Hi everyone, forgive me first of all for the long post! But thank you for taking the time to read it. Having conceived very quickly with both my pregnancies, neither times did I quite process it and this time around has been even more difficult since I’ve literally been in some kind of pain most of the way through so far. I’m 25 weeks expecting our 2nd little boy and as the time is getting closer I’m getting more and more anxious about labour and the post partum pain. Atm I have quite a swollen vulva and perineum along with haemorrhoids as I nearly always strain or have constipation when going to the toilet (something I’ve suffered with most of my adult life-sorry for tmi) the thought of pushing a baby out right now is scaring the hell out of me and I’m terrified about what further damage I’m going to do down there. I should mention my LO is 5 now and I had a pretty “textbook” labour so to speak, I opted for no pain relief other than gas and air and ended up giving birth after only a couple of hours in labour. I had 15 stitches afterwards but it’s just not the same down there since but I guess that’s to be expected after birth. I’ve been thinking about maybe asking for an elective caesarean but am I right in saying it’s something we can only have if there is a medical reason? I don’t know when I’ll next be seeing my midwife I haven’t seen one since I was 16w so haven’t discussed any labour options yet but I just wandered what people thought based on experiences? I am also pretty scared about having a section but honestly right now I cannot bare the thought of a natural vaginal birth with how tender I am down there. I’ve heard water births can help but we have literally one pool at our hospital and if someone else is using it then I can’t. The things that worry me about a section are not having skin to skin contact straight away like I did with my first and I’ve heard it can be more difficult to breastfeed too is that true? I am aware it is generally a longer healing time too, I do think I’m going to be pushed into having a natural birth though because here in the UK they would rather we do that. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks so much 💕