C-Section vrs. Vaginal Delivery

Hi!
Well, I'm officially over 32 weeks (yay!) and it looks like both babies are head down. My OB was asking me, if things keep going the way they are, what I would like to do as far as delivering. At one point, both of my ob's suggested a c-section but both seemed extremely open to trying vaginally if possible. I honestly haven't given it much thought because I assumed that I probably wouldn't even have a choice in the end and here I am! I have a 4 year old son who I delivered vaginally and it went relatively smoothly. I know what to expect (for the most part) and I also like the shorter recovery time. I haven't had surgery since I was 7 for tonsils and I'm really quite petrified of the whole c-section thing! I just had it in my head that the doctors would be telling me what the plan was instead of letting me make the decision. So I guess I'm looking for some thought, advice, experiences... anything! Thanks!!!

Well...having just gone through both I will tell you that if I had be able to vaginally birth both babies, my recovery time would have be very short. But with this huge incision it makes it very hard to do anything. I have to walk down to the NICU to feed the babies every 3 hrs and its killer. Now, I will say, it is EXTREMELY hard pushing two children out. You are so tired from pushing one out (and I think it only took about 10-15 minutes to push my son out) that it hard to push another out. And there are complications that arise, which they did in my case, when the second baby has so much room to move (she ended up moving sideways and we could get her down to the birth channel). I'm glad that I gave it a try, I wouldn't change my decision to vagnially birth, I was just one of few unlucky statistics of complication with vaginaly birth. Hope this helps.

I'll be interested to hear the responses, too. I went to a c-section class at the hospital knowing that it's most likely to be a c-section for me and it wasn't until after that I heard the first mention of my possibly having a vaginal birth if all works out perfectly. In any case, the c-section class has me convinced that if that's what has to happen that's fine, but if there's any way around it, I'd love to try for the vaginal birth.

My "plan" is definitely to try to go for vaginal. My OB supports it as well. Both are now head down (I know things can change), but as long as all looks well we will definitely be trying for vaginal birth.

I am also doing home-study hypnobabies program to hopefully prepare me.

Go for the vaginal if you can. :) I had my first vaginally, a c/s for my second, and another c/s for my twins. My doc was okay with a vag delivery for the twins, but because of a previous c/s, I could not be induced. I think generally the recovery time for a vaginal delivery is quicker than that of a c/s.

I think this was discussed not long ago here... you could probably read more responses on that post. :)

I do think we discussed this a while ago. I cannot remember the title of the post.


If you are able, I would try for a vaginal birth. Studies show that it is better for the babies because their lungs get cleared out during the trip through the birth canal. There are risks of baby B turning once you have delivered baby A, but there are many women that have twins vaginally. It is not impossible. Don't let anyone push you into a c-section unless the risks of a vaginal birth are too great.

I have had 2 c-sections and have never experienced a vaginal birth. However, my doc was very open in saying that there are definitely risks with both. I was not able to try for a VBAC because K was breech and she was baby A. While I cannot speak for a vaginal birth, I think the recovery is just different. With a vag, birth, you damage things down under and it makes it hard to sit and such for a while. However, a c-section just means that it is hard to get up and move around for a while. Many women find they do okay once they figure out how to get out of bed. I was unfortunate in that the spinal enflames my sciatic nerve, plus all the manipulation of a c-section throws everything out of alignment. So, I end up in horrific pain near my tailbone. Ice/heat/and pain meds don't work. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't sit comfortably to hold the baby. I was often in tears because it even hurt to walk. It was the worst feeling and it happened with both of my c-sections. It tooks weeks to recover.