Are you electing to have another one or going for a VBAC? And what are your reasons?

I have to meet with my consultant to discuss this and the more I think about it the more I tie myself in knots and can't decide. I really want to make some sort of decision before my appointment so I can put forward a decent argument of my reasoning...

i want to try for a vbac for a couple of reasons but mainly because the recovery period after a section worries me slightly now i've got another child to look after too... i'd like to have an easy birth no complications and be at home with a cuppa a few hours later lol instead of in hospital for a few days. i also think i'd have a real sense of achievement if i manage it! I do have times when i think maybe its best to have an elective section for the planning side of it and because i had a 12 hour labour with my daughter beforehand which i would like to avoid if possible if i'm going to have to have a section anyway! its a difficult decision but i personally am going to play it by ear and if everything pans out well for me and my baby boy i will try for a vbac.

I'm planning a home birth after a Caesarean (HBAC). I do not want to be in hospital for the birth of my child, I want to actually deliver it myself rather than have someone hand it to me, I want to experience giving birth the way my body is designed to, I do not want to undergo a major operation with all it's associated risks, I want my baby to have the best start which IMO is to be born naturally and delay the cord cutting.

I should say, these are my own personal reasons, I would never judge someone that chose another path.

I had an induction with DS1 at 35 weeks that went great, few slight problems but heh, I was up and about the next day after laughing and joking through the first part of labour and sleeping in-between contractions the second part. It was great.

The second time I had an emergency section at 33 weeks due to a placentral abruption under GA and I never want to go through that again. Most of it was due to the abruption but I was unconscious for 3 days and still in pain 2 weeks later. My bruising took 3 months to go away fully, and it took me almost a year to fully get back to normal, even at that the scar does still hurt.

So, for me a VBAC is the absolute bee's knee's!!!

Also my reasons for the VBAC over section (understanding that electives are supposedly easier) are...

I can drive a lot sooner after a VBAC
Quicker recovery time
Can feed and handle the baby easier
No horrible projectile vomiting due to trapped wind (c section messes up your bowels and can cause you to vomit up air amongst whatever else it brings up)
No antibiotics (they made me so ill with severe diarrhoea)
Already have 2 kids at home, one whom is disabled and I need to be fully mobile when I get home
Should get home quicker even if baby is still in hospital
Bonding issues, DS2 never felt like 'mine' and it took a long time for me to bond
Less risk of breathing problems to baby

But I have now been diagnosed with gestational diabetes so I will try for a VBAC but it may have to be a section.

Can I ask what you mean about delaying the cord cutting?

At this point I know virtually nothing about giving birth, but I'm curious about why they would delay that?

I was wondering the same thing

This is my thrid baby and I"ll explain my two births to you. lol

First baby was induced at 34weeks due to low heart rate. I was in labor for 16hours and then pushed baby for 15mins and out he came! He was sent away because he had trouble breathing and was early. While i was pushing i started to feel very sick and running a fever over 103. They thought i had an infection so started antibotics right away. After he came out I had a TERRIBLE hemmorage and lost 2500cc of blood...that's alot. She couldnt get me to stop bleeding and also i had to be cut and she had trouble sewing it as well........I was told I couldnt get up and so therefore my baby was stuck in the nursery and I was stuck in the bed. I ended up getting a blood transfusion b/c i lose so much blood. A few days later I went home still with a fever b/c they couldnt find the reason.....

About 4 hours later i was right back at the hospital and they did a cat scan and found 4 blood clots in my right ovarian vein.......turns out I had Septic Pelvic Thrombophletis....meaning my whole body was infected from these blood clots in my veins! yikes.....I ended up spending 15 days in the hospital on a heparin(blood thinner) drip and on bedrest. It sucked and I had postpartum depression>..

Okay so second baby I had went for a scan at 29weeks and found he was still breech so knew a csection was possible...and also during this scan we discovered that i had NO fluid left... So they tried to give me lots of fluids but it wasnt working. I ended up having a csection to get baby out. Baby was obviously very early and had lots of complications so was sent away.
BUT.....my recovery from the csection was AWESOME>..i was up walking that night and the next day i got to ride down to see my baby. I didn't have clots, or hemmorages and i thought it was pretty torerable pain. I started running just 2 weeks after my csection. I did end up getting a small infection in my incision but it wasn't terrible.

Anyways...now my thrid one here, i'm currently 32 weeks and he is breech at the moment and so far we've decided to have a c section. My old scar is only a year old and doctor said that it could rip opened so she rather me do a csection. I am sad that I won't have a natural birth..but if you see in my two situations...the best was the csection........So i guess that's what i'm going with. lol

SO sorry for the long post! Good luck and I say go for a VBAC if you want!

When the baby is born, if the cord is not cut straight away it continues to pulse for a few minutes (sometimes longer). The reason for this is that about 1 third of the baby's blood is still in the cord. If you wait until the cord stops pulsing, that blood is transferred back to the baby. When you have a section they can't delay the cutting as that would leave too much opportunity for infection to get in.

Just to let you know that recent research suggests that by 6 months after your section, your scar is likely to have healed as much as it ever will. Your chance of rupture only goes up by 0.2% from women without a scar. I'm just letting you know as doctors can overplay the risks of VBAC and underplay the risks of a section (I've noticed this happens a lot in the US). Of course if another section's right for you then go for it, I just wanted to let you know.

This is going to be a long post sorry!

Had an emergency csection with DS1 after 46hours labour and not dilating, also he was back to back and I have a high pubic arch (? still not sure waht this means but I am waiting for my labour notes back from last delivery to see if this contributed to everything). I didn't feel like I missed out at all and was happy with my recovery etc.

This time round OH was adamant he didn't want me going through all that again and as I'm not really bothered either way (just want a healthy baby and a healthy me!) agreed with MW to go for another section. Got to my consultant appointment at 22weeks (MW told me it was just to book the section).

BUT totally unexpectedly the consulatant told us that NHS are cracking down on elective C-sections and although he felt I should have one it wasn't necessarily up to him and as I was pregnant right in the middle of all the debate about it he might find he books my section only to be told two weeks before it happens that the NHS wouldn't fund him doing it. He reeled off some pretty hideous stories of women who had had a terrible time last time (even worse than me) and were being refused csections in nearby districts, as well as women who had a genuine medical need for one first time round who were also being refused.

As a result he requested I went off with an open mind so I wasn't in for any surprises. He booked me for a second consult and hopefully to book the section at at 34 weeks.

In the meantime I have had an open mind and have done lots of research and sole searching. I am pissed off that someone (not even a doctor, jsut someone counting pennies in an office!!!) could take my choice away! My biggest fear of the whole birth process is feeling disappointed, either that I get really really into the idea of a VBAC and it fails (or is a success but I am left with further injuries as a result of botched forceps of ventouse delivery as I havn't heard any good things about these devices anyone with differing experince please share with me!!), or that I regret going for an elective without even trying for a VBAC (as consultant told me after 2 csections its unlikely they'll ever let me try for a VBAC again) and then I would never know if I could have done it. I honestly don't actually mind how the baby arrives, I just want to feel positive about the experience whatever happens.

A list of pros and cons of each totally weighed each other out for me and I couldn't find an answer there (this may work for you though).

I have discovered that induction can increase the risk of scar rupture (scar rupture is only a tiny risk and induction increases it not by much but still increases the risk).

As a result my current plan is to book a csection for a week after my due date. That way if I go into labour naturally before that time I can try for a VBAC (with any chemical induction refused on my birth plan, also thinking of refusing permission for forceps or ventouse and just going straight for section in event of problems, not sure yet), if not I will have my elective. DS1 was 12 days late, so its possible I will go late with this one too.

This way I am pretty much leaving it up to fate and therefore avoid having to actually make a decision either way (or having the decision taken away from me by some pennie pinching suit!! grrr!)

I really hope if you want a section they will give it to you, I think women should be given a choice especially if they have had a section in the past. Forcing women to do other than what they want in birth is not making them feel comfortable and relaxed, and a comfortable relaxed mother makes a healthy baby whether it comes out of the sunroof or trap door!!!

Thanks for bothering to read my post!!!

Let us know what you decide to do