Hi Kazzy,
I had a vaginal birth for my first two, then no.3 got stuck and I had to have a c-section after 24 hours of labour. Having had one, I just about wish I'd planned it from the beginning! When planning this birth, I wanted to take all measures possible to avoid a c-section, and now I'm wondering why I was so dead-set against it. The recovery time afterwards is taking me longer than it did with a vaginal birth, but the birth itself was dead-easy by comparison!

The c-section itself is painless and very un-scary, not what I'd imagined at all. You need to curl forwards and hold still while they insert the spinal tap for your anaesthetic, but after that you go totally numb from the boobs down and can just relax and wait - for all of about four minutes, which is how long it takes them to get the baby out! They put up a screen so you can't see them make the incision, and you can feel your body rock from side to side as they work the baby out through the incision, but there is no pain. It took them about 20 minutes after the baby was out for them to patch me up, and then it was just a matter of topping up the painkillers for the next few days until the suture healed enough to be able to move around without much pain.

If I was to have another baby, I'd be planning a c-section straight off - much less traumatic than a 24 hour labour and not being able to push the baby out, I can tell you! Max wasn't breech, but he was posterior. He turned around during the labour, but not enough, so he was still mispresenting, and that plus his size made a c-section necessary.

Afterwards, make sure you get the physio care you need to help the muscles recover as quickly as possible, and DO plan on getting someone in to help with the housework, as if you overdo it in the first few weeks you'll double your recovery time.

Don't panic!!! It really isn't as scary as it sounds.

Kerrie