Women that had elective C-sections. Any regrets?

[BellaRosex]

Hi all,

Currently 30 weeks pregnant and trying to decide whether to give birth naturally or have an elective C-section.

Curious to hear of other women's experiences of elective C sections - positive and negative!

TIA x

I've had two and have absolutely no regrets. Both were easy and the recovery was not bad at all (especially compared to my friends who had difficult natural births).

2 fabulous well managed and calm births with no pain and quick recovery allowing me to be 100% available for my babies .. best experiences of my life

First was an emergency and I feel the recovery was harder partly be cause I wasn't expecting it, and wasn't prepared. And partly due to Covid lockdown and not being able to have much support around me.

Then had an elective 3 years ago, and it was better. Calm procedure.

I struggle with the epidurals - don't like it / get quite panicky etc but that's because I have historic back issues and so hyper sensitive about anyone being near my back.

Recovery with second was a bit better. It still hurts and it's hard. It's major surgery - don't underestimate things like even being able to hold your arms up in the air for a prolonged time to wash hair etc!

But if you are prepared then you'll be ok.

Only long term regret is my belly. Hate hate hate the overhand I've been left and sad it will never go no matter how much weight I get rid of.

My first wasn’t exactly elective as she was breach however my c section left me infertile - within 4 years I had lost both tubes to ruptured ectopics and nearly died due to the scar tissue. Mine is of course a very very extreme case and I had to spend £40k on IVF to have another baby which ended up destroying my marriage. A domino effect of cause and effect. Looking back had I had the choice and knowing what I know I wouldn’t have had an elective c section (and I was positive before having kids I’d never want to give birth naturally!) hindsight is a wonderful thing and many many (most!) women won’t experience what I did

My only regret was not having a c section for my 2nd baby x

I had one and it was a great experience. I was walking around without my catheter and showered in six hours and home the next day. Breastfeeding went really well afterwards and we’ve been able to exclusively breastfeed. Both baby and I are happy and healthy and if I need another in the future I’d be happy with the same birth experience.

I was overdue and didn’t want an induction. I still feel a bit wistful for the water birth I didn’t have, and wonder if I could have given him more time. I didn’t get to be the first one to hold him and the gap of waiting for him felt a really long time, though I can’t tell from photos it wasn’t. He was a mucousy baby, and I’m interested in the gut biome and would have liked the idea of colonising his gut with a natural birth. Also in my hospital if you give birth on the MLU you get a private room for your whole stay and in the main hospital it’s a shared ward which was hell. I also only arranged my caesarean at 40+3, after I hadn’t gone into labour naturally, and he was born at 40+5 so at 30 weeks there’s no need to make any quick decisions. Overall it was amazing and my only drawbacks are minor really, but just a bit of a brain dump in what I think of my birth.

Emergency c-section followed by 2 planned c-sections here. Very calm, lovely experiences and straightforward recoveries. I have a lot of medic friends and most have had planned sections - I think that speaks volumes to the current state of labour wards :-(

I have had a planned (not elective but the same in terms of the procedure) and a VBAC and there are pluses and minuses to both and personally there is no perfect way to give birth and certainly no way to avoid pain and discomfort!

I am happy with both births - I certainly don’t feel I didn’t give birth to DD (the ECS) less than I did DS (VBAC) and my bond with them both is just as strong and any differences is nothing to do with birth. Breastfeeding was identical with both milk came in day 2 and was absolutely fine and any ease came from DS being my second!

Their births very much suit their personalities weirdly - DD is very organised, wants to know exactly what is going on and when and very much when discussions about how they were both born come up (she is 16) very much wants the elective.
DS was late and a very fast labour (2 hours solid contractions) but then an easier recovery.

and that was the big difference DD was a much calmer birth experience no pain during but a 4 week recovery until I felt properly able to move around like I did before

DS was chaos for 2-3 hours unmedicated and I do not recommend stitches with only local! But I could move around and by day 4 was at DD nursery morning.

if I had had a 3rd (far too old now!) it would have been a c section

I had 2 electives. First was purely maternal request which was a bit of a fight but not too hard. Recovery both times absolutely fine. Slight issue with second in that spinal didn't work initially but was sorted without too much drama (and apparently is very rare, so please don't be worried by this) just took longer. Both times up and walking absolutely fine within 6-8 hours. Second time I walked to find a midwife to ask for pain relief - but only paracetamol and ibuprofen as the diamorphine given during surgery made me sick.

Anecdotally, a friend had a section for her first and felt terrible about it so had vbac for her second. Recovery from vbac was difficult and she needed corrective surgery several months later. She told me if no 3 was on the cards it would be another section.

Good luck with whatever you choose. As pp said thee is no 'easy' way to deliver a baby but personally I'm happy with my choice of elcs.

Same here

I had an elective for my second child after an horrendous first labour and vaginal birth. It was a breeze compared to the first one. Generally positive. It was over 25 years ago.

Negatives: not much pain relief afterwards. Had to beg for pain relief and was just given paracetamol. My scar is itchy sometimes even today.

My younger DD is dyslexic (this runs strongly in DH’s family but she is affected worse) and has been plagued by stomach upsets all her life. Had investigations but no real cause found. I do sometimes wonder if either of those are related, perhaps I google too much. Also it’s not uncommon to blame women for any ailments their children might have!

Mine is probably an extreme I have had 5 children. 1st natural but hemorrhage after lost a lot of blood. 2nd picked up breech at 41 weeks so section next day. Recovery was fine and they let you get up quicker these days. Baby 3 I stupidly felt I had failed having section so opted for vbac ( this was 16 years ago seemed lots of pressure you should vbac) unfortunately due to lots of hospital errors my baby died in labour. I had a plecental abruption crash section but too late to save her. Went on to have 2 more sections quick recovery.

No regrets at all. I was terrified of giving birth naturally.

I had one vaginal birth (7 years ago) and one planned c section (4 years ago). I don't regret either, because each was the correct decision for me and my babies at that time.

BUT... I hated the entire experience of the c section. Not because anyone did anything wrong or anything like that. The procedure itself I found hugely overwhelming, in a sterile room, with 10-20 medical staff who's faces I couldn't see because of the masks, husband in scrubs, needles in my hands, unable to feel anything. Not being able to move for hours after. Spending the night in hospital. Being given only paracetamol for pain relief after such a big surgery. Being alone, on a ward, looking after my baby as midwives were so busy they could only offer limited help. And my god, the trapped wind for a good 5 days to a week after. Horrendous! Unable to drive for 6 weeks. I had a lot of numbness around my scar for a good year after and it still sometimes itches and is uncomfortable.

On the flip side, I had a very calm vaginal birth, in a mid wife led unit. Only me, my husband and midwife in the room. No intervention. Minimal stitches. Baby was born at 13:33 and I was picking up a dominos pizza on my way home at 21:00. It couldn't have gone any better!

The best way I can compare the two is:
C Section - no pain during, but pain and limitations after while you're trying to look after your new born.
Vaginal - so much pain during, but when it's over that pain is gone and you can concentrate on looking after your baby. Obviously, that is with the caveat that I had a straightforward vaginal birth, which I know not everyone has.

I had two planned for medical reasons, the second was officially an 'emergency' as I went into labour 8 hours before my booked time, but they were both great. Recovery was very quick, I felt pretty fine within a week or two, but it can depend how good a job they do stitching you back up again, as there are a lot of layers!

The bit I liked most is I was able to choose music for my kids to be born to. 😊

Providing that goes well you won't be laid up and unable to do stuff for weeks, as people often seem to think is the case.

Following! In the same position, 29 weeks today and have a meeting with the consultant in 2 weeks to discuss elective c section x

I had an elective although it was borderline medically needed. I couldn’t go past due date and there were several reasons why induction wasn’t suitable. I have no regrets about choosing an elective c section. It was a calm process and much less pain or restricted mobility afterwards than I expected.

I’d had a very traumatic background to this and I told the consultant, I only have one birth preference…get my baby out alive and well. She said without question elective c section was best. As it turned out it didn’t have any downsides.

I've had 3 and I dont regret them. Im gutted that I never got to birth vaginally but my 1st left me with postnatal depression and trauma. I tried VBAC on my second and it just didn't happen for me. Wouldn't change it 🥰

2 electives here, loved both. Very calm experiences, with quick recoveries. Both times was out and about with the baby within a few days, able to go out for lunch etc. Could drive after about 10 days.

I had a home birth with DD1, hospital birth with no pain relief (because there wasn't time - I had planned an epidural) for DS and ELCS for DD2 as I had a 3c tear with DS due to speed and head size!

Pros and cons to the ELCS. Pros are you can plan (I'm a planner - this was a win!) and you know you'll need help after so you can have that in place. It was very calm and pain free during the procedure. I had no issues breastfeeding afterwards.

The cons... afterwards I felt very battered and bruised, but managed to go home the next day. Hospitals are LOUD and home was much more relaxing. As others have said, once you've left the hospital you're on paracetamol which is a bit of a bummer, but it's manageable. My scar healed well and I have the tiniest of overhangs which nobody would really notice and which doesn't bother me.

Two elective c-sections and no regrets at all. They were calm, I felt nothing, and my recovery after both was excellent. At no point was I in anything approaching pain during my recovery. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that it a better and safer way to give birth, and my consultant acknowledged that it is largely for cost reasons that the NHS pushes vaginal birth so hard.

Ive had 2. Both planned but 1st one ended up as emergency as I went into labour early on my on and baby had pood inside me. Absolutely zero regrets for either. First one was a shit show due to the emergency, spinal not taking very well and during Covid. Second loads calmer and smoother. I would abso never ever want to deliver a baby vaginally. The thought of my vag ripping and tearing and being stitched and having to recover from that is my worst nightmare. My recovery from both sections was absolutely fine. I was up and walking asap after and no issues at all, after section 2 I still managed to deal with a newborn and 22 month old toddler on my own 3 days postpartum. I genuinely don’t think I could have done so if I had a vaginal delivery

One thing I would say (which for some reason I didn’t realise prior) is you never really get proper feeling back up to a couple of inches above your scar. It’s so weird! Feels numb to touch. I remember asking when the feeling would come back and they told me it wouldn’t. Plus the fatty little shelf that is so hard to shift.

Not my experience at all and I’ve had 2. It is a risk but far from a given you’ll lose feeling or end up with a shelf.

Mine were lovely calm experiences, recovery was fine, at no point did I ever feel in pain. Granted I did go private though so had fancy post natal care and access to all the good drugs so that may have helped a bit! I don’t think we’ll have a 3rd but if I did I wouldn’t hesitate on another section.

I have the weird numb area too!