Should elective C sections for no reason be allowed?

[Dori92]

Just curious on people’s opinions on this.

Would like to point out I’m not opting for an elective section.

Thanks 💞

https://www.rcog.org.uk/for-the-public/browse-our-patient

@gentlemum Such a natural thing that so many women died from and still do.

Yes, they should and thankfully are. But there’s always a ‘reason’ even if it’s not strictly medical. Women should be allowed to make the most of modern medicine should they choose!

Yes. Unequivocally.

In our unit we have inductions every day this is not for convenience so we can plan the care as opposed to spontaneous labouring women.

We often have no beds available for the inductions who are then either called in later in the day or the next day when a bed becomes available.

Induction rates have gone up because of research and the range of medical conditions I listed earlier has increased hugely over the years.

It has nothing to do with being risk averse but you are completely entitled to your opinion.

Why are you asking us? We can only decide such things for ourselves. If someone decides to treat her own body differently from the way I treat mine, it is NONE OF MY BUSINESS.

Yes

hth

Why on earth anyone would choose a c section instead of a natural birth is beyond me. It’s horrific and major surgery, the recovery is long and arduous and even getting out of bed or lifting you baby is hard. Unless you and / or your baby is at risk I honestly don’t know why anyone would choose this as the “easy” option. It really isn’t.

It really is so much more complex than choosing the "easy" option.
Can I ask what is horrific about a planned CS? I have attended more than I care to remember and they were mostly calm and joyous occasions.

I Wouldnt chose one either, but that shouldn’t effect what other women chose to do with their bodies. Doesn’t affect me.

I think it can be the easy option, but it's a case of you won't know if it's the easy option until you've had it done.

For comparison, my friend had her baby by ELCS 3 weeks before me, she couldn't move, couldn't lift her baby, couldn't get up and down stairs, couldn't get off the sofa without help. She was still limping when she came to the hospital to meet my baby.

I had no pain during or after surgery, I was happily up and walking within 4 hours, even tidying up round my bed on the ward, and could easily get up and down and lift my baby. I lived in a town house with 3 flights of stairs, and could carry myself and my baby plus any extras we needed for the night like pumps, nappies, wipes etc. all with ease. I had a little bit of trepidation at first, but I was well supported and quickly learnt that I just had to overcome that little bit of fear. I had no postnatal cramping.

My complications came 4 weeks later, and were completely unforseeable and unpreventable, but the C section itself was fantastic. It was my favourite part of the entire pregnancy, I was ecstatic, the theatre staff were like a comedy troupe and they just kept my spirits so high. Couldn't feel the spinal, had a brilliant and intuitive anaesthetist, some fab HCAs on the wards, and was discharged less than 24 hours afterwards back to my own sofa and bed, with my own kettle and tea cup.

The only thing I struggled with was pushing things, like the pushchair or trolleys, but it wasn't excruciating. It was like I'd just done an intense abdominal workout at the gym. My muscles felt a bit tired, which they probably were given they'd just been sliced through.

Choose! We’re not in the Victorian era!

Your poor friend. That sounds horrific. I’m definitely glad I had an elective second time around. My fanny and connecting bits are still intact.

Of course women should have the option. I feel like the term ‘without reason’ is misleading. Unfortunately there is no way to predict how a natural labour may unfold so whilst a woman may have no medical reason going into birth, she may come out the other side with a slew of complications.
I had an uncomplicated vaginal birth, one friend has been left with irreparable pelvic floor damage, and others have had elective C sections. Birth is a gamble and I can totally see the rational behind having some control of the situation rather than leaving it to fate.

A non-emergency elective C section does NOT take priority over an emergency. I know this first-hand because I had a crashed c-section first time, and I later got to know one of the women whose c-section was delayed 5 hours as a result, equally my second delivery was c section but delayed because wmergencies went first. You’re talking nonsense and your tone is a bit goady imho

This.

DH is a medic. I find it very telling that not a single one of his close friends who are doctors had a natural birth - they all elected for a section. I think that says a lot.

This

I know it doesn't always work that way, that's exactly why I'd be worried about there not being the resources available if a woman did need emergency intervention.

Because being "cut open and then stitched up" in a controlled way under anaesthetic is clearly much better than being torn/cut open and then stitched up in much worse places while awake.

But you haven't factored in that allowing women access to ELCS means some births will end up using fewer resources than they would've if they had attempted vaginal birth. And the hospitals will be able to schedule ELCS at the times most conducive to best resource usage, in a way that's obviously not possible for forceps or EMCS.

If you want to make an argument that women shouldn't be able to have MRCS because of resource access, these are factors that have to be considered.

The "low resource", apparently "low risk" vaginal births are often the ones where things go disastrously wrong due to insufficient staffing and monitoring. Worth bearing that in mind.

If you say to a woman, "no you can't have a c-section because it's too resource-intensive", what you're quite often saying to her given the present state of maternity care is "no, we want to be able to stick you in a side room, largely ignore you and give you bugger all care until your baby arrives and just hope for the best".

I would prefer it not to be an option for first births - there’s so much fear surrounding birth and it would be far better for the money to be spent on supporting women in labour effectively, ensuring there’s adequate staff and resources to make women feel safe.

I think they should be, especially because midwives aren't honest about the risks of vaginal delivery. If I'd been told about the risks of vaginal delivery, I would have most definitely opted for a c section. I've been left with permanent issues which weren't even on my radar due to the lack of information provided.

How can staff and resources make vaginal birth feel safe, when it's fundamentally not safe?

Historically (and still in many parts of the world) it's the most dangerous thing a woman will ever do!

Some of us are not prepared to take that gamble. The only way I felt sufficiently safe was with sections. I'm grateful that I was able to choose sections or I wouldn't have had my lovely children.