C-section or vaginal birth? Which would you prefer?

glitzandglitter

MrsLeanna:

@opppyseed,

I know your'e trying to educate and help and I think that's great that you have all that info but it does come from a biased place. I think what the girls meant is that you can find scary stats on anything if you look for them.

Google complications of home births and see what you get, or complications of VBACs. So, it's good to know all sides and there can be risks associated with everything. For some women, c/s is right for them, even if some people don't agree. Most c/s don't have any issues.  

Agreed

elandric

the birth process in general is one thing that really makes me nervous. I really want a VB, the thought of surgery and recovery from the c-section doesn't not seem appealing. Obviously I will do whatever it is that I need to do for a safe delivery, but I prefer a VB.

LittleMonkeys3

I could give you some of the details of my vaginal birth (as described by DH) which are as horrific or more than seeing a dr put her foot on the table.  I could find stats that support either side.  When something is important to you, you will find the information to support what you want.  The point is, there's no reason to scare other moms that haven't been through either a vaginal or c/s birth.  Some women will not have a choice to have a vaginal birth for various reasons.  I don't think it's fair to them to go on and on about those kind of specifics.  Just like it wouldn't be fair to me to scare the moms that are going to have vaginal births (which is the majority) by describing in detail what happened to me. 

MommaWest11

I want as natural a birth as possible. I would rather not have to have a c-section unless it is necessary. By that, I mean, a breech baby, not the "Oh my gosh, your baby is huge & you NEED to schedule a c-section the week before you are due" story that some new moms get. I am fairly educated & I know of some women my mother helped that were capable of delivering 9 lb babies.

No doctor will bully me into something I don't want to do. It will be an emergency c-section, or none at all for me.

Saying all that, I do understand the benefits of having one scheduled. I am not trying to knock any moms who feel that this is the best choice for them. It is just a choice that you have to be comfortable with & base it on your own individual preference & pregnancy. 

CalMum_Momma

LittleMonkeys3:

I could give you some of the details of my vaginal birth (as described by DH) which are as horrific or more than seeing a dr put her foot on the table.  I could find stats that support either side.  When something is important to you, you will find the information to support what you want.  The point is, there's no reason to scare other moms that haven't been through either a vaginal or c/s birth.  Some women will not have a choice to have a vaginal birth for various reasons.  I don't think it's fair to them to go on and on about those kind of specifics.  Just like it wouldn't be fair to me to scare the moms that are going to have vaginal births (which is the majority) by describing in detail what happened to me. 

I wasn't trying to scare her at all. I had a very positive c/s experience. She said that she was afraid of cutting and pulling, and I just thought it was fair that she know that cutting and pulling oocurs in a c/s too, just in a different place. I am one who said I don't agree with scare tasctics, like listing every single possible thing that could go wrong. I simply gave her a description of how my very successful c/s went, the good the bad and the ugly. I'm sorry that you seem to have some kind of problem with that. By all means, share what happened with your experience. That's what we're here for.

lp0

I appreciate everyone's responses. I know this topic can be very emotional and I am thankful that we can all talk about it without getting upset.

I have spoken to many women who have had both vaginal births and c-sections and everyone has had a different experience (some super easy L&D, some horror stories). I do not scare easily and plan to research my options and make the best choice for my baby and myself. My main concern are the after affects, which no one really talked about in this thread. I am not afraid of cutting and pulling in general as I realize that occurs in c-sections as well. I am afraid of cutting and pulling at my vagina and the risk that I will have painful scarring and that it will never be the same after giving birth. I have heard that some women are unable to wear tampons after giving birth vaginally because they tampons fall right out of them. I've heard the sex feels completely different (sometimes unenjoyable). There are pros and cons to both c-sections and vaginal births but whatever happens, my main priority is getting the baby here safely. 

whyhellopoppyseed

LP0198:

I appreciate everyone's responses. I know this topic can be very emotional and I am thankful that we can all talk about it without getting upset.

I have spoken to many women who have had both vaginal births and c-sections and everyone has had a different experience (some super easy L&D, some horror stories). I do not scare easily and plan to research my options and make the best choice for my baby and myself. My main concern are the after affects, which no one really talked about in this thread. I am not afraid of cutting and pulling in general as I realize that occurs in c-sections as well. I am afraid of cutting and pulling at my vagina and the risk that I will have painful scarring and that it will never be the same after giving birth. I have heard that some women are unable to wear tampons after giving birth vaginally because they tampons fall right out of them. I've heard the sex feels completely different (sometimes unenjoyable). There are pros and cons to both c-sections and vaginal births but whatever happens, my main priority is getting the baby here safely. 

 

Yes I've heard that too, about vaginal birth.

I did want to say (which I didn't before) that I can see how different it would be with a SCHEDULED cesarean. You could really plan for it, which is unlike an emergency section, particularly after you were in active labor for hours and hours before. (Like me!)

I have a friend who LOVED her cesareans--she called them McDonald's births. She showed up, wearing makeup and feeling good, and within 10 minutes of being prepped had her babies. 30-40 minutes of stitching and she was done and being wheeled back to her room. If I wasn't so hell-bent on a VBAC this time, I completely understand the desire for that kind of easy birth.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll make the best decision for you

LittleMonkeys3

Yes I've heard that too, about vaginal birth.

I did want to say (which I didn't before) that I can see how different it would be with a SCHEDULED cesarean. You could really plan for it, which is unlike an emergency section, particularly after you were in active labor for hours and hours before. (Like me!)

I have a friend who LOVED her cesareans--she called them McDonald's births. She showed up, wearing makeup and feeling good, and within 10 minutes of being prepped had her babies. 30-40 minutes of stitching and she was done and being wheeled back to her room. If I wasn't so hell-bent on a VBAC this time, I completely understand the desire for that kind of easy birth.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll make the best decision for you

I agree that makes a huge difference.  With my first, I pushed for 3 hours and they gave me the option of vacuum, forceps, or c/s.  I choose vacuum but I was crying to DH that I was going to be really upset if I tried the vacuum and still had to have a c/s and had stitches in both places!  My 2nd I planned the c/s because we were really worried about reconstruction if I tried vaginal again.  I went into labor before my scheduled date, but I only labored for a little while at home before I had to go to triage and see what was going on and they ended up doing my c/s then.  I wasn't exhausted from 37 hours of labor which made a big difference.

CalMum_Momma- I apologize!  I referenced your comment about the pulling but I realize that you were also agreeing with not scaring people!  Sorry about that!

 

CalMum_Momma

LP0198:

I appreciate everyone's responses. I know this topic can be very emotional and I am thankful that we can all talk about it without getting upset.

I have spoken to many women who have had both vaginal births and c-sections and everyone has had a different experience (some super easy L&D, some horror stories). I do not scare easily and plan to research my options and make the best choice for my baby and myself. My main concern are the after affects, which no one really talked about in this thread. I am not afraid of cutting and pulling in general as I realize that occurs in c-sections as well. I am afraid of cutting and pulling at my vagina and the risk that I will have painful scarring and that it will never be the same after giving birth. I have heard that some women are unable to wear tampons after giving birth vaginally because they tampons fall right out of them. I've heard the sex feels completely different (sometimes unenjoyable). There are pros and cons to both c-sections and vaginal births but whatever happens, my main priority is getting the baby here safely. 

I did try to tell you about my healing process from the c/s as well. I am not sure what I left out that you were looking for. I took anitbiotics, because I did develop a minor infection in the hospital, that I recognized when the area around the inscision because quite red and hot to the touch. I avioded taking the pain meds for a while, but did start taking them, and they helped, but I was still in a lot of pain. Agin, laughin, coughing, even turning over in bed was painful. I had to limit the number of times I went up and down the stairs during a day. I was in pain for about 6w. After that I was fine. I haven't had any numbness, although I do occasionally get itching at the scar, but that's the same with my other scars. DH and I were able to resume sexual activities after 6w. The only trouble I had with that was dryness. Now all is back to normal. I will always have the scar, and I fear the little pooch that now sort of hangs over that scar, even though I did lose a great deal of weight after having DS. Please don't hesitate to ask, if there is something you are wondering about that I am missing. I want you to have all the information you need to make the deicsion that's best for you!

lp0

CalMum_Momma:

LP0198:

I appreciate everyone's responses. I know this topic can be very emotional and I am thankful that we can all talk about it without getting upset.

I have spoken to many women who have had both vaginal births and c-sections and everyone has had a different experience (some super easy L&D, some horror stories). I do not scare easily and plan to research my options and make the best choice for my baby and myself. My main concern are the after affects, which no one really talked about in this thread. I am not afraid of cutting and pulling in general as I realize that occurs in c-sections as well. I am afraid of cutting and pulling at my vagina and the risk that I will have painful scarring and that it will never be the same after giving birth. I have heard that some women are unable to wear tampons after giving birth vaginally because they tampons fall right out of them. I've heard the sex feels completely different (sometimes unenjoyable). There are pros and cons to both c-sections and vaginal births but whatever happens, my main priority is getting the baby here safely. 

I did try to tell you about my healing process from the c/s as well. I am not sure what I left out that you were looking for. I took anitbiotics, because I did develop a minor infection in the hospital, that I recognized when the area around the inscision because quite red and hot to the touch. I avioded taking the pain meds for a while, but did start taking them, and they helped, but I was still in a lot of pain. Agin, laughin, coughing, even turning over in bed was painful. I had to limit the number of times I went up and down the stairs during a day. I was in pain for about 6w. After that I was fine. I haven't had any numbness, although I do occasionally get itching at the scar, but that's the same with my other scars. DH and I were able to resume sexual activities after 6w. The only trouble I had with that was dryness. Now all is back to normal. I will always have the scar, and I fear the little pooch that now sort of hangs over that scar, even though I did lose a great deal of weight after having DS. Please don't hesitate to ask, if there is something you are wondering about that I am missing. I want you to have all the information you need to make the deicsion that's best for you!

Thank you for sharing your experience. Your further detail (physical changes after healing) was actually what I was referring to when I said after affects. I really appreciate it.

JessieP76

I'd prefer vaginal for sure.