@chris516 Already commented my opinion but I just wanted to say that I love how supportive everyone is in this thread! It will be YOUR birthing experience and YOU ultimately get to decide how you want it to go(to a certain extent)! Love seeing women empowering women!
@chris516 I would definitely prefer a vaginal birth because the healing process is faster and easier. The vagina/cervix are made to stretch like crazy and heal up quickly, and with a new baby I'd want to be on my feet and able to move around as much as possible, as soon as possible. I totally get that I can't control what's gonna happen and I'd do what's needed for my baby to be safe during delivery.
Also, I want to have 3+ kids, so I don't want repeat C-sections because it makes delivery more dangerous (risk of uterine rupture), plus you have to space your kids much further apart for more time to heal.
@chris516 Vaginal. Fuck no to a C-section unless one of us is going to die or be maimed. I got three teensey holes in my abdomen to remove my appendix about 10 years ago and recovery sucked. I can’t imagine them making a baby sized hole. I have a hole. Don’t need more.
My husband was a C-section baby and his dad totally fainted in the OR when he saw his wife’s intestines piled on top of her stomach so they could get to the baby. I am, of course, very grateful they cut the cord out from around his neck. I went to elementary school with a girl that was injured because of it and she was in special ed with lifelong issues.
@katrina2017 So this is a massive myth - your intestines aren’t pulled out of your body during a Cesarean. A uterus with a term baby in it in takes up a lot of the space in your lower abdomen anyway, and the assistant retracts the bladder at the bottom of the incision (which is empty anyway because you have a catheter). If any stray bits of bowel come down, you shove them back above the uterus, because obstetricians are great at sewing uteruses back together - bowel not so much. Occasionally you might pull the uterus out of the incision if it won’t stop bleeding after you’ve taken the baby out - usually that stops it and you can shove it back in (you’ve not made any new cuts, it goes back as it always way) and sew it all up.
Having said, birth partners fainting is not super uncommon - obstetric theatre is hot, there is a lot of weird smells and if it’s an emergency they’ve probably not slept properly for a day or so before hand.
@tiffc Well that makes me feel slightly better about the intestine thing. Though that was a story I’ve gotten from my husband, the baby in question, so his witness is a little spotty. I guess his dad didn’t look too hard before being grossed out and his mom probably was on the other side of the curtain or something so who knows what she saw.
@chris516 Whatever the doctor feels is safest at the time of delivery.
There are two things I don't think I would go for: home birth, and unmedicated birth. But I keep an open mind, because I don't know for sure how I'll feel once I'm pregnant!
@chris516 I had to have a c-section with my first because of a previa. It was under general anesthesia and that sucked hard core.
For my second I decided to have a c-section again. I didn’t want to try vaginal birth because of the risks invoked with a VBAC. I have also dealt with vulvodynia issues and figure my vagina had been through enough trauma and bullshit.
My second c-section was 1000 times better because I was actually awake. Recovery was easier because I wasn’t coming off of the anesthesia, and I felt better prepared to care for myself.
With two under my belt (pun intended) I’ll be riding that train all the way with the third. I often wonder what would have happened if I had been able to deliver vaginally with my first. But I do like knowing the day baby will arrive and I have a bad ass scar.
@chris516 I want a vaginal birth, ideally with very low levels of intervention. I know that's not always medically possible, but I would like to breastfeed and I know recovery from a caesarean can be long and uncomfortable (it really is major surgery) and can affect breastfeeding.
Trauma isn't automatically associated with vaginal birth. Some women have traumatic experiences with Caesarean sections (although I expect that's more common if they're unplanned). Obviously, these are choices for individuals to make, but neither is a guaranteed good or bad time.
