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Yes, Fact is correct, I never had labor because of medical issues and after being pregnant only ONCE with a scheduled c-section I got some prolapse issues and a___l problems from scar tissue. My OB said they used to blame it all on v____al deliveries but studies are showing otherwise. Not to say some women don't have those problems from pushing, but a lot of c-section moms are getting the same problems so I wouldn't get a surgery based just on that.

Hi, go to I.village.com cesarean section page, look at are elective c's safer? It describes EXACTLY what has happened to me after c's that were necessary, I have an abnormally small pelvis. I had everthing listed there, from transfusions, to infections to my hysterectomy and painful intercourse and elimination due to scar tissue. DO NOT HAVE A C-SECTION if you don't need one. So much pain and soooo many problems for years and years. No one ever gets rid of the scar tissue inside and sometimes it continures to grow and pulls your bladder more and more out of place as in my case. The scar tissue then adhered to my lower bowel and I got constipation, IBS and sharp pains randomly going through my abdomen and UP my a___l ca___l...very sharp pains and at very unexpected times. Please, ladies, don't think the studies aren't coming back saying c-sections are NOT protecting against long-term incontinance issues because they are.

Excerpt from Chapter 3 of Dr. Walters' book, "Just Take it Out". Up to 60% of women who have undergone v____al delivery report an ongoing problem with stress urinary incontinence indicating a permanent change in the anatomy of the pelvic floor. For many of these women the involuntary loss of urine with coughing, sneezing, laughing, running, or engaging in any strenuous, physical activity represents a social problem of significant proportions. It may cause them to severely limit their activities for fear of embarra__sment. A lesser, but still significant, number of women report problems with fecal incontinence following v____al delivery. This may either be transient or permanent. Often this will occur as a result of direct traumatic injury to the a___l sphincter muscle caused by a laceration occurring at childbirth or by extension of the episiotomy incision through the a___l sphincter muscle. Nerve conduction studies have shown that, even in cases where the external and internal a___l sphincter muscles remain intact, the trauma of childbirth may cause irreparable damage to the nerves which control the musculature of the pelvic floor. This neurologic damage contributes to problems with continence and to the general laxity of the pelvic floor. Most gynecologists believe that the problem of urinary incontinence and, especially, the problem of fecal incontinence is severely under-reported by women, largely due to their embarra__sment in discussing these issues. End of Excerpt. So what we are saying then is that incontinence can happen whether a woman has a v____al delivery or whether a woman has a c-section. At least with a c-section, though, there is no directing damage to the a___l sphincter muscle through an extension of an episiotomy incision. And a woman does not have to push for hours with her legs stretched and pulled apart (sometimes in stirrups) trying to deliver a baby. You hear doctors and nurses on "A Baby Story", for example, saying "push, push, push, push, push, push, all the way down into your bum like you are having a bowel movement", trying to encourage women to give a big, strenuous push to get the baby out. Well, when incontinence happens during a v____al delivery, I think there is no surprise there why. Just another side of the incontinence coin. Not saying that incontinence doesn't happen with c-sections. Just saying that sometimes v____als are no better either.

As last poster said, damage to the nerves as well as force applied to the sphincters causes the muscles and tissues to be weakened. I read the book she is referring to, and while I agree with much of it, studies done since do not necessarily support his blame the v____als any longer. The newest and most comprehensive studies are pointing more towards pregnancy in general. And also are letting people know that most of the "incontinence" issues resolve in 6 months or less whereas those same issues attributed to c-section damage is almost always permanent. The tissues and sphincters usually recover somewhat to all the way from v____al deliveries over time where as damage to bladders, spinchters and nerves done during c-sections usually involve severing of the nerves and tissues which very often ends up to be a permanent state. I do not believe the way birth is being managed in our societies is correct. As the last poster said, being told to push as hard as one can is not the way many women deliver around the world, most women left to deliver naturally will grunt and "release" their babies, not attempt to shoot them out of their v____as like bullets...I have had both, my first a wonderful, slow v____al delivery of a healthy baby at home, a bit of natural tearing and some transient incontinence for a week. 4 years later, an emergency c-section due to partial abruption...bladder incontinence and nerve damage to my bowels ever since. My Auntie never had a child in her life nor was she pregnant, and she had bladder probs in her 30's and has both issues in her 60's....so hers is hormonal. Rough to be a woman I guess.

I am wearing a colostomy as a result of my v____al birth by a midwife. I posted on these forums before. So, in my case, I believe that a c-section would have prevented my total incontinence. So I disagree with the last poster saying "most of the incontinence issues resolve in 6 months or less" and "that the tissues and sphincters usually recover somewhat to all the way from v____al deliveries over time". If that were true than I wouldn't be wearing a colostomy bag. I obviously did not recover "over time". And I did everything the supposed "natural" way. I got a midwife to deliver my baby, I was not in the standard lay on your back position during delivery and we even did perineal ma__sage. But I still ended up having an episiotomy tearing right through the rectum to deliver my baby. Sometimes even midwives cannot prevent episiotomies. I was too small and my baby was too big. Go figure . . . who would have thought that this would happen with a midwife? So there is no black and white with delivering a baby much the same way that we cannot take the results from these studies that are performed as being "black and white". Those studies performed are only from a specific or a selected group of women that were followed. In reality and at the end of the day, some women will have v____als and they will even have a third or fourth degree tear and they will heal up just fine . . . but others, like myself, will not. And some other women will have a c-section and they will end up with complications and/or incontinence while other women who have a c-section will heal up fine with no incontinence or lasting problems from it. And every woman will also heal differently. Some women will heal up fast from anything while others are prone to infections or are slower to heal. And also the skill and experience of a doctor in performing an episiotomy or a c-section is also important to the healing of a woman. There are risks that a woman must face if she wants to have a family and like the last poster said 'Rough to be a woman I guess".

Yes, Melissa, I agree with you too. My point I'm trying to make is lets not make blanket observations about either method. There are so many women who are running around saying the only way to avoid these issues are with a c-section...there is a lady out there like you, who now wears a bag from injury during a c-section. I think like you said, we can do everything right and something can still go wrong. But we can't go performing c-sections on every woman because then there will be uneccessary inuries due to that and it seems that would be the only way to have avoided your injury...see what i mean? Either we do all women c-section or we figure out a way to measure women and their babies better so things go better for v____al moms. I think we should write the Surgeon General (In the US) hundreds of thousands of letters demanding that birth be improved for both mothers and babies. In fact, I shall look up the address and post again. I do not think women should have to feel like the only way to have a baby is surgically, something isn't right when that is becoming the answer. We should take better care of our delivering moms.

I would like to correct the last poster. The last poster said "there is a lady out there like you, who now wears a bag from injury during a c-section". That is incorrect and if you re-read my post you will see that. I had a v____al birth by a midwife so actually I am now wearing a bag from injury sustained during a VAGINAL BIRTH, not a c-section. I believe, IN MY CASE, that a c-section would have prevented the injuries sustained in my v____al birth that is making me wear the bag. And if you re-read my post you will also see that I am not making blanket observations about either method of delivery. I said "In reality and at the end of the day, some women will have v____als and they will even have a third or fourth degree tear and they will heal up just fine . . . but others, like myself, will not. And some other women will have a c-section and they will end up with complications and/or incontinence while other women who have a c-section will heal up fine with no incontinence or lasting problems from it." . . . .

Hey, Melissa, I was agreeing with you that there are bad outcomes either way, and offering her as an example that your situation occurred the opposite way with her.. I know you were injured via v____al delivery, I was paralleling the two cases. I think you feel I am after you, I am not. If you re-read my post I said there was a lady out there wearing a bag like you...that's where the comparison should have ended, as you got yours from v____al and she got hers from a c-section. Sorry if that is what you got from my posts. Can we agree we need to learn how to offer better births for our women and there needs to be a way where medicine and nature can work harmoniously and with the least amount of pain and damage to women? I am truly sorry you suffered so much with your birth. I hope someday there will be a way to repair you, and the sooner the better. God Bless you.