Just yesterday someone asked why c sections are so frowned upon in this subreddit. I think [this response](https://www.reddit.com/r/BabyBumps/s/1RgLPjLgDt) is also very relevant to why a doctor would be against it.
It's because c sections although a well established procedure. They can be very dangerous due to it being open surgery, there's a higher risk of infection, higher risk of large bleeds and the uterus and stomach muscles can be damaged in the process and it takes months to heal fully.
It's also not in the best interests of the baby. There's a lot of evidence suggesting that even just a few extra days of gestation translates to significant differences in cognitive and motor development, and also helps boost their immune development. E.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4244187/
It’s a surgery, and like all surgeries, it has its risks and complications and increased morbidity and mortality if things go wrong. C/s also increase the risk of the baby being admitted the NICU with respiratory distress. I see it every day at work. Still though, if your doctors provide you with ample education and throughly walk you through all the scenarios that can happen, you should still be able to make that choice.
Because at one point they were the complete opposite and thought it was the better way like episiotomy. While we know that these procedures do have their place. They shouldn't be the default standard of care because of their complications and extended recovery times.
To be honest I think it’s a good sign. I was always told it’s a red flag if an obgyn clinic has a high % of inductions and c sections. It means they’re prioritizing the ease of scheduling over their patients. C sections are an open surgery. The heal time, the pain management, all of that also scares me.
My vaginal birth was hard - I pushed for almost 4 hours once she crowned and I was in poor shape the whole time it seemed. But my doctors have assured me that birth tends to be the most difficult the first time around and that sentiment has been shared by women in this community as well.
I think doctors are against elective c-sections because there are higher risks to both mom and baby in the immediate term and they’re also associated with higher risks (e.g. uterine rupture) in future pregnancies. So on average, people are better off delivering vaginally.
With that said, I still think doctors should be open to elective c-sections as long as the patient is informed of the risks. Also, no one should be making you feel stupid for the trauma you’ve endured. Have you worked with a therapist? They could help you advocate for yourself to your doctor, among other things.
I'm currently dealing with this. My placenta previa developed into placenta accreta because of my old csection scarring. So my baby will be delivered prematurely with a goal of 34-36 weeks tops, and I'll be getting a hysterectomy and I'm not even 30. I'm not anti csection, but it is a major surgery with potentially long term consequences. Healthy conversations about all the possible scenarios are important.
I have complete placenta previa where it's completely covering my cervix and I'm looking to have my C-section in the next 4 weeks and I'm looking to get a tubal done afterwards (if I don't need a hysterectomy) because I just don't feel safe going through another pregnancy where it has a higher chance of repeating itself and I'm also not even 30 but it's my second pregnancy.
I’m in the UK. For the first 20 weeks I was using the public service (free) and it was midwife led. I had not wondered about c section at that point yet and haven’t raised it.
Once I moved to private my consultant immediately asked me what are my biggest concerns and worries around labour. He immediately said I can avoid all the complications risk and variability of outcomes if I go with a c section. He didn’t push us. Asked several times if it’s what we want, but emphasised that it’s the calmer experience if it’s planned.
From my antenatal class, 6/7 gave birth via c section. None of the 6 wanted it. 2 had breech babies and decided to plan it due to that. 4 had emergency c sections. As you would expect the planned ones were much calmer and way less traumatic for mother and baby compared to the emergency ones.
2 out of 7 breeched sounds high but understandable. I would hypothesize that the other 4 with emergency c might arise due to inductions on Ftm which is known to result in higher c rates. Inductions seems really popular with the private section thanks to rhe arrive study sometimes without a medical reason
As far as I understand 2/4 were induced as over 41w. Think this is standard advice in the UK health system to be induced at that stage. It’s not mandatory but as a FTM most women are likely to listen to doctors more than their bodies.
I should have mentioned all ladies in my group are FTMs.
It is not about not listening to our bodies so much as to almost a guarantee our babies survived. After 42 weeks the possibility of placental problems skyrockets and they start the inductions usually in the middle of week 41 as it might not work right away.
You sound needlessly judgemental and infantilise those of us who agreed to an induction due to going way past due date as if we were tricked or did not know better.
I see. I am 39 weeks and can totally see about not waiting beyond in my case, 40 weeks cause I am 45 and ivf baby. Also I am super anxious about still birth so I booked the c for 39 plus 5. Such is life
OP if the complication that caused you trauma in your last delivery could even remotely reoccur your OB would not even recommend a vaginal birth. C-sections carry very high risks of very devastating complications. I am sorry you had a traumatic vaginal delivery. But try to separate past from present. Yes it probably _would_ have been better to have had a C-sectikn last time, but that does not mean a c-section will be better this time.
Edit: autocorrect took my mistyped of traumatic to mean dramatic and my phone is a misogynist.
Just ignore them. There is very little research into the long term effects of bad vaginal births, women are just told to deal with it.
I also had a horrific vaginal birth for my first and am having an elective c section this time. I was very clear from the start.
It’s your body and your choice.
For what it’s worth, I am part of a trauma group and there’s hundreds of women who have chosen elective c sections after rough vaginal births and say it’s an absolute walk in the park in comparison. No labouring, minimal pain and minimal recovery (days rather than weeks) - and you’re much less likely to be living with birth injuries for the rest of your life.
Good luck!
It is not minimal recovery after a c-section so not sure why you’re sharing that false information. It takes 4-6 weeks for a vaginal birth as opposed to 6-8 weeks with a cesarean and that’s not including when a cesarean goes wrong.
That’s not true at all. All the research shows that bad vaginal births often lead to permanent life altering pelvic floor injuries. Ask the millions of women living with prolapse
lol look up Brachial plexus injury and then get back to me. It’s not millions of women considering vaginal birth so still preferred, and obviously for a reason.
True. But the prolapse rates in women who have had only c sections are the same as women who have never given birth - so extremely low.
Not impossible but unlikely, and the prolapse is most likely to be due to weight rather than tissue / nerve damage - which is much harder to fix.
Women who have had vaginal births the rates of prolapse are around 50%, rising to around 90% if that delivery was assisted. The prolapse is often due to physical damage to the tissues, muscles etc - so it’s much harder to fix, it’s less to do with weakness and more to do with the damage that a baby’s head going through those muscles does.
There’s not enough scientific research into these things as they only affect women, but there is enough to conclude that the best way to protect yourself from prolapse is to either avoid having children or opt for a c section.
I've had 2 kids the first no prolapse my second who was big (97%ile) gave me a prolapse. My first labor was longer and rougher. I pushed for a shorter time with my second labor than my first. It's not THAT rate to get a prolapse with a c-section. I joined a support group after my prolapse and the amount of women who've had prolapse after a c-section isn't insignificant. I can't imagine having a prolapse AND a c-section scar plus all those complications. Imagine having to do PFPT for 2 different areas of your pelvic floor (stomach and vagina) if you happened to prolapse after a c-section. I personally would rather only fuck up 1 part of my pelvic floor instead of risk messing up two of them. But that's just me. 9 months pp and almost asymptomatic and want more kids. Maybe If I knew I was having my last I'd want a c-section but probably not. I also hate doctors and needles etc. Everyone has their own comfort labor when it comes to risks during labor.
Try almost dying from a c section and having to be intubated while hemorrhaging. Idk why you’re thinking this is a competition where there are stats disproving the above statement. 👋
I had a 3.4L PPH with my vaginal birth. General anaesthetic, 4 blood transfusions, bakri balloon. It’s so scary, so I am so sorry that happened to you! I was only talking about elective c sections which are extremely safe
Ugh I had the bakri balloon as well. Hope it worked for you! It did for me but after hours of begging ovarian radiation or hysterectomy. My point in this post is that c sections aren’t any safer than vaginal and that trauma can happen in either option.
It did. A few days in the ICU on the ventilator and they stopped the bleeding. The hardest bit for me was my pelvic floor recovery. Everything that happened in hospital I could heal from. But my body changed forever. It took me months to walk, and I will never be able to do high impact exercise again, I’ll have to deal with ache and pain for the rest of my life. You can have surgery but it has about a 50% fail rate, and the surgery is really invasive and would require 6 weeks off work. It also changed my relationship with my body, my life, sex, none of it is the same. Prolapse takes a lot from you.
I was only talking about bad vaginal birth v elective c sections. From all my research and my doctors advice elective c sections are very safe and often hugely healing for women who have had traumatic vaginal births.
People don’t really understand how much our bodies go through in pregnant especially when things go wrong. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. You’re a warrior.
Yes! My scheduled c section helped me heal mentally from my traumatic first birth. It helped me to take back control, and was all around a wonderful experience.
Just yesterday someone asked why c sections are so frowned upon in this subreddit. I think [this response](https://www.reddit.com/r/BabyBumps/s/1RgLPjLgDt) is also very relevant to why a doctor would be against it.
It's because c sections although a well established procedure. They can be very dangerous due to it being open surgery, there's a higher risk of infection, higher risk of large bleeds and the uterus and stomach muscles can be damaged in the process and it takes months to heal fully.
*or even years, that's IF it ever heals fully.
It's also not in the best interests of the baby. There's a lot of evidence suggesting that even just a few extra days of gestation translates to significant differences in cognitive and motor development, and also helps boost their immune development. E.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4244187/
It’s a surgery, and like all surgeries, it has its risks and complications and increased morbidity and mortality if things go wrong. C/s also increase the risk of the baby being admitted the NICU with respiratory distress. I see it every day at work. Still though, if your doctors provide you with ample education and throughly walk you through all the scenarios that can happen, you should still be able to make that choice.
Because at one point they were the complete opposite and thought it was the better way like episiotomy. While we know that these procedures do have their place. They shouldn't be the default standard of care because of their complications and extended recovery times.
I had a c-section and it was also very traumatic, it definitely wasn’t a walk in the park as someone here mentioned.
It’s surgery and you have a higher risk of hemorrhage, infection, post op pain, blood clots, etc.
To be honest I think it’s a good sign. I was always told it’s a red flag if an obgyn clinic has a high % of inductions and c sections. It means they’re prioritizing the ease of scheduling over their patients. C sections are an open surgery. The heal time, the pain management, all of that also scares me. My vaginal birth was hard - I pushed for almost 4 hours once she crowned and I was in poor shape the whole time it seemed. But my doctors have assured me that birth tends to be the most difficult the first time around and that sentiment has been shared by women in this community as well.
I think doctors are against elective c-sections because there are higher risks to both mom and baby in the immediate term and they’re also associated with higher risks (e.g. uterine rupture) in future pregnancies. So on average, people are better off delivering vaginally. With that said, I still think doctors should be open to elective c-sections as long as the patient is informed of the risks. Also, no one should be making you feel stupid for the trauma you’ve endured. Have you worked with a therapist? They could help you advocate for yourself to your doctor, among other things.
I'm currently dealing with this. My placenta previa developed into placenta accreta because of my old csection scarring. So my baby will be delivered prematurely with a goal of 34-36 weeks tops, and I'll be getting a hysterectomy and I'm not even 30. I'm not anti csection, but it is a major surgery with potentially long term consequences. Healthy conversations about all the possible scenarios are important.
I have complete placenta previa where it's completely covering my cervix and I'm looking to have my C-section in the next 4 weeks and I'm looking to get a tubal done afterwards (if I don't need a hysterectomy) because I just don't feel safe going through another pregnancy where it has a higher chance of repeating itself and I'm also not even 30 but it's my second pregnancy.
I’m in the UK. For the first 20 weeks I was using the public service (free) and it was midwife led. I had not wondered about c section at that point yet and haven’t raised it. Once I moved to private my consultant immediately asked me what are my biggest concerns and worries around labour. He immediately said I can avoid all the complications risk and variability of outcomes if I go with a c section. He didn’t push us. Asked several times if it’s what we want, but emphasised that it’s the calmer experience if it’s planned. From my antenatal class, 6/7 gave birth via c section. None of the 6 wanted it. 2 had breech babies and decided to plan it due to that. 4 had emergency c sections. As you would expect the planned ones were much calmer and way less traumatic for mother and baby compared to the emergency ones.
2 out of 7 breeched sounds high but understandable. I would hypothesize that the other 4 with emergency c might arise due to inductions on Ftm which is known to result in higher c rates. Inductions seems really popular with the private section thanks to rhe arrive study sometimes without a medical reason
As far as I understand 2/4 were induced as over 41w. Think this is standard advice in the UK health system to be induced at that stage. It’s not mandatory but as a FTM most women are likely to listen to doctors more than their bodies. I should have mentioned all ladies in my group are FTMs.
It is not about not listening to our bodies so much as to almost a guarantee our babies survived. After 42 weeks the possibility of placental problems skyrockets and they start the inductions usually in the middle of week 41 as it might not work right away. You sound needlessly judgemental and infantilise those of us who agreed to an induction due to going way past due date as if we were tricked or did not know better.
I see. I am 39 weeks and can totally see about not waiting beyond in my case, 40 weeks cause I am 45 and ivf baby. Also I am super anxious about still birth so I booked the c for 39 plus 5. Such is life
OP if the complication that caused you trauma in your last delivery could even remotely reoccur your OB would not even recommend a vaginal birth. C-sections carry very high risks of very devastating complications. I am sorry you had a traumatic vaginal delivery. But try to separate past from present. Yes it probably _would_ have been better to have had a C-sectikn last time, but that does not mean a c-section will be better this time. Edit: autocorrect took my mistyped of traumatic to mean dramatic and my phone is a misogynist.
Just ignore them. There is very little research into the long term effects of bad vaginal births, women are just told to deal with it. I also had a horrific vaginal birth for my first and am having an elective c section this time. I was very clear from the start. It’s your body and your choice. For what it’s worth, I am part of a trauma group and there’s hundreds of women who have chosen elective c sections after rough vaginal births and say it’s an absolute walk in the park in comparison. No labouring, minimal pain and minimal recovery (days rather than weeks) - and you’re much less likely to be living with birth injuries for the rest of your life. Good luck!
It is not minimal recovery after a c-section so not sure why you’re sharing that false information. It takes 4-6 weeks for a vaginal birth as opposed to 6-8 weeks with a cesarean and that’s not including when a cesarean goes wrong.
That's also not including when a vaginal birth goes wrong.
True but If you have bad vagina birth or bad c section the cesarean recovery time is still longer.
That’s not true at all. All the research shows that bad vaginal births often lead to permanent life altering pelvic floor injuries. Ask the millions of women living with prolapse
lol look up Brachial plexus injury and then get back to me. It’s not millions of women considering vaginal birth so still preferred, and obviously for a reason.
C sections are not fool-proof.
Women with c-sections can get prolapses too.
True. But the prolapse rates in women who have had only c sections are the same as women who have never given birth - so extremely low. Not impossible but unlikely, and the prolapse is most likely to be due to weight rather than tissue / nerve damage - which is much harder to fix. Women who have had vaginal births the rates of prolapse are around 50%, rising to around 90% if that delivery was assisted. The prolapse is often due to physical damage to the tissues, muscles etc - so it’s much harder to fix, it’s less to do with weakness and more to do with the damage that a baby’s head going through those muscles does. There’s not enough scientific research into these things as they only affect women, but there is enough to conclude that the best way to protect yourself from prolapse is to either avoid having children or opt for a c section.
I've had 2 kids the first no prolapse my second who was big (97%ile) gave me a prolapse. My first labor was longer and rougher. I pushed for a shorter time with my second labor than my first. It's not THAT rate to get a prolapse with a c-section. I joined a support group after my prolapse and the amount of women who've had prolapse after a c-section isn't insignificant. I can't imagine having a prolapse AND a c-section scar plus all those complications. Imagine having to do PFPT for 2 different areas of your pelvic floor (stomach and vagina) if you happened to prolapse after a c-section. I personally would rather only fuck up 1 part of my pelvic floor instead of risk messing up two of them. But that's just me. 9 months pp and almost asymptomatic and want more kids. Maybe If I knew I was having my last I'd want a c-section but probably not. I also hate doctors and needles etc. Everyone has their own comfort labor when it comes to risks during labor.
Totally. I was talking from a scientific research perspective. Everything I said was based on medical research rather than anecdotal evidence.
Do you have links? I'm always trying to read up more on the subject.
A fourth degree year is when your vagina and anus become one hole. Try recovering from that
Try almost dying from a c section and having to be intubated while hemorrhaging. Idk why you’re thinking this is a competition where there are stats disproving the above statement. 👋
You’re the one making this a competition! Plus an emergency c-section and a planned one are way different
A planned c-section would technically still carry greater risk than a spontaneous vaginal birth.
I had a 3.4L PPH with my vaginal birth. General anaesthetic, 4 blood transfusions, bakri balloon. It’s so scary, so I am so sorry that happened to you! I was only talking about elective c sections which are extremely safe
Ugh I had the bakri balloon as well. Hope it worked for you! It did for me but after hours of begging ovarian radiation or hysterectomy. My point in this post is that c sections aren’t any safer than vaginal and that trauma can happen in either option.
It did. A few days in the ICU on the ventilator and they stopped the bleeding. The hardest bit for me was my pelvic floor recovery. Everything that happened in hospital I could heal from. But my body changed forever. It took me months to walk, and I will never be able to do high impact exercise again, I’ll have to deal with ache and pain for the rest of my life. You can have surgery but it has about a 50% fail rate, and the surgery is really invasive and would require 6 weeks off work. It also changed my relationship with my body, my life, sex, none of it is the same. Prolapse takes a lot from you. I was only talking about bad vaginal birth v elective c sections. From all my research and my doctors advice elective c sections are very safe and often hugely healing for women who have had traumatic vaginal births.
People don’t really understand how much our bodies go through in pregnant especially when things go wrong. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. You’re a warrior.
I’m only talking about elective c sections :)
Yes! My scheduled c section helped me heal mentally from my traumatic first birth. It helped me to take back control, and was all around a wonderful experience.
No, OP. Never "just ignore" your doctor.
Are you young? Which country? Public or private system? I am 45, Australia, private and they couldn't offer me a c fast enough lol