Oh, come on Fiona - you've been here long enough to know how the system works. There's been no purple posting in this thread, and no one is moderating in here. It's just you, me, and the other caring and concerned members of this forum. And the forum guidelines are quite clear: No flaming. No spamming. No posting pictures. Nothing, really, that has happened in this thread.

The OP asked where her decision to have an elective CS in the public system would be supported in Adelaide. The short answer is "probably nowhere", but out of respect for a new member, we decided she deserved a bit more information about why the public system doesn't offer elective caesarean any more.

Would I support her informed decision to have an elective caesarean section? Do you mean, would I blindly agree? No, I wouldn't. And to be honest, I think being "informed" by some very one-sided experience as a surgical nurse is not really an "informed" decision at all. There is a large body of research on the risks of caesarean section. As in all decision, the relative risks and benefits need to be weighed. Do the risks of a caesarean section outweigh the risks to a baby in foetal distress due to an obstructed labour, or the risks to both mother and baby in the case of a placenta praevia? Absolutely. Do they outweigh the risks in a normal vaginal birth where there are no compelling medical reasons to have a caesarean section? No, they do not. If the OP has been shown reputable, research-based evidence that indicates that a caesarean is the same or less risky than a vaginal birth, then she has been misled, and that is unfortunate.

We seek only to give information so that the women who post here can make a truly "informed" decision. If I chose to be "informed" by my experiences in hospital, and by the opinions of my friends and colleagues, I would never have had a homebirth; I would never have been lucky enough to experience three beautiful waterbirths. And I would never have taken the time to look into the research myself and discover the truth about homebirth.