Babble

What are your feelings about elective C-Sections? A great way to take control over the birthing process or just plain wrong?

I think whatever someone wants to do regarding their birth experience is their own business.  I wanted a natural birth but ended up having an emergency C-Section and was very upset about it...like I missed out on something.  I wonder if women who choose a C-Section from the start feel like they missed out or made the wrong choice.  Would be interestedin to hear from them.  I don't really have an opinion on your question I guess...the end result is the same....as long as the baby is heathly.  Some poeple try and be heroes...reality is my recovery was actually great, my scar is minimal so in the end, I would recommend a C-section. 

I'm in favor of mothers and their partners having options. Like the pp, I had a c-section after planning for NCB. I was not devastated--just exhausted--but it was major surgery.

I do not fully understand why anyone would choose a primary elective c-section, but I think it should remain an option.

I had what I guess one would call an "elective" C-section.  My son was in the breech position...and I had the choice of being induced 3 weeks early and having the doctors try to turn him...which could end up in an emergency C or being scheduled for a c-section a few days before my due date.  I opted for the former, put the date in the Palm pilot, mom was able to come in from out of town pripr to the big day, the house was clean...and had a healthy 8 lb. 15 oz. almost 22 inch long little boy.  Despite the major surgery, I felt great.  For baby 2, I went ahead and scheduled another c-section, but was perfectly OK with the fact that I might go into labor naturally.  Needless to say, I didn't...and my 8 lb. 12 oz. little girl was born.  C-section #2 left me a little more sore than #1 (scar tissue), but I had a great experience both times.  To each their own, I guess...and as I always say, "There are no prizes!" Well, except for the babies, of course!!  I really don't feel like I missed out on anything...but that's just me!

I think "evil" is too strong a term. I think that c-sections should be the second choice wherever reasonable and possible, just like formula. But thank god and all the angels in heaven above we have these alternatives avaliable to us when in a pinch. And your definition of a pinch might completely conflict with mine. Who's to say really?
 

With questions like these, I always feel like "who am I to judge?" because what works for me may not work for anyone else.

I wanted to have a drug-free NCB, but found out at 38 weeks my daughter was in breech position, with the placenta on top and the umbilical cord between her legs along with low amniotic fluid so there was NO chance that she could be turned.  Voila, I had a C-section a week later and now she can be a supermodel because she didn't get all asymmetrical and squished on the way out.

Reading some of the above comments, I wonder just how many C-sections are truly elective, especially for first babies. 

I like a few of the previous posters, had planned on a NCB but ended up with a csection after about 18 hours of hard labor. My recovery was great considering how major a csection is, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 If someone wants to electively have a csection, let them. I think as long as they are aware of all the risks vs benefits, and as long as the baby is healthy, it can be their decision.

I ''planned'' to be numb from the neck down and once I was beyond my due date, I was scheduled to be induced. My water ended up breaking naturally the morning of the induction and to put it mildly, my son's birth was nothing, at all, like I planned or wanted. It was many, many hours of unmedicated labor resulting in my becoming septic. If we ever decide to go through pregnancy again, elective c-section is not something I have marked off the list of possibilities, for the measure of control over the birth if nothing else.

I don't think it's inherently evil nor do I think a c-section, elective or otherwise, is the ''easy'' way out. It's major surgery and not a decison that is made lightly. I would no more question a woman's opting for a c-section than I would a plan to homebirth. I trust that people make the best plans they can for their circumstances, which are, in all cases, none of my business. 

 

Evil? No. But unnecessary, expensive medical procedures do increase everyone's insurance premiums so i don't think it's totally 'none of my business.'

 

I'm glad the option fo safe surgery exists to help mothers and babies. I think it's foolish to do with no medical reason and wish that so many women weren't afraid of childbirth.

We are all just animals under a very thin layer of civilization.Odd as it sounds, childbirth is a primal and liberating experience that maybe contemplate what it means to be a human animal. 

Hi...New to the boards.  I had an elective C-section and would not change a thing.  As soon as I found out I was pregnant I asked my Dr about it and she agreed to do it and that was it.  I went in 3 weeks early, had the surgery and everything was perfect.  I healed nicely and had no problems at all.  I feel it is up to the individual to make the decision as it is their body.  Just my thoughts.

I've read all of the previous posts and still am not sure why anyone would choose and elective CS.  If you don't want pain, get an epidural.  (And its worth mentioning that with natural labor (or even decidedly UNnatural labor with an epidural)) the pain ends when the labor ends.  With a CS you can still be in pain weeks or months later and meanwhile have a brand new baby you could be enjoying. 

As for wanting more control, why not an induction with an open mind to a CS if it becomes necessary?

I had two unmedicated vaginal births and wouldn't trade them for a million dollars.  It was the two coolest things I've ever done.  Am glad an operating room existed in the universe in case I needed one, but certainly prefer the outcome I had. 

Seriously though, please someone tell me why you would really, truly want surgery instead of something that is physiologic.  Would you electively get a colostomy to avoid going to the bathroom? 

This is an interesting set of responses.  I think people here are trying to be respectful of others' choices, which I really appreciate in a community. 

But I think this is a pretty hot topic, and since the question was asked, I feel it's worth discussing.  For me, my knee-jerk reaction is that elective major surgery is never a wise choice, and my stereotypical image of a purely elective c-section is someone who is "too posh to push".  But everyone I've personally ever known who had a scheduled c-section had reasons that made sense to me.  I've never known this "too posh to push" person.  Of course, I don't happen to run in the circles where I'd expect to find such a creature, assuming she actually exists. 

I do worry that as a culture we are becoming more and more estranged from our own bodies and what they are so well-designed to do.   And I worry that the economic structure of  the medical field, health insurance and malpractice insurance are all contributing to a more and more medical approach to childbrith.  Ultimately, I'm very grateful, as everyine has said above, that options do exist for us when we need them.  I'm just suspicious of the line between what a mother and baby need, and what others around them need.

I actually think that the issue of "elective" cesarean is a ploy that doctors have come up with to distract attention from the real reasons that cesareans are on the rise - i.e. too much medical intervention in normal, low-risk labors.  The only (literally the ONLY) study that ever looked at women's choices to have medically unnecessary cesareans found that only 1 in 252 women made a personal choice for an elective cearean while 9% felt pressured by their doctor to have cesareans.  There was an entire conference on "maternal request" cesareans funded by our federal government and the very first thing the study group acknowledged is that there was no data on how prevalent the phenomenon is.  It seems to me our government should be looking at other more common causes of preventable cesarens such as the rampant use of electronic fetal monitoring despite 3 decades of research that it doubles the risk of a cesarean in labor and doesn't help babies or moms.

 The American College of OB/Gyns has framed this as a "right to choose" issue.  It's totally hypocritical that they don't also support the "right to choose" a VBAC, a home birth, etc.

yes, this is definitely a controversial subject.  my opinion is that an elective c-section is something that should absolutely be available to women who choose that approach, and it is not my place to judge that decision.  it is not a choice i would make, and i don't understand wanting that choice, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be available.

 every argument i've seen against elective c-sections can also be applied to epidurals.  and i certainly don't want anyone telling me i couldn't have had the much desired, much appreciated, blessed blessed epidural that i chose during my precipitous labor.  i don't want to be judged either, which is why i don't judge others who make different choices, be it home birthing or elective c-section.

 as far as the cost issue that someone above mentioned is concerned, scheduled c-sections are not necessarily any more expensive than vaginal births.  it depends on the vaginal birth, how quickly it progresses, whether an epidural is used, and/or whether or not it ends in c-section anyway, which happens.  there are a lot of cost advantages to scheduled c-sections, such as having an aneasthesiologist ready & on site, rather than having to be called in.

 and lastly, i don't know how much of the pressure from doctors to have scheduled c-sections are due to medical issues rather than purely elective c-sections.  i interpret the term "elective" c-section to mean that there is absolutely no medical basis for the decision, and it is entirely the desire of the mother to take that option.  i have no stats, but i would be willing to bet that the vast majority of scheduled c-sections have a medical issue that is driving the decision, with purely elective making up a tiny minority.

I mentioned the need for more control and appreciating the fact that a scheduled c-section could be an option should we pursue pregnancy again because my son's birth was nothing short of traumatic for both of us. I'm glad you're pleased with both of your labors/deliveries but my unmedicated, natural child-birth of a 10+ lb baby resulted in my becoming septic and my son spending a month in NICU before dying from an MRSA infection.

So yes most people have absolutely valid reasons for considering elective c-section for what should be biological but sometimes goes horribly, terribly wrong.