Elective c section

With my first pregnancy I had a 38 hour labour before ending up with a c section. This time I’m going to have a planned one as although it was a fairly calm experience, I missed a whole nights sleep and then had to look after a newborn alone (as they kick dads out overnight). Im hoping to have a faster recovery with a planned section this time!

That's a wild statistic!

My second was a scheduled section. It was an absolute dream. Calm, controlled, dare i say even easy as far as abdominal surgery goes. My first, had been an emergency c-section after spontaneous labour. I spent 78 hours having contractions every 3 minutes, 90 seconds long, 100% effaced but only 4cm. It was an absolutely horrendous experience. I am so glad i had a scheduled section with my second and looking forward to another with my third.

I'm having elective section this time as I suffered a bad tear in my first birth so was advised by my consultant to have a c section this time. I was terrified but have done lots of research and spoken to lots of people who have had such lovely experiences with an elective section. X

In terms of recovery, my first was months of mental and physical recovery. So many drugs for both baby and i. My second, i was up 13 hours later, on minimal pain killers. By 4 days pp i was playing on the floor with my toddler at home. At 4 days pp with my first, i still had a catheter/cannula and hadn't even left the bed yet. I genuinely cannot compare the two experiences and i feel that had i not been so adamant to give my son a sibling, i wouldn't have had another baby. But as an only child, i was always going to have more than one myself. Just wished i had a better first experience!

My friend had a great elective c-section recently, they played her choice of music, had low lighting, lowered the drape (not too much) just so she could see the baby being lifted and one of the midwives took lots of pictures. They also did skin to skin straight away and dad cut the cord. It was a really positive experience for her.

I had a planned c section with my first and it was a lovely experience. Calming, I constantly got told what was happening. Before this, I’d never even been in hospital so the idea of laying away while being cut open terrified me. I didn’t let myself focus on that, just that I was going to meet my baby and kept chatting to everyone. Luckily that helped my anxiety. It’s quite quick until you have your baby and then you’re so distracted while getting sewn up, etc. As for recovery. I had my baby at 12:34pm, I was allowed to walk from just before 7/7:30pm when my partner had to leave. I could get up to look after my baby, pick her up, nurse her. Day 2 was hard because the main meds wear off but I could still shower when I got home, get up my 2 flights of steps and get in bed. It took me 7 weeks to feel 100% but I was out and about from around 2 weeks xx

My caesarian was so pleasant im already booked in for baby 2 the same way. I was in Costco a day after discharge, had no more pain than a rough period, was off all drugs by the end of the week, walking every day, exercising after 6 weeks and flew to Australia at 8 weeks. It was calm, happy, zero trauma. I got delayed cord clamping, skin to skin in theatre, the radio was on, camera rolling, lots of laughter. Once the spinal wore off I was up and walking to the shower alone. I had no issues carrying or feeding my baby and took public transport home.

Thanks everyone! At what point do you need to make the decision? As I assume you have to book it in. And what week were all of yours?

Baby 1 was booked at my 36 week appointment for week 39 but she came week 38. Baby 2 was booked at my 16 week appointment for week 38, no chances this time 🤣 You can book even on the day if you change your mind. They keep spaces in the theatre diaries for emergencies and changes but booking earlier always them to balance the wards/beds and get ready for you xx

I was consultant lead with my first, and decided on a c section about a week before and it was booked in two days before. This time I’ve got a consultant app end of Oct which I assume is to book my date