Elective emergency c section??

I've had natural births and an emergency C-section but I've never had my hospital not have the ability to schedule something like that. But what they're saying does make some sense too. I wish I had advice

I’m not sure which trust you’re with but I’m in a similar boat, I’m coming up to 38 weeks, consultant doesn’t want me to go past 39 due to size of baby, and I’ve been waiting nearly a week for my date! I’ve been referred and contacted them there just aren’t any appointments available at the moment, I’m based at QA in Portsmouth! Hope all goes well for you xx

I’m based in Aberdeen/scotland But wondered if anyone had the same experience of waiting every day :(

Sometimes it can be day by day but I’ve never heard of having to attend and wait around every day. For example I was booked for my elective but went into labour 10 days early, so my booking opened up as an “emergency slot” for a mum who may be waiting. Whether that be someone on the day in an emergency situation during labour or someone waiting for an elective slot. I was told though at my trust they leave a few slots a day empty for emergencies, that’s what I was given 10 days early.

Yeah I mean they maybe just have to say that I’ll be waiting each day 8-5 in the triage but surely for a whole week this can’t be the norm? Meaning by next Friday I’ll have possibly “wasted” my time just sitting in a waiting area for a whole week? I said to my partner surely they would provide us a room or something but I just have no clue

Can you ask to ring every day instead of turning up as that is a lot of effort and stress for you?! X

@Bonnie I think we will attend on Monday see what’s what and if it’s just waiting in a reception all day then we will maybe ask to just phone every day for a cancellation slot etc. we are 35 mins away from the hospital too so not like it’s just across the road :(

@Leanne yeah see that’s bad of them I think to make you attend each day! 🙃🙃🙃🙃 when you’re basically overdue too! I know other people have tried other hospitals. Could you try that? X

Only hospital in our area that will do the operations, there’s other maternity hospitals but just like midwife led units etc

This is the second post of someone saying they would rather get an elective C-section than an induction. Im confused. Why? Isn’t C section a very serious surgery.. ppl get induced everyday and sometimes electively but C section should only be turned to when no other option is available.

@Aylool appreciate your comment and I’m totally the same but I just thought that today I only had two options, I wasn’t aware really that I could wait another week. I was technically induced years ago with my termination and it was just absolutely horrible and very traumatic so opted for a section as I thought I had no other option. I’ve since realised that I’m just going to wait another week to see if baby comes on his own and then intervene when needed

Definitely! My first came at 41W5D naturally. But I advice you this week to do a lot of walking and yoga. Thats what worked for me at least, I used to do an hour of labor inducing exercises from youtube while my induction date was already set to be on a Monday at 8AM, ended up going to the appointment with natural contractions I had all night and they didn’t need to use any induction on me!

Coming in every day for a week seems insane as you have to fast before a c-section. Have you had any kind of pre operative talks? feels abit like you’re in a loop hole as your having an emergency section but its also planned. Would you consider asking them to break your waters or the ballon? it’s a different type of inducing. Understandable if you don’t want any of these options either based on your previous experience.

@Aylool c section is a very serious surgery yes, but it is just some peoples preference as induction is also not always so straight forward id personally choose c section past 41 weeks over hours or even days of induced labour if my body didn’t do it naturally but it’s just my opinion. Also if you’re already at risk of having complications with a large baby or other issues ect which could result with possibly needing forceps/episiotomy and so on after being induced, for some a c-section can sometimes be a better plan. and in the best interest for getting baby here safely especially when getting over due, it’s just personal preference of circumstances and shouldn’t only be turned to as a last resort in some circumstances

@Aylool having had both an induction (which ended in emergency section) and an elective section, I can 100% say that the elective section was a much better experience for me personally. It is a serious surgery and while people get induced every day, people also have electives every day.

Waiting in triage everyday seems very pointless and not something anyone would advise a heavily pregnant woman to do, surely?! I was in the same boat, previous induction that i didnt want to repeat got to 41 weeks where they automatically booked me in for an optional induction and i just broke down asking for a c section instead. They said they had no slots available as i wasn’t an emergency but that they would call me as soon as something came up and in the meantime wanted me to come in every day for monitoring as i was over 41 weeks. They also said if anything changed in terms of babies movement etc and i came in for monitoring for that, i would be put up an emergency level and be seen sooner. They ended up calling me the next day saying a slot had come available 2 days later. These surgery lists change all the time as people go into natural labour/situations change etc etc. My hospital do have a separate theatre for electives than they do for emergencies though…

…not sure if this is the case for most hospitals? So they had separate lists for each. Good luck and i hope you get news of a slot soon without having to wait around in triage unnecessarily!

@Abs and @Bec I just want to say thank you for sharing your stories on this matter. It honestly puts my mind at ease. As I don’t want to opt for induction if I end up at 41w5d, I’d rather go for c-section as the amount of times I’ve heard that induction has failed when women have been ‘overdue’ then end up having a c-section due to exhaustiveness of body having to go through already what’s happening, it really doesn’t sit right with at all 😩 as you have said in your comment.

@Jessica no problem! and yeah I feel very similar, it’s so hard to know what’s best isn’t it. You hear of some inductions going really smoothly and baby is all okay, but then most I’ve heard have been traumatic and end in c section after days/hours of labour which is why I find it hard to know which options best for getting baby here as safe as possible. I’m over due now and definitely in limbo with it all and really not wanting to go much past 41 weeks with the increasing risk of problems😫x

You want an elective C-section until you've had one. I'd have sold my immortal soul to not have a C-section. I've had natural births with tearing and no meds and I'd do that 100x over. C-section wrecked my abdominal muscles, stomach, back.

@Leanne hope things have gone okay! Xx

I went into labour after 2 successful sweeps! :)