Natural birth vs caesarian

Vikipollard

Do they not encourage pelvic floor exercises at every verse end any more then? My kids are 24 and 25 and the importance was rammed in to us (pardon the pun).

Both of mine were natural births; DS1 was a 6.5 hour labour and an episiotomy (sp?) to stop me tearing. Stitches weren't fun, but taken out after a week and I can still remember how good that felt! DS2 was born in 90 minutes from show to out. The midwife had to catch him as she was still getting her gloves on, he arrived that quick. No stitches that time.

The incontinence issue is (fortunately) not something I or any of my friends suffered.

Anecdotally, as clearly it didn't happen to me, of the three friends I have who had C-sections;

~ one was an emergency at 30 weeks and she subsequently had a normal birth with her second child, which she said was much easier to recover from

~ second was an emergency at 32 weeks for first child, and she chose not to have any more

~ third was a decision taken during labour for first child, and she also chose not to have any more.

I can't say that either of the last two were decisions taken because of the C-section though.

Reference the post-menopausal prolapse and incontinence statements, I have as many friends who have never had children who suffer with stress leakage as I do those who have had kids. Surely we all stand a better chance of avoiding it if we keep on doing the exercises? And squeeeeeeeeeze......

roses

My first was a vaginal birth with episiotomy and forceps. The recovery time was about six months has I developed an extremely painful cyst where they sewed me back up.

For the first month it was also extremely painful to sit down as I had prolapsed hemorrhoids which I still have. I am due my next baby in February and worry they are going to be even worse than the first time but I've heard having them removed is more painful than labour

I don't have incontinence or any other physical issues. I did lots of kegel exercises with my first pregnancy and am doing the same again with this one. Five minutes every day since I got pregnant

System

I've given birth to 6 babies and I don't suffer with incontinence.

mumps

4 pregnancies, 3 natural births of 9 and 10 pounders, well past menopause and no incontinence issues. Those pelvic floor exercises worked wonders.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

First birth, planned section for breech presentation. Epidural didn't take at first, so felt them cut me and reach inside, which took at lot to get over emotionally. My milk wouldn't come in for a week and breastfeeding was difficult to get going. Still have pain around the scar 22 years later, too and I spent the next five years with adhesions catching and snapping as I sneezed or turned over too quickly.

Second child, six years later because I was terrified of going through it again, vaginal birth - huge baby, poorly presented, stuck at 9cm for four hours and failed ventouse so ended up with forceps.

I was up at 7am the next morning having a blissful hot shower, which felt great. The stitches got painful about two days before they were due to come out, so they were removed early and the pain disappeared instantly. Two days later I was doing the school run as normal, carrying baby, buggy, shopping and everything else up five flights of stairs to the flat after walking up the hill home. Breastffeding was easy, although I'd got used to the American Football style hold with DD1, so I looked a bit weird to experts ('you had a section last time, didn't you?' Yup, It shows, doesn't it? )


I got more sympathy from people for giving birth vaginally than I ever did when I was in constant pain and felt traumatised by the section, as they said I hadn't done anything (including the OH at the time - his stating that all I did was lie back whilst somebody else did all the work, so was making a load of fuss about nothing, To me, the VBAC was a doddle - exhausting, but so easy in comparison.



The old incontinence thing was largely due to the old episiotomies being done straight - they're done at an angle to minimise the risk of lasting damage now. Mine was large due to the size of DD2 and the need for forceps, but was trouble free quickly enough.


I understand fears, but one is a far more major procedure than the other, with far more risks and consequences, so it's only right that it should only be offered in cases of medical necessity.

duchy

How extraordinary- most of the women I know who had natural delivery don't......including myself. (I was determined not to have a C section if at all possible despite my son's breech presentation. I do think non medically essential C sections fall into the same catagory as gastric bands performed far more often than they need to be.Thankfully my consultant was prepared to let me trial labour first despite the breech and I delivered naturally and needed no stitches)

I've never heard so much scaremongering rubbish in my life !

A birth with no intervention isn't going to cause long term bladder problems for normal woman.

Really the things people come out with on here astound me . To claim every woman who delvers naturally lives a restricted life is completely ridiculous :rotfl:

ripplyuk wrote: »

I don't have children but if I did, I'd definitely want a c-section. All of the women I know who had a natural delivery have some degree of incontinence ranging from mild to full blown double incontinence. Even the ones with a mild degree of it find it really restricts their life.

They have to wear pads constantly as even just running around with their kids, bending, coughing etc will make them wet themselves. I also noticed that they never laugh out loud, always trying to stifle it, because that also causes them to wet themselves. They're always paranoid about the smell. These things might seem small, but over time it has a significant impact. Another lady has a total prolapse of the bladder, caused by childbirth.

The only girl I know who doesn't have these problems is the one who had a c-section. It was a hassle for her not being able to drive or do much for weeks after but long term, it definitely seems better.
In an ideal world, every woman would be able to choose, but the NHS could never afford that.

You apparently have very odd friends !!!

duchy

davetrousers wrote: »

You want to be in hospital for as short a period of time* as possible. Parking charges at hospitals are horrendous

*as is deemed appropriate by the healthcare professionals

Women in labour tend not to drive as the contractions make it difficult (assuming they can still get the seatbelt to fit !

Petra_70

duchy wrote: »

How extraordinary- most of the women I know who had natural delivery don't......including myself.

I've never heard so much scaremongering rubbish in my life !

A birth with no intervention isn't going to cause long term bladder problems for normal woman.

Really the things people come out with on here astound me . To claim every woman who delivers naturally lives a restricted life is completely ridiculous :rotfl:

You apparently have very odd friends !!!

Agree with this.

And don't some people just LOVE to go on about their labour and birth horror stories?! :rotfl: Especially around first time mums to be. I think that some people are remembering it as worse than it was.

It's not true that women will 'automatically have incontinence issues after a birth,' like it's not true that a mother won't bond with a baby after a C-section.

duchy wrote: »

Women in labour tend not to drive as the contractions make it difficult (assuming they can still get the seatbelt to fit !

I didn't drive from 7 months pregnant. I physically couldn't! :eek:

LilElvis

duchy wrote: »

Women in labour tend not to drive as the contractions make it difficult (assuming they can still get the seatbelt to fit !

I did!

The angry look on my face shut my husband up. I sat on a Tesco carrier bag as my waters had broken.

Jagraf

I think every birth is so individual, it is impossible to give advice.

There is not a right or wrong, the problems start when people are convinced their way is the right way.

Only experiences can be offered.