C-Section or Not

[chnst 6]

I can't believe guys acually 'worry' about a streched out #######. I mean...either you want children with your wife or not...grow a bigger di**, how about that? Yes your muscles down there might strech but it's not like they get streched forever you - the pregnant lady - does her kegels before and after birth. Maybe I'm too Alice Schwarzer for this thread.

LOL ditto! you crack me up sister.

I think childbirth no matter how it comes out- hurts like heck!!! But it is also the most amazing event in life and that puts pain into perspective. Nobody would have more than 1 kid if it really was that bad. I was wheelchair bound for weeks after my delivery and I don't even want to get started on all the post partum leaking, engorgement, sleep deprivation and whatnot but hubby and I are already talking about having another one.

[rebeccajo 14]

I've always described the contractions of labor as a being like a rolley-polley toy out in the highway and all the semis just keep smacking you and you roll over and get up and here comes another..............

I had an emergency C section 20 years ago. You can't see my scar unless you look for it. The recovery wasn't bad.

My labor was prolonged and my drugs kept wearing off. So I know what a drug-free labor feels like and I don't think it gets you any extra stars in heaven. It didn't even get me a vaginal delivery. But I do think that if your body is working (mine wasn't) and you know the kid is on it's way out, you can endure the pain. In my case, the nurses just kept looking at each other and shrugging their shoulders. Very frustrating for a delivering mother.

Your body changes when you have kids. If you can't deal with that then you shouldn't have any. But since eventually (as you age) your body is going to change anyway, if you want babies you should just go ahead and have them, IMO. Gravity will mess up your perky boobs someday anyhow.

Besides, I never believe those women who say they don't have babies because they don't want to mess up their figures. I just figure their therapists have already told them they would make pi$$-poor parents and they're just following doctors orders.

[chnst 6]

I've always described the contractions of labor as a being like a rolley-polley toy out in the highway and all the semis just keep smacking you and you roll over and get up and here comes another..............

I had an emergency C section 20 years ago. You can't see my scar unless you look for it. The recovery wasn't bad.

My labor was prolonged and my drugs kept wearing off. So I know what a drug-free labor feels like and I don't think it gets you any extra stars in heaven. It didn't even get me a vaginal delivery. But I do think that if your body is working (mine wasn't) and you know the kid is on it's way out, you can endure the pain. In my case, the nurses just kept looking at each other and shrugging their shoulders. Very frustrating for a delivering mother.

Your body changes when you have kids. If you can't deal with that then you shouldn't have any. But since eventually (as you age) your body is going to change anyway, if you want babies you should just go ahead and have them, IMO. Gravity will mess up your perky boobs someday anyhow.

Besides, I never believe those women who say they don't have babies because they don't want to mess up their figures. I just figure their therapists have already told them they would make pi$$-poor parents and they're just following doctors orders.

haha, I agree!

[polarbear 0]

I've always described the contractions of labor as a being like a rolley-polley toy out in the highway and all the semis just keep smacking you and you roll over and get up and here comes another..............

I had an emergency C section 20 years ago. You can't see my scar unless you look for it. The recovery wasn't bad.

My labor was prolonged and my drugs kept wearing off. So I know what a drug-free labor feels like and I don't think it gets you any extra stars in heaven. It didn't even get me a vaginal delivery. But I do think that if your body is working (mine wasn't) and you know the kid is on it's way out, you can endure the pain. In my case, the nurses just kept looking at each other and shrugging their shoulders. Very frustrating for a delivering mother.

Your body changes when you have kids. If you can't deal with that then you shouldn't have any. But since eventually (as you age) your body is going to change anyway, if you want babies you should just go ahead and have them, IMO. Gravity will mess up your perky boobs someday anyhow.

Besides, I never believe those women who say they don't have babies because they don't want to mess up their figures. I just figure their therapists have already told them they would make pi$$-poor parents and they're just following doctors orders.

haha, I agree!

Me too. My mom still has an amazing figure after 4 kids - that's because she eats healthy and exersed her butt off after every kid. She stayed the same size clothes (besides while pregnant) for 40 yrs.

Now I need to get off this thread before I want babies... hubby and I have agreed that he needs to get a job that pays the bills before we talk about it

[Marilyn. 340]

my mom is almost 55 and has 6 kids but she still looks great...

[Ivy. 113]

Is this safe and have the times changed from when C-S were considered such a bad thing? What are your thoughts? Which would you choose? If you had C-S vs "traditional" which would your prefer?

I would do everything in my power to fight against having a C-section.

It's an operation, not normal birth. It takes longer to recover from it, it hurts longer (later, it obviously doesn't hurt during the procedure) and you're (in Croatia) not allowed to see your baby the first day because they keep you in a different part of the hospital. Also, because of the drugs that were administered to your body you're not allowed to breastfeed the first day (in Croatia anyway) and the baby doesn't get colostrum that it needs (it's not real milk but it's very good for the baby).

I think birth should be done as natural as possible. Yeah, sometimes C-section saves lifes - moms, the baby's, or both. But using it when it's not necessary isn't good in my opinion. We're treating pregnant women as patients and birth as something that is extremely dangerous and should be taken care of as soon as possible. Doctors are trained to do something, and are often told to Do something!! by women in labour or their spouses but we forget that when we talk about child birth - the best is one where the doctor didn't do anything. The best possible child birth is the one where woman was allowed to walk during contractions, push when she felt ready, be in a position she feels is the best for her, be in an environment where she feels safe and protected (and a bright hospital room with interns running around learning how this happens and a doctor "gently" pushing her stomach to push the baby out isn't that).

I hope that when I will be giving birth I will have the opportunity to stay at home and have a doula rather than go to the hospital, I hope that no interventions will be needed. If something does happen and things get complicated, thanks God for all the procedures we invented/discovered that help save lifes... but I wouldn't wanna chose to have an operation instead of doing it the normal way.

Even though C-section would never be my personal choice, I can understand why some women would chose to have it. Yeah, being in labour does seem pretty scary. Yeah, it hurts like hell too. I think that everybody should have the right to choose what kind of birth they want to have by themselves (though seriously, it's rarely simply a matter of choice and you never know what's going to happen) if they educated themselves on all the options. I'll do everything I can to educate people and tell them facts I think they need to know when they chose something I would disagree with, but if they do know the facts, or stay by their decision even after hearing my reasons against something, I'll support them. Their body, their pregnancy, their baby, their life... their choice.

[Ban Hammer 12,878]

I can't believe guys acually 'worry' about a streched out #######. I mean...either you want children with your wife or not...grow a bigger di**, how about that? Yes your muscles down there might strech but it's not like they get streched forever you - the pregnant lady - does her kegels before and after birth. Maybe I'm too Alice Schwarzer for this thread.

I don't want children if it means my vag is stretched. I'm selfish like that.

look what i found for everyone

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=137247

[Nasturtium 500]

I choose not C-section. Obviously, complications could arise, but I'll probably go natural. Most women in my family have about a 45 minute labor after their water breaks, and none of them as far as we know ever realized they were in labor prior... so no one has ever had any time to have pain meds anyway.

I dont want to rain on your parade, but the women in my family also had a history of short quick and easy labors. Longest was about 5 hours. But somehow that information was totally irrelevant 50 hours into labor with my first

I'd have to have some kind of soft-tissue issues. I went into the midwife already for teh pre-exam and measurements-- and she laughed and asked me if people in my family had really short labors... I hadn't said anything... and I said yes... and described it. Apparantly, skeletally and cervically, that's what we've got going on. granted, thoguh, there could always be something that is NOT dependant on me or on either one of those two things... or I imagine there could always be some kind of dialation malfunction But wow was it a relief to know the anatomy is all good.

[Marlita 0]

my mom is almost 55 and has 6 kids but she still looks great...

So is my mom! 55, 7 kids and NO stretch marks....or gray hairs! My brother was over 9 lbs an the other brother broke her peliv bone coming out. But she still has a great body...and did i mention...NO STRETCH MARKS!!

BY the way. Saw CS sis again yesterday and her stomach is getting flatter and flatter every week. She lifts the baby, baby in the car seat. Bends over yadda yadda yadda. So either she heals well or those were some great docs. She said the scar is so low that nobody will ever see it. Baby is cuter than ever. We took her to the movies last night and saw Hancock is DTS! The baby slept thru the whole thing. I recommensd all preganat ladies to be LOUD while with child so that when the baby is born, they sleep thru anything!

[Marlita 0]

Is this safe and have the times changed from when C-S were considered such a bad thing? What are your thoughts? Which would you choose? If you had C-S vs "traditional" which would your prefer?

I would do everything in my power to fight against having a C-section.

It's an operation, not normal birth. It takes longer to recover from it, it hurts longer (later, it obviously doesn't hurt during the procedure) and you're (in Croatia) not allowed to see your baby the first day because they keep you in a different part of the hospital. Also, because of the drugs that were administered to your body you're not allowed to breastfeed the first day (in Croatia anyway) and the baby doesn't get colostrum that it needs (it's not real milk but it's very good for the baby).

I think birth should be done as natural as possible. Yeah, sometimes C-section saves lifes - moms, the baby's, or both. But using it when it's not necessary isn't good in my opinion. We're treating pregnant women as patients and birth as something that is extremely dangerous and should be taken care of as soon as possible. Doctors are trained to do something, and are often told to Do something!! by women in labour or their spouses but we forget that when we talk about child birth - the best is one where the doctor didn't do anything. The best possible child birth is the one where woman was allowed to walk during contractions, push when she felt ready, be in a position she feels is the best for her, be in an environment where she feels safe and protected (and a bright hospital room with interns running around learning how this happens and a doctor "gently" pushing her stomach to push the baby out isn't that).

I hope that when I will be giving birth I will have the opportunity to stay at home and have a doula rather than go to the hospital, I hope that no interventions will be needed. If something does happen and things get complicated, thanks God for all the procedures we invented/discovered that help save lifes... but I wouldn't wanna chose to have an operation instead of doing it the normal way.

Even though C-section would never be my personal choice, I can understand why some women would chose to have it. Yeah, being in labour does seem pretty scary. Yeah, it hurts like hell too. I think that everybody should have the right to choose what kind of birth they want to have by themselves (though seriously, it's rarely simply a matter of choice and you never know what's going to happen) if they educated themselves on all the options. I'll do everything I can to educate people and tell them facts I think they need to know when they chose something I would disagree with, but if they do know the facts, or stay by their decision even after hearing my reasons against something, I'll support them. Their body, their pregnancy, their baby, their life... their choice.

Well it sounds like Croatia needs to get with the program. Here in the US you can breastfeed and all that jazz within the 1st day. Not to mention that it takes to baby awhile to latch on anyway so they may not be sucking anything during those 1st 24 hours anyway.

[Simply_Uno 1]

In my opinion, it is going to suck either way to get a baby out. After rooming with a c-section, I would say that I was slightly better off, even though a vaginal delivery left me a complete mental wreck, uninterested in caring for my daughter with a ####### full of stitches. My daughter broke her collarbone on the way out.

Despite the bad experience, I would not choose to have a c-section. Instead, I would choose to be induced so I could have an epidural instead of being shot down like last time.

I am not going to judge or care what women do either way when it comes to this topic.

Giving birth is no stroll through the park, c-section or not. Pick your poison, in my opinion.

[Simply_Uno 1]

Having witnessed 2 C-sections I would say that they are not as bad as they appear. But the decision vs natural should be your doctor's call. If you have a C-section, every pregnancy after will need to be handled by C-section.

not true

[kerewin21 2]

Having witnessed 2 C-sections I would say that they are not as bad as they appear. But the decision vs natural should be your doctor's call. If you have a C-section, every pregnancy after will need to be handled by C-section.

not true

Often true. Depends mostly on the hospital and the provider group. My hospital does not offer VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian). There are some situations where having one C-section means all other deliveries will be C-section, if it's a classical (the incision in the uterus goes up and down), which is pretty uncommon.

[Ivy. 113]

Well it sounds like Croatia needs to get with the program. Here in the US you can breastfeed and all that jazz within the 1st day. Not to mention that it takes to baby awhile to latch on anyway so they may not be sucking anything during those 1st 24 hours anyway.

That's true but I still wouldn't want a C section. I don't like my muscles getting cut if I can do anything to prevent it.

In Croatia, a normal labour looks like this:

You come in and say you're in labour. They sign you up, take your info, take you to bed. They will shave you completely if you haven't shaved yourself. Then they will give you something that will make you go to the toilette as if you had diarrhoea, to "clean you". I can't remember the english word for this. After all this is done, they'll usually put you on a bed and make you lay in one position while they monitor the contractions. If they're far apart they might let you walk down the hall. If not, you're probably staying in that bed. In the lying position on your back pretty much the whole time. At some point, they will burst your .... Umm what do you call it? When women say "My water broke"? Anyway, they'll burst that "bag" which holds the child and the amniotic fluid and they'll give you something we here call "drip". I don't know what you call it but it's like fake oxytocyn and it's used to make your contractions stronger. Also, women say they're more painful.

When time for pushing comes, they will usually try to get it over with asap. So, you'll have a doctor preforming an episiotomy even though it isn't needed, just to speed things up and to "prevent you from tearing". Yeah, our doctors like to cut your skin to prevent it from tearing naturally. You'll be told to push and a doctor might lean on your stomach, to "help you push the baby out". When it's done, you get to see the baby for a few minutes and then they'll take it away. Someone will put stitches and make a joke about putting a few extra ones "for your husband, he'd like that *wink wink*". Oh, about your husband, sometimes they'll let him be with you. Sometimes only for one part of the procedure. "We'll call him later when the real fun begins, ma'am. You're hours away from pushing" They require the father to have a certificate that he passed some kind of pregnancy course. Some hospitals accept only their own certificates, and the course has to be paid for, 80 bucks.

You have to spent 2 hours "on observation" and you're not with you child. They take you to a room where you can have something to eat if you're lucky enough that dinner/lunch/breakfast are being served now. If not, bummer. The baby will be brought to you several times a day "for breastfeeding". They bring it when they want, not when it's crying, and when the baby is crying they just give it formula to keep it quiet so you often get your child fed and asleep and you have breasts that are about to burst because they're full of milk. During the night your child is not with you, "so you could get some sleep". Every morning you have to show your ####### to a bunch of doctors that come in to "check up on you". Usually it's a really short peak and a question about your bleeding. 3 days after the birth, you can go home.

I have to say that the situation is getting better. There are some baby friendly hospitals. There are some hospitals with rooming in (I don't know if you call it like this, but this is what we say when the baby is with it's mom all the time). There are not enough of those hospitals! I can think of only 3 hospitals where moms reported it's better than this, but still not ideal. They have baths for giving birth though, and pilates balls, and some chairs for giving birth so that's good. But still... what I described above is considered "normal" here. And it's so far away from normal...

[Dr. Obvious 49]

During the night your child is not with you, "so you could get some sleep".

On some level, that does make sense. My daughter did nothing but sleep for 23.5 hours a day the first three days. The woman who's newborn also roomed in with us did nothing but scream every 20 minutes. I wanted to throw that kid out the window. I wished they would have at least taken it out at night or moved me or something.