C-Section vs Vaginal Birth Delivery – Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine in India

There’s been a long debate about C-Section V/s Normal Delivery – which is better? In this article, we are going to share the first hand experience of Ms. Lily, who has had the experience of a vaginal delivery as well as a c-section. Why Ms. Lily switched from vaginal delivery of the first son to the delivery of the second son via c-section.

This blog, not only describes the experiences of a mother who gave birth via normal delivery and c-section, but also is an important topic for the Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine mentees and also for IVF centres in India.

Here’s what lily says:

 I'm going to talk about my experience with a vaginal delivery versus a c-section. I've had two sons and with my first son the delivery was a vaginal delivery and he weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce and then my second son was born via c-section and the reason I had to go from vaginal to c-section was because he was in the breech position and he ended up weighing about 8 pounds. So first let me talk about the labour between a vaginal and c-section.

With my first son who was born via vaginal delivery the labour from start to finish was around 21 hours and how it started was like that night in the middle of the night my water broke and I actually went to bed with a severe back pain and then I woke up having to use the bathroom because you know you're always using the bathroom towards the end of your pregnancy and I noticed that my water had broken it for sure had broke and so I went to the OB hospital that like early morning it was around like 1 or 1 30 and they're like yep your water broke and we actually see that you're having some contractions which I didn't really I couldn't feel them. So then we did that and I you know whenever you're going through a vaginal delivery you have to go through all those stages of labour and so I laboured until about 9 I think around 9 20 ish is when he was born. So from that time to then was the time that I was in labour and he was born at 40 weeks 4 days and then with my c-section it was actually scheduled.

Some women they have to go through that whole labour process and then they have to have what's called an emergency c-section but you know thankfully mine was not like that. So we scheduled it for 40 weeks and one day I was able to do that and the whole reason like I said at the beginning of the video was because he was in the breech position like I was totally prepared for a vaginal delivery. I thought I was going to have a vaginal delivery but it didn't turn out that way and it turns out that this was just the safest way because the way he was presenting in my uterus and he the likelihood of him turning was very rare.

I went in that morning the procedure was at 8 that morning and we started a little bit after 8 and from the time they wheeled me into the operating room to the time I got back to the room it was literally like 45 minutes. So it really isn't even labour because I didn't have any contractions going in had no pain throughout the procedure and it was like great.

Now let's talk about the pain with an epidural and a c-section. So first my vaginal delivery whenever I went into the hospital like I said earlier I really didn't know that I was having contractions at all even though they could see them and I wasn't having I would say really any pain but as it progressed my pain started increasing and I knew I was going to get an epidural so I was waiting for the pain to get bad but not bad enough where I was just miserable. So I got an epidural probably middle within the whole labour frame I can't remember exactly and I got that and whenever I got the epidural it didn't hurt like I wasn't really afraid of it. It felt like a bee sting whenever they went to numb the area before they did the whole procedure.

So that was really the only pain I felt with that and it was very minimal compared to the contraction pain I was having. So I had the epidural things were good for a while and I started to progress it didn't really slow down my labour it just went as normal and then towards the end whenever I'm getting to that very last stage right before it's time to push for baby to come out the epidural actually wore off completely on my right side like I could move my right leg and I could feel everything over there my left side was completely numb. So that was pretty intense and I was starting to have a lot of pressure in my bottom from where baby is like descending and ready to come out.

So they're able to give me some more pain medication in my epidural which helped out but whenever it was time to start pushing it was gone again and I could feel everything like I could feel every contraction and they were just back to back to back. Now with my c-section of course it was a little bit different because whenever you're going for c-section you're going to the OR you're having major surgery so they're going to make sure that you're having no pain whatsoever. So for pain relief during surgery I had a spinal.

Now the spinal um is you have to get in like the same position like how you do with the epidural how you have to bend over with your back and everything and with that I remember feeling a strong bee sting sensation like in my back similar to the epidural seemed like it was a little bit more intense with the spinal but like nothing major you know it's completely tolerable and then of course during the whole procedure I felt nothing whatsoever and then um after the procedure I came back to the room because you recover in the room do everything in your room and I still you know was numb from like pretty much the waist down couldn't feel anything and then throughout the later in the day it wore off. So of course whenever you compare the vaginal versus c-section during the whole labour process of course the vaginal delivery is going to be the one where you have the most pain if you have any pain at all and the really the big reason I had pain was because my epidural quit working on that right side but during recovery um for me like vaginally after I had the baby my baby was nine pounds one ounce so I had some trauma down there and I had pain afterwards but I stayed on top of my pain medication and it was nothing that was not I couldn't tolerate. Now with your c-section you don't have the trauma down there because you had your baby removed surgically through your abdominal muscles so but afterwards you have an incision there and yes I had some pain afterwards but I knew that I had to stay on top of my pain medication.

So if you are having a c-section it is very very important that you stay on top of what medications they are giving you because you don't want your pain to become so unbearable because then it's going to be hard work trying to get that pain under control again. So I would say definitely with the c-section and the vaginal delivery during the recovery period for me because I stayed on top of my pain medication the pain was really tolerable and about the same and I really expected after the c-section that the pain would be a lot worse but it wasn't. Now let's talk about recovery because for me the recovery between a vaginal delivery and a c-section was completely different.

So with my vaginal delivery you know I had labour I had him it was that night and I was exhausted and I was so exhausted that I didn't really want to do anything other than just sleep and just be like oh man I'm glad that's over. So I didn't get a lot of bonding time that I wish I would have with him because I was just so tired and afterwards like shortly after I had him I was able to get up go to the bathroom and get cleaned up and I had some assistance with that but the next day I was able to move around on my own lifting my baby was easy I didn't need like a lot of help compared to whenever I had a c-section. And also after vaginal delivery because you've delivered vaginally you're going to have pericare that you have to do like with the witch hazel pad sickles you're gonna have a lot of swelling and bleeding of course that you're going to have to deal with.

Now after my vaginal delivery like within six weeks I was almost 100% like everything had healed up nicely and I was able to just get back to life as normal. Now with my c-section after I had the procedure I had to stay in bed for a while so I could not get up like how I did with my vaginal delivery. So I couldn't get up until later that night because I needed to get control of my legs back in plus they needed to make sure that I was stable enough to get up.

One thing after I had the c-section I noticed that I was getting extremely sweaty so I sweated a lot right after it. I did not do that with my vaginal delivery and plus I experienced extreme nausea and I think that was from the medication they gave me for the anaesthesia. And I threw up about two to three times and I was not interested in eating food at all like I could I could start with little bits of food and just advance as I felt better but I was not interested in it.

Now with my vaginal delivery afterwards I was starving I was like feed me and so I got food but with the c-section I wasn't interested in food until the very next day and I was really hungry and that does happen to some women. Now even though I was having nausea after my c-section I wasn't exhausted like how I was with my vaginal delivery. I was like in a good mood I felt like I had some energy even though I still had the effects of the pain medication but I was able to really enjoy my baby and just take him in and we started breastfeeding off immediately and everything went really good and so that was a lot more of a positive experience for me because I was really worried about his ability to breastfeed because I know that there's some things out there that say that after a c-section babies may have issues breastfeeding but really that was not the case with my son.

We did a lot of skin to skin afterwards and I really recommend that you do that after your c-section. Where I delivered they were really great about you know getting us back to the room as soon as possible and making sure that we're having that skin to skin contact and so I did that and I put him to the breast and he latched and he just really fed for it seems like a very long time and then of course he went to sleep and then later in the day I was able to get up and get up for the first time. Now when you get up for the first time with a c-section compared to vaginal delivery for me it was completely different because you know you have that incision there on your abdomen and you use those core muscles to help yourself get up so I needed a lot of help getting up going to the bathroom and then even after that just doing basic things like lifting my son or getting in the bed even getting up and down from the commode or putting on my compression stockings I needed help and that's the biggest difference that I have seen with the c-section versus vaginal delivery like with my vaginal delivery I was up moving afterwards like I needed assistance that first time but afterwards I was good to go but with the c-section it took me weeks upon weeks where I was able to do those things without having pain or needing a lot of help so if you are having a c-section remember that and make sure that you have someone there who's going to help you because you're definitely going to need help for a while during your recovery period now surprisingly with the vaginal delivery and the c-section my hospital stay was the same it was only two days long and I know that some people with a c-section may have to stay three or maybe more days if they're having any complications but mine was only two days now sometimes whenever women are going to have a c-section they may be wondering you know is that going to affect my milk supply is my milk going to come in later and from my experience that did not happen with me so with my son who was my first son who was born via a vaginal delivery my milk came in between two to three days supply was great and with my c-section same time it came in two to three days and the supply was great so I did not have any issues so in conclusion some of you may be wondering so which one do you prefer the vaginal delivery versus the c-section well vaginal delivery you know that is the way your body is made to do it deliver vaginally but unfortunately you know complications happen and we have to have our babies via c-section so just from where I've went through both a vaginal c-section which one do I prefer well I prefer a c-section because for me personally my first birth it was very long is very painful I was exhausted afterwards and there were just so many cons compared to this time around that I prefer the c-section it was just a lot more of a positive experience and a lot less pain you know I had the advantage of scheduling it so I knew when everything was going to happen and so that made it a little bit better and plus it was the safest option for me and my baby because he was in the breech position okay so that is my experience with a vaginal delivery versus a c-section.

Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine in India has always fascinated research and continues to attract the best of minds from the industry. There has been many recent advances in terms of technology, diagnosis and treatment approaches. This is evident in terms of large number of academic bodies, both in India and international, providing platforms to share such developments. Medline Academics is one of the rarest institutions in terms of experience, expertise, mode of course delivery and affiliation in offering the Fellowship in IVF courses in India. What's more, it is under the leadership of Padmasri Dr Kamini Rao who has been a pioneer in Reproductive medicine in India since 1989. Especially post-COVID Dr Kamini Rao conceived the concept of a hybrid mode of course by leveraging technology advancements into learning methodology. In this technical era, one needs to adapt and make good the advantages it offers.

As a leading IVF center in Bangalore, Dr. Kamini Rao Hospitals is dedicated to providing comprehensive care for couples navigating the challenges of infertility. Through its Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine program, the clinic combines current clinical remedies with specialised counselling services to cope with both the bodily and emotional factors of infertility. This holistic approach ensures that sufferers acquire personalised care, fostering desire and resilience on their adventure closer to parenthood.