C Section versus Regular Delivery

I've been meaning to write this post for ummm about 4 months!  I know some of you were interested in hearing my thoughts on a regular delivery versus a c-section since I've had one of each.  Here it goes:

Regular Delivery

Pros -
1.  You really feel what it feels like to have a baby, even if you have an epidural.
2.  You get to labor and experience all of the parts of having a baby somewhat naturally.  
3.  The surprise of getting to tell your family and friends that your baby is here is so fun!

Cons -
1.  You don't know how you'll feel afterwards 'down there' and may have to take lots of sitz baths among other things.  You don't know how long it'll take to feel better.  
2.  You may never sneeze or jump on a trampoline again without a little dribble ha. 
3.  You don't know when you're going into labor so keep your bag packed!


C-Section

Pros -
1.  You get to plan exactly when it is going to happen, assuming you have to have one for medical reasons.  If you have other children, you can make sure you have them covered for when you'll be at the hospital. 
2.  You won't know exactly what to expect for recovery but the two weeks estimate to be back to normal is pretty accurate (it was for me at least).  At least you know it's 'only' two weeks.  

Cons -
1.  It's surgery and you might not know how your body reacts to that.  You cannot use those ab muscles very well afterwards.  Getting up from sitting is hard work.  
2.  You still have some of same after-effects like if you had a regular delivery.  Blah.  


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In general, I would say the first two weeks of a c-section recovery are harder than the first two weeks of a regular delivery recovery.  But that totally depends on how your regular delivery goes!  This was just my experience.  I also had an almost 3 year old that I was chasing around and couldn't lounge around all day like I did when Molly Anne was born!

I think however your baby comes out, it will be amazing and likely the best moment of your life.  The one thing that drove me crazy when I was pregnant was not knowing when and how my child was going to decide to come.  Well, it always works out so try not to stress something you can't change!  Easier said than done, I know!

So if I had to do it again, what would I prefer?  Probably a c-section but that's because of three big things - 1.  I have other children and I'd love to be able to plan childcare and 2. because I've gotten to experience a regular delivery and 3. because I already (sorta) forgot how awful I felt in the OR and recovery rooms!