I posted a thread asking for something like this when I discovered I would have to have a breech C-section for my 2nd baby when my first was a vaginal induction. Now that I've done both I would love to contrast/compare for you guys in case any of you are debating what to do or have to have a different birth the second time around. So here goes!
Disclaimer: I do NOT mind a "medical" birth. I had zero desire for an au naturel homebirth or anything like that. My vaginal birth was in a hospital, with an induction. So obviously that factors into how I feel about different things. Anyway, here goes.
Pain during procedure
Disclaimer: I do NOT mind a "medical" birth. I had zero desire for an au naturel homebirth or anything like that. My vaginal birth was in a hospital, with an induction. So obviously that factors into how I feel about different things. Anyway, here goes.
Pain during procedure
- Vaginal birth: Induction contractions are brutal. Technically my team offered me the epidural many times before I actually chose to use it (I didn't expect to opt out entirely, I just wanted to "see what labor was like" and eventually had my fill.) Before I got the epidural the pain was basically the worst period cramps of my life, but not enough to feel like screaming torture. Overall 6/10 in pain.
- C section: Only pain experienced was during IV insertion and spinal (similar to vaginal birth.) Zero pain during actual procedure. 0/10 in pain.
- Vaginal birth: Despite being an induction it was pretty exciting! I slept for a lot of it, but when it was time to push it was a really magical and awesome moment (especially given that I had pain relief) and there were lots of happy tears. 9/10!
- C section: Still magical to suddenly see a baby (I didn't even realize they had started cutting, so you can imagine my shock) but the baby was handed off to the medical team first and I didn't get to hold her right away and being in an OR felt a lot more clinical and less "Magical." Not as "fun" if you will. 6/10.
- Vaginal birth: Amazing. Got the "golden hour" and my husband and I both did skin to skin. It was easily the best moment of my entire life. Only downside was I lost a lot of blood and almost fainted, there was some anxiety about that. I tore pretty badly but didn't realize at this point because of the epidural. Overall 9/10
- C section: This was maybe the biggest drawback of the C section. The meds they gave me made me vomit uncontrollably despite preemptively taking Zofran. I also suddenly fell asleep despite not being given any sedatives. I didn't really get the golden hour but my husband did. On the bright side, I was able to breastfeed immediately so the C section didn't impact that at all. 3/10
- Vaginal: Honestly, pretty bad, fast labor plus huge baby meant tons of tearing (Upward) and itchy stitches. I also had a prolapse that lasted for 18 months. It sucked. 2/10.
- C section: Better than expected. First two days were brutal, but I was off pain meds and walking around feeling like myself within a week. My vagina is unscathed. I'm a little nervous about my incision (infection, re-opening etc) but I'm being told that's a rare outcome. Being fairly immobile for 2 days is overall worth it for an easier recovery overall. 7/10
- Vaginal: Although I did get some good photos of my vaginal birth, I wasn't wearing makeup and I looked kinda crappy. 6/10
- C section: Mine was scheduled so I showed up to the OR with face and hair on point. I look really cute in the photos. Yay! 9/10
- Vaginal: Bonded immediately, trouble with breastfeeding although that had nothing to do with the method of birth. 8/10
- C section: Also bonded immediately, minus the hour when I was throwing up. Breastfeeding was a breeze. 8/10
- Vaginal: Other than the tearing (they told me I didn't tear because there was no tearing in the perineal area but I absolutely did tear) nothing took me by surprise immediately. The prolapse did, but that didn't become apparent till later so I'm not including that. 8/10
- C section: idk if it was unexpected since I did read about these things ahead of time, but the gas pain and itching were brutal. 4/10
- Vaginal: From arrival at hospital, baby was out in 10 hours, 8/10
- C-section: From arrival at hospital, baby was out in 3 hours 10/10
- Vaginal: There was a lot of anxiety about his heart rate dropping and I felt a decent amount of anxiety when pushing afraid that something would go wrong. Nothing did, but it was still scary. APGAR score of 9. 7/10
- C section: With the amount of medical professionals in the room and the fact that there was no labor, I was pretty confident in baby's health although still a bit scared because I was told ahead of time the baby might not cry (although she did, right away.) APGAR 9, 9/10
- Vaginal: I lost a ton of blood and tore, but after my blood pressure stabilized I felt pretty good and wasn't too worried about my own health. 8/10
- C section: I knew theoretically there were more risks to me, but everything went smoothly. However I was plagued by worries about my incision for the first week, so that wasn't great. 6/10
