Can you choose elective c section date?

[winterbabyrose]

Just that really. I believe elective c sections are usually in your 39th week, but do you get a choice of the day that week, or just luck of the draw?

I didn't get to choose. But then again, I didn't ask either. Why do you want to choose?

I was given two choices just because they had availability on both when my consultant looked at the schedule, but it really just depends on how busy they are. You might get a choice between a couple of dates, you might just get given one.

I think it depends - for my first they offered me a choice of 3 dates. But then called me to change it as there were no other ELCS on the day I chose. My DD broke my waters 3 days before my planned section anyway though!

With my second they just gave me the date which was at 39 weeks exactly.

Try not to get too attached to that date, I don’t know much and I assume it would be rare but if too many emergencies occured I assume elects get pushed to the back? No idea if it could be pushed to the next day if it gets too late?

I got to choose, they said I couldn’t have the Wednesday (I forget why!) but I didn’t want that day anyway, but apart from that, they said it was up to me. I was quite pleased it went to plan as it’s a lovely date.

I just got given a date but have been given more than 17 weeks notice so all good

I was told it could be any day from Tuesday on that week so I chose the Friday and my husband didn't have paternity leave and it worked better with annual leave. The week before they phoned me and moved it forward to the Wednesday as someone else needed the slot! So I did pick but it changed anyway

Just to add we have perfectly planned childcare and annual leave for the original date so definitely have back up plans, we were lucky my husbands work and my sons nursery were able to accommodate us

Bear in mind you can get 'bumped' on the day if they end up with more emergencies than they expect or if something ends up more complex, so as PP said even if you do get a date, it might not end up being 'the' date. I was worried this would happen to me as it got to 4 on a Friday and I hadn't been taken in yet but thankfully they came got me and I was the last of the day!

They offered me Monday or Friday but the midwife strongly advised me to take Monday as there would be less staff over the weekend if anything went wrong and I'd likely be left hanging around longer before discharge.
I went in at 7:30 Monday morning, had dd at 10:00 that morning and was out by 11:00 Tuesday!

Depends who you get it seems.. I was made to wait over the weekend, making mine quite close to 40 weeks but I have a friend who said she couldn’t do the date given due to childcare and they gave her 38+6, it wasn’t medically needing to be early. I’m going to be a bit more pushy this time if given such a late date again and ask on the off chance if it can be earlier

I was red lighted into theatre with my first,so was asked if I would like to elect for a section with my second. I was offered a choice of dates (not sure if this is the norm and was informed the date I selected was going to be with another consultant). Very smooth process on the day.

I was just given a day, at first they couldn’t find one but they wanted it done at 38 weeks for medical reasons so they must have either squeezed me in or bumped someone.

It really depends. With DS1 we got 'bumped' for twins and nearly got 'bumped' again because there were too many emergencies

With ds2 we waited as long as possible for him to arrive naturally but decided on a c-section in the end as I did not want to be induced

With ds3 we asked ds1 if he wanted ds3 born before or after his birthday. He chose before so we decided on the earliest but safest date with the consultant.

Thank you everyone! 39+1 would be my DDs birthday, and would love for them to be able to have separate birthdays. It's a complete non issue I know, but my question was out of curiosity more than anything! I had an EMCS with my first and wasn't sure how an elective works! Thank you :)

I was given a bit of leeway because we wanted to avoid the date my MIL had died on the year before.

In my case they only did electives on a Wednesday so the date was a given.

I was under a specific consultant and was originally given a date on which he wouldn’t be able to do the c section himself, so I told him I wanted him personally to do it (as he seemed to be the only one able to proper understand my medical history!) and he moved it back a day to accommodate me. Which was very nice of him indeed.
You can be given a choice as other pp’s have said if they have space and staff to make it work :)

@winterbabyrose I completely understand. I wanted to be at home for ds1s birthday and at that time most people spend a couple of days in hospital after a c-section. The consultant had no problem adjusting the date to give me the best chance of being home in time. In fact I was out the next day and shopping for a new washing machine the day after!

I rang gynae admissions at 33 weeks to book it as I wanted it no earlier that 40 weeks. DS had other ideas and came into the world earlier anyway.