Elective C-section - how to decide?

Hiya

I had an emergency c-section with my first baby - essentially down to failure to progress after reaching 6cm with syntocin and not getting any further - and am now 32 weeks pregnant with my second.

So I'm heading towards the 36 week obstetrician appointment where we make the call about trying VBAC or booking an elective. My midwife (same one as last time) is fantastic and very honest, she rates my chances of another c-section at 75-85%... should I just take the odds and book in?
I'm not hung up on "needing" or "wanting" a natural birth because at the end of the day the result is the same, you have a baby. I think the bit that's holding me back is the conscious decision of "yes I will have this surgery", whereas last time as labour went on, it wasn't our decision to make.

I guess I'm asking what swayed you in either direction and how was the elective process different for you than an emergency c?

Thanks in advance

Hiya... We were the same situation as Aroha11 and for that reason, when we come to no.2 I'll be going straight to a C-Sect. We were in NICU for a week afterwards with a whole lot of things going wrong because he stopped breathing and swallowed gunk when I was in labour and he got stuck. I ended up sick too from 48 hours of labour and things going wrong on my side. I would suspect our OB would rule out a natural birth based on our risk anyway after our birth. That aside it is too traumatising for me and hubby to go through that again, and I was also so heartbroken that I went through all that surgery and wasn't wheeled back to my room with my little man in my arms like all the other ladies... I also want the control, and to have that moment of holding my little bubba without worrying what might be wrong with him because of a labour gone wrong. It'll also be our last if we're lucky enough to get a second one, so I'll be getting my tubes tied - and it can all be done at once... It never worried me if I had a natural birth or not, and still doesn't - I just wanted him here safely - and my midwife ignored everything when he showed on scans transverse and assumed on our behalf when I went into labour that he'd turned (a head and shoulder should feel quite different - she couldn't tell)....so arriving safely was taken out of our hands too   Good Luck

Hi AliceM!! Not sure if you remember me but I was an October 2010 mum too :)

My DD2 was born by elective c-section 4 weeks ago. I had a natural birth last time so no experience with an emergency one but my elective was lovely (as far as they can be!)

was very calm and easy, easy to organise grandparents to look after DD1, had lots of help after the birth so have healed very well. All in all it was a much better experience than my natural birth!

I had to have an elective because I have very big babies and it was definitely the right choice for me :-)

AliceM - I can see where you are coming from with 'the magic' although I think the magic for me second time around will be the calm of it all. If you go with the a VBAC maybe talk to your midwife about the options of changing your mind up to and even during the labor, might be nice to still have options open to you till they are no longer available if you know what I mean... BTW that programme scares me!

I've been thinking about an elective this time around as well. For me, I had a failed induction due to high blood pressure and GD. So for me, if the choice is between induction and elective c-sec - I'll choose the c-section. They tried for 3 days to induce me, finally gave me a c-section on the 4th day. It was emotionally terrible. So I will not be going through that again.

That said, if I don't have high BP or GD this time around? Then the choice is a lot harder.

My baby was born via elective c-section due to being breech, so although I have no experience of 'natural' birth (or labour) I just thought I'd let you know that the whole elective process was really great. It was calm and as peaceful as something like that can be, hubby did skin to skin whilst they stitched me up then she came straight to me to be breastfeed as soon as we were in recovery. I healed very well. Although I would try for a vbac next time, if I was in the situation of needing an elective next time, I wouldn't be disappointed. It was still pretty darn special and magical meeting your baby for the first time, no matter how they arrive. Good luck in your decision making

Alice M - Good luck, there are positives, looking forward to hearing how it all goes.

I had an emergency c with DS (failure to progress), and an elective if DD took too long. DS was 2 weeks overdue and DD was due on xmas day and expected to be huge (and I'm tiny!). There is a huge family history of csections in my sisters and mum and grandmother. I didn't want to have a emergency csection over xmas, so I booked the last csection before xmas and crossed my fingers DD would come out of her own accord.

In the end she didn't and I had an elective C. I have to say the experience was soo much nicer than the emergency one and I was home in time for DS excitement of seeing santas gift. No real regrets, tho I would have liked to have a labour though as I never really went into proper labour with DS.

So the verdict is in and an elective c it is. I feel really happy with the decision - particularly following this week's midwife appointment where junior is still breech, posterior and just lurking, not anywhere near interested in trying to get engaged. Feel much better having made this decision rather than pinning all hope on a VBAC only to get thwarted at the last minute.

It's definitely a funny feeling though knowing there's a set day where we will meet this little one. Though by the look of my tummy and all the double-takes I've been getting, perhaps little might be not the word!

Thanks for all the comments and advice. D Day is next Friday, still sounds so far away!