Decisions Decisions - Tell me about your elective C Section

[mumsrulz]

I am due in December and am so confused what to do. C Section or Natural.

This is my 2nd bub, first was the most traumatic birth that I never want to go through again it was natural and ended up with a extra large episiotomy bladder and bowel problems, nightmares for a year etc etc bub was in special care due to 2 lots of suction then 2 lots of forceps. Terrible experience. To this day I still feel sore when I sit down.

Hence my question to you ladies, did you elect for a c section and what's the positives and negatives?

I will have a two year old so of you had a young one, how did you cope?

I breastfed my first for 14 months and planning on breastfeeding my second does your milk come in as well with an elective?

Hoping for some good advice as I have been told I can give natural ago again but the option is there for an elective if I want.

[cluckcluck]

Wow, given what happened to you I'd go elective c section.

My dd was a natural birth, she was rather large and face up, I had a few epesiotomies and I tore lots too, they used a vontuse and forceps to get dd out, fortunately she was ok. I had loads of internal stitches and my perinium is all scar tissue now so when I fell pregnant with ds I was told I'd have to have a c/s which was fine with me, as it turned out ds was breech anyway. I had no trouble b/f him, dd was 3 so I still had to do everything with her as xdh only had a few days off work while I was in hospital.

[Busy-Bee]

Deleted - I just realised this was the CS section. Opps!

[Jemma87]

I have had 2 emergency and. 2 elective c sections!!
My 2nd emergency one was a failed vbac - it took me a long time to come to terms with the c section as my heart was set on a vbac!!
When I was expecting num 3 I also wanted to try a vba2c BUT in the end the pros of a elective c section outweighed the cons!! I had a fear that if I was to have another failed vbac I would end up in a state of depression as was close to it last time!!
I was so glad I chose the elective it was a very positive experience, I did have a few traumatic moments when I passed out during the spinal as they hit a nerve (luckily I wasn't paralysed :/)
My 4th elective was also a very positive experience and I enjoyed it , I had no traumatic times in that one they talked me through everything!!
Each elective section my babies came to recovery with me and we had skin to skin contact ASAP!!
I was in away sad that my body will never give birth vaginally but have come to accept the fact that I still birthed my babies and will forever cherish my scar as their "birth place "

In all honesty I'm glad I went for the electives and wish I had of just done the same with the second instead of going though 12 hours of hard back labour getting to 9.5cm and having to go in for a emergency c section, I think that had a huge impact on how I felt after the birth!!
I sat down and did a list up of pros and cons on each style of birth and worked out what was better!!
My milk came in on around day 3!!
As for coping after wards well after number 3 I obviously had 2 others too chase- my recovery wasn't that bad but also had heaps of help from the mil an with 4th my recovery was a little harder as my stitches were done up too tight on one side and was a little hard to walk or stand for too long for about 3 weeks , but each day got easier! I also had help from mil then too!! Didn't have to cook as DP would do it or if by chance I had to I just sat on a chair!!
The age gap between 3&4 was only 14 months so getting him to understand mummy couldn't pick him up for a little while was hard ;(
Other than that you really do find ways to cope - take each day as it comes, if you could arrange for someone to come help you out for a few hours each day for a couple of weeks it really helps!!


Goodluck and I hope that whatever you choose is a positive experience!!

[AngelaR]

My dd birth was classified as an elective c section. But she had a brain issue when inutero and my ob gave me no choice cause he didn't want me to push baby out.

With my c section I felt great during. I was more worried about dh as the nurses put him on the floor before he was about to faint. Post c section I felt fantastic. I would have loved to get out of bed once I was back on the ward from recovery. But as I had a spinal, I couldn't. Once allowed out of bed I was off my pain meds in 2 days. Came home on day 4 post with needing very little panadol and nurofen. I wouldn't hesitate in having a c section for our second when we get to that stage but would like to try natural birth first.

[mumsrulz]

Thankyou for the feedback
I was just speaking to a friend about this and she was like "they say if you have a c section you don't connect with your baby as much as natural"

Did anyone experience this I dont see it making any difference ???

[VicPark]

Thankyou for the feedback
I was just speaking to a friend about this and she was like "they say if you have a c section you don't connect with your baby as much as natural"

Did anyone experience this I dont see it making any difference ???

That's a crock of $hit! I had a planned csec as bub was breech and I cuddled up to bub while they were stitching me up (hubby had to hold). Then I bf in recovery. Hubby had to help a lot on hospital changing nappies etc but hey, nothing wrong with that. I got plenty of cuddles when feeding and my milk came in on day 4.

You'll be fine

[cam11]

I had an elective c sect. Wonderful experience! No probs at all with bf or connecting with my baby. Milk was fully in by day 4 (had enough for all the babies in the whole hospital!!). Pain after the op was non-existant. I took panadol and Tramedo for the first 3 or 4 days, then anti-inflamatories and panadol for a week or so after that. I maybe took them for longer than needed, but my OB suggested to keep on them for a full week to avoid any pain and to ensure I kept mobile. Worked for me. Didn't have any issues handling baby.
Was up walking around within 24 hrs of the op. The worst part of the whole thing was when they took the placenta out - that was very strange and uncomfortable, they had to push and pull a fair bit. But it was over and done with in a couple of minutes and obviously baby was out by then so I had plenty of other stuff to focus on! She had an apgar of 9 and has been a dream baby! We had absolutely no issues with bonding. I guess maybe because my c-sect was elective I wasn't tired from being in labour first and didn't have any sense of disappointment that I some ladies get when they are hoping for a natural birth but end up with and emergency c-sect?? Our week in hospital was wonderful as we had nothing to worry about except feeding and sleeping and getting to know each other. Not sure how you'd go with a toddler though?
Overall I had a wonderful experience and wouldn't change it for anything. PM me if you want more info.

Good luck!!

[Bundleoflove]

My first was an emmergency CS, not too rushed but Dr's decided cos bubs heart rate kept dropping he'd be too buggered to get through a natural birth.
DH held bub while we had mini family cuddles while being stitched then he travelled in his cot trolley next to my bed on our way back from recovery to our room. He did go to special care cos of sucking issues and low glucose level but I still had a great connection with bub and he was great motivation to get out of bed quite regulary to feed, was up by about 12 hours after surgery. So I feel like I had a great recovery.
I am going to book a planned CS for number 2 due next month and am so much happier within myself about this decision, although OB did say I could try vbac. I feel the pros of a CS outway those of a vbac for me. Plus DH is happier too with the CS as he had such a stressful time with #1.
I will have a 18.5 month old at home to deal with too, but am not really worried too much as he's not that much of a handful requiring lifting etc . He's a very independant toddler.

Good luck on your decision, and do what feels right for you!