In this busy day and age wouldn't it be nice to plan out everything?  Some soon-to-be-mothers would like to do that with child birth, but it's often times not an option because a lot of times OB/GYN's won't perform elective cesarean sections without certain circumstances. We talked to a new mom and her doctor at McGreevy Clinic Avera who say an Elective C-Section was really the only option for them for very special reasons.

Nicole Weber from Pipestone, Minnesota is the proud momma of 1 month old Olyvia. A very beautiful but very big baby.

Nicole laughs, "She's the biggest baby in the family."

At birth she was 9 lbs.15 1/2 oz.  21 1/2" long. In the beginning Nicole and her husband were hoping for a traditional vaginal birth.

Nicole says, "Originally yes, but once we found out she was going to be a large baby we decided C-Section was the way to go for less complications for her."

Elective Cesarean Section, or a scheduled C-Section is becoming more popular among expecting moms. In fact 15-20% of them request one, but the American College of OB/GYN says that's really not a good choice. Nicole's OB/GYN Dr. Kimberlee McKay at McGreevy Clinic Avera in Sioux Falls agrees.

Dr. Mckay says, "When we look at the data there is no proven benefit of C-Section in terms of protecting the pelvic floor, in terms of protecting the baby. There are certain circumstances we do recommend it, when the baby is too large, if mom has had in the past ulcerated colitis, a bad tear during delivery. Then we offer primary (elective cesareans) rather than waiting for them to go into labor."

Nicole says, "The biggest advantage for us was we weren't going to possibly hurt her in the delivery."

Dr. McKay says typically recovery for women who do have an elective C-Section like Nicole do well. It's the women who have had hours and hours of labor and then have a C-Section that have a harder time recovering.

Nicole says, "I'm doing fine. After about a week I was back up and around. It's been wonderful. "

Dr. McKay says when possible she will always opt for a vaginal delivery, but when baby's like Olyvia present themselves surgery is the clear choice for a healthy birth.

Nicole says, "She is probably going to be tall. Grandpa is 6'3" so we're probably working on 5'10" plus."

Nicole's water broke a week before her scheduled c-section. Dr. McKay says had she gone to term, baby Olyvia would likely have been 10 1/2 lbs.