Instinctual or not, the heads of animal babies are usually proportionally much smaller and easier for the mother to deliver.
How do you find the c-section rate of a particular doctor? I’ve seen websites that list the rate for a hospital (all of the ones in my HMO network have rates between 40-50%…) but I have no idea how to find out what a particular doctor’s rate is. Is a hospital legally required to disclose that info on individual doctors? Or do you just ask the doctor and hope s/he doesn’t lie?
You ask. They’re unlikely to lie, especially if you ask them to write it down for you or you ask them with another witness in the room, as lying would cause them all sorts of grief in the event of a lawsuit down the road - yours or anyone else’s.
Hospital c-section rates are very easy to find, and they’re a start.
Google and yelp can be surprisingly helpful, although of course you should keep in mind that reviews tend to be written by very happy or very very unhappy people, with the great mass of “eh, s/he/it was okay” hardly ever participating. There are people who pull numbers out of their ass and post them as fact.
The Leapfrog Groupis a watchdog organization that uses voluntary participation to increase transparency in hospital statistics. It’s not where I would end my research, but it’s a good place to start.
Many states have published “report cards” for hospitals, like for schools. Those often come up on google searches, or they’re accessible from the state’s department of professional regulation website or attorney general or something similar.
http://www.cesareanrates.com/ is exactly what it sounds like, although they’re at the hospital level, not the individual provider. I don’t know that they’ve got every hospital in the country yet, but they’ve got a lot of them.
Though, as was said upthread, doctors like c-sections for a reason - they are predictable. And surprises in giving birth don’t tend to work out well.
I say this because the person I mentioned upthread with a disabled daughter - it was recommended that his wife have a c-section - 2nd baby after first c-section, big baby - small woman, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia - there were a lot of signs that she’d end up with a c-section. She became convinced that doctors recommended c-sections for their own convenience (which they do, but also because your pregnancy is risky) and went shopping for a midwife who would deliver naturally. After all, giving birth is a natural process. Her and the midwife were on the same page - this would be a vaginal birth - well, baby went into distress and it simply took them too long to give up on the idea of a vaginal birth and then - well, it was a midwife in the room. The baby was without oxygen for some lengthy period of time, and is now a severely disabled little girl.
The best outcome is a long term healthy baby and mama. The next priority is that happens with as little trauma to everyone as possible - sometimes planned major surgery has a smaller chance of less trauma - recovery is a bitch, and anesthesia is never without risk, but sometimes you have to weight that.
Look for an OB you trust. Get one with some experience. And if they start talking c-section in a more than passing fashion, talk to them about it and find out why. The gut feeling of someone who has been delivering 250 babies a year for a decade is worth taking into account. And your pregnancy is an individual situation - not a statistic.
Thank you! This answer is so thorough and helpful.
Talk to people who work at this or that hospital. If a doctor has an excessively high c-section rate, or will do them on patient request, word does get around.
This is good advice too, Dangerosa. My phone browser crapped out on me just after I thanked WhyNot. Thanks to you too, and to evensven for letting me do a quick hijack.
Well, after much research, we are going with a c-section (next week!). Our doctor has a c-section rate of under 20%, and my healthcare professional friends assure me that the hospital it’s affiliated with has a good reputation for these things. The doctor was visibly relieved when we told her we were going that way, and threw out a disturbing list of complications she’d been worried about if we had gone vaginally. She’s even coming in on her day off to perform the surgury.
Thank you again for all of the advice and stories! Your input was an important part of our decision-making process.
Very respectable c-section rate for an American OB. You’re in good hands. Think they’ll let you sneak a computer into the OR so you can keep us updated? 
May it be an unremarkable delivery…with the whole exception of the miracle you get at the end.
My reaction to my daughter was to show her off and say “look what I made!”
So exciting! I know it’s not the same surprise element of going into labor, but my husband and I still had a very special time talking a walk and then going out to dinner before checking into the hospital, it was its own kind of thrill do things like that and say “the next time, we’ll have a baby!”
Good on you!
Buy a 20-pack of Depends to wear when you get home. Then buy some high-waisted granny panties to wear when those run out. You won’t want anything with a low waistband for a month or more… otherwise, trust me, compared to labor the recovery will be a doddle.
I didn’t have any such experience, for whatever it’s worth. I bled, like you normally would after a birth, but not badly. I think I was probably wearing granny panties from when I was pregnant.
Don’t be so sure about that! It might happen, although it sounds like they would just do the c-section at that time instead of when it’s scheduled.
Hey Sven, hope it’s all going well! Any baby pics for us yet? 
baby is on the way now?!
I had two big babies, first weighed 8’10 then two years later for sure I thought we’d be going down in size but nope she weighed 10lbs 3oz, poor thing had a forehead like a Ferengi when she was born, barely squeezed through…if we had a third I’d be asking for the c section
As an update, we decided on a c-section and it was absolutely the right choice. She was 9lbs 10ozs, and had a couple minor issues that would have certainly led to an emergency c-section after a long, hard labor if we had tried for a vaginal birth.
Recovery has been easy, at least after the first few days. A week out of the hospital and I’m already walking more than a mile at a time and feeling no pain or discomfort. The whole hospital experience was kind of surreal and often uncomfortable, but we have a healthy, beautiful, big baby and that’s what matters.
Thank you again for all the good advice! The lesson here is that if you trust your doctor, it’s a good idea to listen to them and do your research, even if it goes against your first instincts.
Pics or it didn’t happen.
Yay, more Doper Babies! Congratulations.
Congrats! Hooray for big beautiful babies, amazing recoveries, and photos! (Hint hint!)
Terrific news, congratulations! I’m glad you’re making a good recovery, and glad your (big!) baby is doing well! 