Elective c section

[Freshcucumber]

Hello, I am over 40 years old with my first IVF pregnancy and I am looking into elective c section options. Do you know at what week it is usually scheduled? The midwife only said before 40 weeks but did not go into the specifics… probably as I’m still in the first trimester. Thank you 🙏🏻

[Millbanks]

hi lovely,

I had a planned c-sec at 38+6 weeks. I was 39 at the time xx

[Freshcucumber in reply to Millbanks]

Thank you. Hope it went all smoothly and well! Xx

[Millbanks in reply to Freshcucumber]

Thank you - it was very smooth - best decision ever! xx

[Eggfreezer2015]

I am due mine soon and I was told will be between wk38 - 38+6. My friend had hers recently and that was bang on 39wks. I believe that they will not let you go past that based on the conversations that I have had. Hope that helps x

[Freshcucumber in reply to Eggfreezer2015]

Thank you! And good luck!

[Fruitandflowers]

39 weeks is standard as they don't want you to go into labour but balance it against wanting the baby in as long as possible. So I was just over 38 wks I think. But it will depend on a few factors especially whether you have any complications and also (this may sound silly but it's happened twice to me) any public holidays and the team's scheduling around those! If it's your first baby they'll monitor you quite closely and there will probably be quite a few scans and appointments towards the end where they may change the date, but usually to bring it forward a bit. As it's an IVF pregnancy you should be assigned a consultant fairly early on whether you are thinking of a section or not, and then if you go for a c-section you'd typically have a consultant anyway who will go through any risk factors, scheduling, what happens if you go into labour before the date etc.

[Freshcucumber in reply to Fruitandflowers]

Thank you. Omg labour before the date 🙁

[Fruitandflowers in reply to Freshcucumber]

So this was my biggest worry but they said first babies especially don't come quickly so if it did happen you'd have plenty of warning and that you don't wait at home for it to progress, you call them and go straight to maternity triage where they'll assess you and do the section asap before labour gets going, so it's still elective as you could at that point still change your mind, and not an emergency. I think they thought it was quite funny that I seemed to be under the impression I could have the baby within about half an hour of labour starting, as opposed to the two days it would probably take 😀

[JoyfulStar]

Hi,

I was 44 and my elective C section was 39 plus 1.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

[Albs171]

Mine was bang on 39 weeks at uclh. Best decision I ever made. Good luck x

[Freshcucumber in reply to Albs171]

Congratulations! Do you recommend UCLH? I’m also in London so good to know it was a good experience xx

[Albs171 in reply to Freshcucumber]

I had a really good experience there. It’s big but they have everything. Feels flagship…

In and out in 24 hours.

Good luck! Xx

[Eloquentia]

Hi! I only had the experience of an emergency C section but just wanted to say, I wish I had gone for an elective one. Was just under 40, first pregnancy from IVF. Stick to your guns if they try to talk you out of it. And don't worry too much about labour starting earlier than the planned date, first labour takes many hours so you will likely still have time for the elective c section in the unlikely event this happened. Very best of luck!

[M_fox]

My first was 37.2 as I was older, this time they may let me go an extra week but as long as baby is ok I’m happy to do it any time 37 !

[Freshcucumber in reply to M_fox]

Thank you and good luck! So they let you chose based on how the baby is doing

[M_fox in reply to Freshcucumber]

Yes they gave me the option of course I wouldn’t have went against their recommendation really as I wanted to make sure the baby arrived as safely as possible, but they should make you feel at ease with what ever is best. I was consultant lead so midwife didn’t really have an opinion!)

Good luck 🥰

[Sparklylife]

Our section was at week 39 +3 days! All went really well! Had a night in hospital, but home the next day and recovered well!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Wishing you all the best!

[Freshcucumber]

in the end the consultant booked me in for 38.6 weeks… I was hoping it would be a little earlier. Hopefully I won’t go into labour!