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C-sections
kcvasquez
member
Bad vaginal birth experiences, now I'm re-thinking...
kcvasquez
member
in C-sections
So I've been on the fence about having a RCS or a VBAC and I've been doing my research on both. But recently I have read and talked to women who have had a vaginal birth and I'll be honest, my c-section sounds like a dream compared to some of their births. One post I read said that she had internal and external tearing and it took an hour and half to stitch her up! Other's talked about tearing every which way possible down there and now they still have no pelvic muscles so with current pregnancies they feel like things are falling out.
I know c-sections take along time to recover from, but after hearing all these stories I'm thinking I'd rather recover for weeks than have my vagina feel like it's falling out, or have horrible painful sex for months afterwards due to tearing...Am I nuts?
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Re: Bad vaginal birth experiences, now I'm re-thinking...
i had a vaginal delivery with DS and it was HORRIBLE. granted, he was sunnyside up, so not typical. i couldnt sit without my boppy for a month and couldnt start working out (jogging..even walking a long time) for over 6 months because i would start to pee myself. i was VERY worried about going through another delivery...even a "good" one because of what i went through with DS.
well...i ended up having an e-c/s with DD and my recovery has been 1000x BETTER! when we have a 3rd i will definitely be having a RCS. with DS we didnt have sex for 12-13 weeks after delivery and with DD we did it at 3 weeks (and it was good!). so many people, when i told them about DS's delivery, said, "anything is better than a c/s." um...NO. my c/s recovery has been fabulous.
good luck on your decision, but for me, a c/s has been way easier (even with having another LO at home)
Every woman you talk to will give your their opinion based on their exerience. A vaginal birth does not have to be horrible. Often time tearing can be due to the position mother was in while pushing and the type of pushing she does. I had an unplanned c/s with my first and I was 100% not going to repeat history even though I knew that a RCS would very likely be MUCH easier to recover from. However, for me, a VBAC was the best choice. I had a 17 month old at home, I would not have a lot of help available (I could not get out of bed on my own or sit up on my own for well over a week after being home from my c/s) and I did not want to deal the the possible RISKS associated with another major abdominal surgery. You often hear about risks of VBACs but we tend to forget that there are many possible risks with having surgery, while they are very small in percentage (just like abruptions with VBACs), they are still very real. Good luck in your decision. I will always recommend VBAC over a RCS.
I agree that people often forget that c/s's are major surgery and so many things can go wrong. I had a decent c/s experience and an exceptional VBAC experience (as it, I was back to myself an hour after the birth and good to go). I agree that every person is going to tell you what happened to "them". Your best bet is to go with scientific statistics so you aren't swayed by outliers on anything. In my opinion, the risks are far higher with surgery than vaginal birth. But you need to make that decision for yourself based on facts, not anecdotes.
Good luck!
This is the latest from ACOG (so none of the granola stuff:-) While there are risks for both, the percentage chance of major problems overall are much lower with a VBAC as compared with a c/s.
https://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr07-21-10-1.cfm
But again, it really is whatever you are comfortable with. If you read all of the facts, regardless of which way you go, you know you are making an informed decision.
(And a hospital legally can't "not allow" VBACs. I would never deliver at a hospital who says they don't have the resources for a VBAC. This means they don't have resources for any emergency situation in a labor and delivery regardless of how you deliver.)
I had a horrible vaginal birth experience. And yes, I feel like my insides are falling out with this pregnancy. Actually, I felt like that even when not pregnant, it's just a lot worse pregnant. It makes me so sad when I hear people who say they were back to themselves in a few days, because I was non-functional for almost a month after my vaginal birth.
I'm having an elective c-section this time, because another vaginal birth will make my problems worse. I already have to have surgery to fix them, I can't imagine dealing with them getting worse before I can have the repairs.
No, I don't think you're nuts. I have never had a vaginal birth so I don't know what it's like. But I think if you had a decent c/s experience, it's natural to lean toward doing that again rather than taking a chance on the unknown, you know? I have gotten the impression from your posts that you've done your research on RCS vs. VBAC and that just knowing the risks of both is not making your decision any easier. In the end I think you have to go with your gut. I *know* that a VBAC is somewhat safer for me than an RCS, but just knowing that doesn't make me want a VBAC. And if I don't want it, I don't think I'll be committed enough to prepare for it and follow through when the time comes.
I'm sorry, this isn't exactly relevant to your question, I guess. The thing is, if you try a vaginal birth, something like what happened to your friends might happen to you, but probably not. Likewise, if you have an RCS, you might have a complication, but probably not. But there's no way of knowing beforehand. That's why comparing the risks is not something I personally find very helpful in making a decision. Basically I've decided to have an RCS because 1. I recovered fine from my first c/s and I know I can manage a similar recovery this time (and I have help for the first few weeks so taking care of kid #1 is not an issue for me) and 2. I don't really care if I ever have a vaginal birth, and in fact from what I've experienced of labor I don't really feel like doing THAT again. But if I were in a different situation - or I guess, in the case of #2, a different person - I would make a different decision.
I think birth horror stories are really overemphasized in our society. The actual percentage of women who have physically traumatic vaginal births is actually really small in the US, but I think people tend to talk about the worst births they've heard of, you know? (Hopefully I'm not coming off as flippant towards the women in this post who've had really traumatic vaginal births!)
Anyhoo, you can help to minimize the chance of damage by how you labor and push, too. This is a good link to start with: https://www.lamaze.org/ChildbirthEducators/ResourcesforEducators/CarePracticePapers/NonsupinePositions/tabid/485/Default.aspx
And the book "Active Birth" has exercises to practice while you're pregnant to get ready for labor: https://www.amazon.com/Active-Birth-Approach-Naturally-Revised/dp/1558320385
Like people have said before, both choices have their pros and cons, and chances are nothing bad will happen either way. I was very sure about my VBAC when I was pregnant, but I still was stressed about it, so you have my sympathies! Hang in there!
So true! This cannot be repeated enough!!
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
I completely understand how you're feeling, even though I'm in the opposite situation. Last time I had a vaginal birth that went well and now I'm really worried because this one will likely be a C-section. DD's birth was a good experience.
She was born at a birthing center. The midwife just sat on the edge of the bed and basically told me how to push, and that I could when I felt like it. There was none of that stress, yelling and counting like you see in the movies. I pushed for about 40 minutes and had one tiny tear that I never even felt. She did some perineal massage, which can supposedly help with that.
Within a few hours I was even up straitening up the room and rinsing out dishes!
Of course as you can tell by reading other answers in this post, not everyone has an experience like that. But from talking to other moms I've noticed that the good experiences far outnumber the bad ones. I guess there's just no way to know.
Yes, you get it! Thank you, it's hard because I know that other's have had horrible c-section experiences as well, but for me the only thing I can compare my c-section to is my own and it was not bad at all. I know there are risks for me being a VBAC mama as well as risks with a RCS so either way it's not an easy decision. Good luck with your c-section if you do end up having one (I see you are due with twins, very exciting!) but I hope your c-section experience goes just as well as your vaginal birth did!