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There is always going to be VERY opinionated women who believe that if you get one-you're a wuss and those that feel that babies should be born out of the v____a and no other way. To me, as long as the mom and baby are ok then great!!

Nope!!! Susan, I agree with you. I am still trying to figure out how I had it so easy. The pain that I experienced was beyond belief. I felt like I was run over by a Mack truck and looked I like I was as well.

well then,after my natural birth I must have looked like an old women,being quite sore down there.Personnally I believe no birth is easy,but for me am glad that I chose a c-section for my 2nd.Yes,there was pain,but it was manageable pain.and it helped knowing each day was getting better.Unlike my natural intense birth when kept thinking this cannot get any worse,and it did.

Because like Marcie said, you don't think it can get any worse and it does for many hours, and then on the other side, you spend just as many hours wondering if this is the worst the pain is and pray your pain meds don't wear off because when they do the pain is incredible. Either way I think the pain is intensified by the not knowing and the lack of control. I did not enjoy either birth process itself, I just focused on the fact that intense labor itself only lasts so long and the post-op pain only lasts intensely for so long and after that (complications aside) each day after the birth will start to get better. For me, with both births the SECOND and THIRD days were the worst, when the epi and the spinal meds were all out of my system and I had to rely on metered doses of pain meds...then both slowly got better. I must say, its sounds like Marcie did not have a very well-managed first labor, there is no excuse for that...at our hospital we have pain management specialists who almost without fail, will not let a mother have that experience. I am sorry for you. We have such great experts in pain here that even our teeny tiny SE Asian patients are delivering 8 pound babies (which is about 2 pounds LARGER than the average Asian baby's birth weight is) with minimal tearing, low-rate of episiotomies and very few c-sections. Our mothers are kept as comfortable as safety allows and our babies are coming out with an average APGAR of 7/9...pretty good for an avergage which include premature infants as well. I think all women have a rough time due to the very essence of the situation but from a personal standpoint, I would never say one of my births was easier than the other and I wouldn't compete with another mother for the right to "the worst birth experience ever"...that would be a compet_tion I would like to lose.

Yep I think you guys are probably right! Im pregnant with my first, and i dont know how its gonna get out of me, but my MIL has 3 kids, all c section. She had to deal with both worlds...she was in labor for 20 hours and didnt dialate past 4, so had to have a C. In her case, that was not the easy way out...she had to go through the pain of contractions, and heal from surgery. On the other hand, Im sure v____al births are tough too. I doubt either way is any easier or more heroic, it just depends on the woman and her circ_mstance. I think women just feel the need to compete about everything...men, jobs, medicated vs. natural, etc. I commend all of you brave enough to have a baby, no matter how you do it, because it surely isnt a walk in the park!

I agree with the last few posts. Have read Marcie's posts.For me, I am so glad I had the section.The pain afterwards was manageable,as already been said.I have spoken to mums who had a natural birth and that is very intense and more pain than they could ever imagine.The section did not feel like that.I was sore,yes, but in compara__sion with a natural birth where you have to stretch etc. I 'd go with the operation.

That's just it, Charlotte preferred her section, but others here said they had both and would never prefer one...and on the other forum there is a nasty nasty debate going on about how bad one birth method is compared to the other. Can anyone agree that a if one could have an uncomplicated v____al birth it would be better than having an operation? I would like to start making some birth plans and my doctors say each woman is different and that I shouldn't listen to other's experiences as they have nothing to do with me...but I have never done either before. I guess in a perfect world I would go into labor, have great pain relief, push a bit and have no tearing or episiotomy and be up and about with a perfect, healty baby. But with birth stories it seems no one ever says that. I am sad and confused and don't want to be compet_tive with other mothers. To the poster, Marianna, you say you have pain management specialists at your facility? Where are you located? I don't believe anyone mentioned that here in Wisconsin.