Elective C-Section Consultant Appoimtment

I have, I was seen by a midwife first to do the usual checks, then I saw the consultant. He was brilliant and started the appt by saying it was entirely my choice, they’re not allowed to pressure me either way. I said I wasn’t sure on my decision so I wanted to talk through the pros and cons so that’s what we did 😊 I said I’d rather try natural but have a c section as a back up if I’m not comfortable. He then asked to see me again at 32 weeks to make sure I’ve not changed my mind 😊 I’m only 29 weeks now so still not seen him again but I came away really pleasantly surprised, I’d expected a lecture or to be told I shouldn’t do it but he was really understanding

I spoke to my consultant about this at one of the foetal medicine growth scans we were having (24 weeks) and he wanted to have a separate appointment to discuss. He made it sound like it would be a proper discussion of the pros and cons but in the event it was quite rushed and I don’t feel like I got anything out of it. I want an elective C as I’ve had problems with my cervix (noted during IVF) and have lakes on my placenta (which is why we were with foetal medicine to begin with) so I’m quite worried about unexpected complications if I were to go ahead with a vaginal birth; the consultant understood this and has booked me in for it but his official stance was that there was no medical reason for him to advise a C-section. Fair enough it’s just that, I really didn’t see the benefits of trying for a vaginal birth and I was hoping he could tell some upsides, but he didn’t! Still feel a bit in the dark to be honest but will discuss it with midwife I think!

Mine was the worst the consultant spent the first half an hour telling me how great Vbacs were for both mother and baby, painted this lovely picture about going home the same day and it being less risk etc etc whereas Csections have the infection and additional blood loss risk (my mum almost bled to death when she had me vaginally but she didn’t care to mention you can also have these risks from vaginal birth!) it was very clear what her opinion was, THEN she noticed a note on the system from my cardiologist saying he’d recommend I had a Csection as my induction (which left to emergency Csection last time) was too much strain on my heart. So then she was like oh, I’ve just seen your notes and like it or not you’re having a Csection so forget what I said, you’ll be absolutely fine 🙃