleaning and lifting baby in and out of cot (for first week or so)

Could you hire a doula for birth and postpartum?