C section vs natural delivery

[ChildOfTheMoon]

Give me the truth. No matter how wonderful , traumatic or gross it is. I want to know how painful your experiences were and your honest advice
So to have a c section or a natural delivery ( without or without meds)

This isn't going to be helpful. You will just scare yourself silly. Why don't you try a Hypnobirthing course instead.

Yep definitely not a good idea to know

@ChildOfTheMoon I ended up having an emergency c section following 24 hours of labour.

Early stage labour was uncomfortable but managed with a tens machine which I'd highly recommend. I had all intentions of going with as little pain relief as possible..... this didn't last, it's painful, I had an epidural. I was unconscious for the surgery, so painless but the recovery is long.

I believe knowledge is power, talk to as many people as possible, discuss pain relief options and make the best decision for you.

For context I am currently pregnant with no2 and have been advised to have a c section due to some sort of issue with my scar - I'm honestly devastated as would have preferred to go through the pain of labour and not have the surgery again!

Best of luck!
Xx

I've had an EMCS and a vaginal birth and both were fine but the vaginal birth was a nicer experience and a better recovery.

I had an epidural both times and highly recommend it.

i had vaginal birth with epidural (as early as possible).and was happy with my choice. the epidural was amazing and glad to not need any major recovery or scars or overhang etc to deal with

I would ask yourself this question... if you had a problem with your leg would you try ibuprofen and physio first or go straight for the surgery? Elective CS has no benefits to the baby unless there are medical indications. If the pain gets too much go for epidural

I had an ELCS due to stubborn breech. Tried to turn her through a brutal ECV but no dice. I wanted to try for a vaginal birth, but was scared of all the potential outcomes and also liked the relative certainty that the ECLS seemed to provide. My surgery was fine, but I found the recovery difficult, and mine was technically very straightforward.

I had a nasty reaction to the anti-emetics one over-zealous doctor gave me when I said I was a bit queasy, followed by horrendous referred pain from trapped wind. The kind from abdo surgery is not your usual trapped wind pain - it sent me into shock and I needed morphine. All the peppermint tea in the world wouldn't have prevented or eased it. I was forced to stay another night on the hellish postnatal ward. Bad luck would have it that I also caught a hacking cough just before my c-section. I couldn't lie down without barking nonstop. They had to interrupt the surgery at multiple points to allow me to cough (probably why my wind was so bad) and it was hell for weeks of my recovery. My scar is hypertrophic, so I still feel a little pain in it 17 months later. The lower part of my belly is also still a little numb.

I'm pregnant again, and if all is well, will be hoping for a vbac, but that's mostly because I have a toddler to look after now. I'm still scared witless of instrumental vaginal birth. I have dreams of a midwife-led water-birth in which I make it through on gas, air, and prayer, and I'm picking my 2-year-old up a day or two later. But I know what else can happen. I don't want to be induced beyond sweeps/balloon, so if the medics start pushing for that, I'll pivot straight to ELCS. It'll have to be life/death for me to let anybody near me with forceps.

Good luck with your decision, OP.

@deliwoman1 forceps aren't too bad

I had two c-sections: the first was planned and the second was an emergency. Both experiences were fine and they both provided me with some very special and magical memories.

When you say natural delivery, do you mean vaginal delivery with or without any additional help available (eg forceps/ventouse/induction etc) or do you mean a drug/interference-free birth because 'natural delivery' can have several different interpretations!

I had 3x c sections - 2 elective and 1 emergency. The electives were calm, organised and as enjoyable as they can be, but obviously the pain afterwards was pretty bad and you have to cope with looking after a tiny human whilst recovering from having your abdomen sliced open!

The emergency was a shit show and a much harder recovery but tbh the range of experiences you'll hear, will go from zen goddess popping baby out while singing kumbayah to whale music vs the most medicalised and traumatic experience resulting in lifelong maternal-injury, so it's safe to say that there's no way of knowing how your body will behave really!

Good luck though op - it's the journey of a lifetime!

I'm a doula and happy to give advice.

I trained to be a doula as for my first pregnancy I was very much a passenger and put my whole trust in the maternity system.

Typical process, cascade of interventions and my son who is now 6 has a chronic condition attributed to what he endured in the hospital.

When I fell pregnant with my second I really educated myself of physiological birth and had her in a pool at home.

Now pregnant with my third and planning exactly the same.

I’ve had both. Natural birth was long, pure agony and the recovery was ages, had a fourth degree tear, which then got infected. I found the whole thing pretty traumatic. 3 years later I had a c section (even though due to previous abdominal surgery it wasn’t really recommended) and it was a walk in the park. I’ve had more painful dentist appointments. I recovered far quicker from the c section than natural birth.

I’ve had an intervention free VB & an elective CS (baby was breech). Also needed a ventouse during CS which apparently is common. The VB was soo much better recovery wise but labour was painful as no time for pain relief. Would chose a VB every time.

Had both.

Hated both.

Would rather a natural if I did it again.

I've had 2 sections. Both sections were absolutely fine.

Both recoveries were very painful and very lengthy (months). Wouldn't wish one on my worst enemy. Didn't have baby #3 as couldn't face the thought of another section.

Have had 2 VB's in the birthing pool. Did hypnobirthing both times and used tens in the early stages.

Both labours were ok with only the last 2 hours of each being very painful. Gas and air is a life saver and I managed to get home within a few hours both times.

I would say it's not as bad as you imagine it in your head but that's just my experience. I personally felt the after part was worse, 2nd degree internal tear the 1st time and I could barely move off the sofa for days. No tear the 2nd time and felt good after. Would recommend following the naked doula on Instagram. Lots of helpful advice x

I did a hypnobirthing course and after I had my first child was seething with rage at the utter bullshit that was fed to me and made me feel like I'd failed because I felt excruciating pain, was in Labour for days and ended up having a c-section. Fuck the hypnobirthing cult. For most women, childbirth hurts and it's good to be prepared and feel like it's ok to take pain relief.

i've had 3 natural. all without anything other than has and air. all absolutely excruciating but have got progressively more painful with each baby. recovery was fantastic though, up in the shower within minutes.

I would recommend a Positive Birth Book from Amazon to any pregnant friend any time. It's has lots os experiences as well as advising on options

This is an unpopular view but you have very little conscious control over the type of vaginal birth you have. If you want the best chance of having a natural delivery with minimal medical intervention then be as young, fit, healthy and slim as possible but even then there are no guarantees.

You could have a breech, transverse or back to back baby, develop gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia, the baby could be big or small for dates, you could go way overdue or into labour prematurely. There could be risk indications from antenatal scans. And there is nothing you can do about this.

It's not so much that labour is complicated by medical interventions. It's more likely that complicated labours require medical interventions. Correlation doesn't equal causation.

In short, if you want complete control over the type of labour you have, do an ELCS.

In short, if you want complete control over the type of labour you have, do an ELCS.

But you don’t have complete control over that as it’s an op, my friend could still “feel” so they had to put her under & another friend had a huge hemorrhage after hers & needed a blood transfusion.

I had an ELCS due to perinatal anxiety. It was perfect and recovery was minimal pain. Only flaw was they had to do a general rather than local due to some sort of issue with my spine.

Only my personal opinion but I was too scared of having an oxygen-deprived baby or having an emergency section. I didn't care about the experience - I just wanted a high as possible guarantee of a healthy baby.

NHS stats: 1 in 4 FTM don't succeed with having a natural Labour and end up with a section. Of those, 2 will have intervention to get the baby out. I decided I was very likely to be the 3/4 with a problem. Also, the outcomes of emergency and elective sections are recorded together on NHS paperwork. The risks of emergency ones are obviously higher. So ELCS, every time.

You can’t ‘hypnobirth’ your way out of birth complications, so, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to want to know the real risks and real experiences.

I chose an ELCS to avoid birth trauma and because psychologically I couldn’t cope with a vaginal birth. I do not regret my choice. I won’t tell you all the stats and reasons I chose not to attempt a vaginal birth, as you haven’t asked. But I’ll tell you my experience:

One week before due date, I went into hospital at 8am, had ELCS at 12noon, felt completely fine immediately afterwards, wolfing down my big packed lunch as soon as I was out of theatre! No nausea or shoulder pain. I had a private room and DH stayed overnight - I couldn’t have looked after baby without him overnight as I couldn’t physically get up til the early hours.

I stayed the minimum they’d allow: 24 hours. I was up, showered, washed my hair, and got dressed at 9am the next day, and left at midday, walking a long way to the car. I had no complications, the cannula in my hand was unpleasant, but I had no pain from the ELCS itself. I was taking paracetamol for a few days, but realised I wasn’t actually in pain, so stopped taking it. Not much else to report! It was very plain sailing, the birth was very calm, baby didn’t experience any trauma and she’s been calm and happy ever since.

Best of luck to you, whatever you decide. I think having a great vaginal birth is the best option, but you need to also look at how likely that is, and, if it doesn’t go to plan, whether the interventions are acceptable to you.

It’s interesting you say this as I read an article a year or so ago that said women are increasing asking for ELCS purely because it’s more likely they will have a healthy baby at the end of it than having a VB and risking any possible complications.

I’m a nurse and a god number of my colleagues have told me they’d rather have a CS than a VB because they wouldn’t want anything happening to the baby.

@ChildOfTheMoon everyone is so different - I am so happy with my c section and recovery from it. It was an unplanned one and I was exhausted post 24 hours of labour. I had an epidural 4 hours in and started with a tens machine which was great until for a while but never would have got me through. I only dilated 6cm and as my waters had broken many hours previously, I basically didn't have a choice re c section. I'll opt for one with baby 2! Never forget your meds and get mobile asap without overdoing it - that's my advice if you have one. I had lunch out and a walk on day 5. By day 12 a longer walk and a lunch further away from home as the in laws were here xx