:eek:
I never had children, but have been told many times that no sane woman would choose to have a baby this way. I also wonder just how informed the consent they received was, and am also very aware that this debate has been ongoing since the 1840s, when surgical anesthesia made the procedure feasible on living women.
The comments from Brazilians are interesting, too.
Moved to MPSIMS.
By whom? Are you familiar with regular child birth?
As I am sure everyone is aware, C-sections have saved a lot of lives and that they are done way more than is strictly medically necessary. I’m a man who doesn’t have kids so take my opinion with a grain of salt but it seems like a reasonable option to me.
Like, every woman who’s told me that she has experienced both, that’s who. Dozens of them over the years.
PLEASE don’t tell me that you wanted your kids born this way so her girl parts wouldn’t get stretched out. :smack:
Not that I’ve discussed this with too many women but I have heard both sides as far as preference goes and I’ve never heard anyone express an opinion even close to “no sane woman would do that.”
As I said, I don’t have kids.
Unless you have childbearin’ hips and a vagina of the gods, it’s often a choice between abdominal scarring or episiotomy. I don’t think wanting to avoid episiotomy is insane, but I’ve never experienced childbirth either.
Not sure here, but are really thinking these women didn’t choose the procedure themselves?
If I had another baby I would definitely want to have a C-section. The recovery from vaginal birth was hell for me (the birth itself wasn’t too terrible though). I know that on average C-section recovery is supposed to be harder, but for me I don’t see how it would have been. I remember not being able to sleep from the pain when my daughter was a few months old.
My best friend had a C-section and that seemed downright pleasant by comparison. The only time I’ve ever had surgery, my recovery for that was easier than expected too, which doesn’t guarantee a C-section would be the same, but it sounds like a better bet.
One woman in the article says she felt bullied into it (then I guess needed one anyway for medical reasons) and another one states that, “it’s her choice,” and she wants one. So I guess it swings both ways.
I’ve never had a child, but a friend who has two had a scheduled c-section for her second because the birth of her first child was a completely hellish experience that resulted in a c-section anyway. I’d rather just go for a c-section in the first place than potentially have a long and difficult labor (friend’s first labor went on for 18 hrs before they decided to go for the c-section) that ends up in requiring a c-section anyway.
All I know is that half of the first time moms in the Netherlands that opt for vaginal birth at home, still end up in the hospital with an emergency C-section. So they have labor pains for hours and hours and still end up with the pain of the epidural, the healing and the cramps of your intestines starting up again.
I’m glad I had a scheduled C-section. Especially when I heard how big my sons’s head was, in addition to him being a two-week late baby in the 99 top weight percentile.
Whoa boy, did I dodge a bullet there.
Actually, IIRC, there were some recent articles citing that routine episiotomies were also contra-indicated and that they were not needed in many cases. They’re done because they are thought to also speed up delivery.
Vaginas can be quite stretchy during childbirth, and hips don’t really impact as much as thought.
I’d prefer to avoid both episiotomies and C-sections.
The ones I feel sorry for are the moms of twins who have the first twin born vaginally and then the second one has to be born by C-section. Worst of all worlds! I would never even attempt a vaginal birth with twins.
Episiotomies have definitely gotten a lot less common, as far as I know for good reason. But tearing is still very common and isn’t all that fun either.
My mom told me I got stuck in her birth canal and required a c-section delivery. I thought that meant her hips were too narrow for traditional delivery. I don’t know how common a problem it is, of course. There are a shitload of women in my family, most of which have had 2-3 children. Mostly c-sections for the lot of them, and not by choice.
Never had kids, but the idea of any body part tearing is not fun (if torn muscles and fractures are an indication). I’d still rather let my body dictate that than getting something cut just because.
[QUOTE=Rachellelogram]
My mom told me I got stuck in her birth canal and required a c-section delivery. I thought that meant her hips were too narrow for traditional delivery. I don’t know how common a problem it is, of course. There are a shitload of women in my family, most of which have had 2-3 children. Mostly c-sections for the lot of them, and not by choice.
[/QUOTE]
I meant that what it looks to the outside as compared to what is going on inside. Just because a woman has (to the outside, to others, to society) childbearing hips, does not mean the structure in the inside (where it counts) makes it any more or less easier to give birth. Specially I don’t see how non-pregnancy big hips relate to avoiding having a baby stuck in the birth canal during birth.
I was a C-section baby, because I was in the wrong position, something that now could be corrected without surgery (in some cases). My mom herself was a C-section baby for… who knows, she was born at a time where the C-sections really started off. Perhaps her mom could have given her birth normally, but was pushed to get one of the old-timey C-sections.
How can one identify women with vaginas of the gods?
I loved mine. Wonderful, chilled out ending to 24 hours spent trying to push out a 9lb10oz baby. I recovered quickly and had no issues bonding with my gorgeous girl.
If given the option I’ll definitely have an elective one next time. If that makes me insane, then frankly I’m ok with that.
The issue isn’t when they are necessary. The issue is when they aren’t.
Yeah, we know.
Just to weigh in on the other side, I had two vaginal births and am grateful to have avoided surgery. The first one weighed 8 lbs, 10 oz and I had a pretty long labor, with epidural (probably contributed to the rest of it), forceps, and an episiotomy, but recovery wasn’t bad. The second one weighed 9 lbs, 12 oz and was born after a pretty short labor with no anesthesia, no episiotomy, and no tearing.
It’s a really good thing that safe C-sections are available when they’re needed, and they’ve saved a lot of lives. However, given the evidence about adverse effects on infant health, I’d say it’s not an option anyone should make lightly.
My mother had three spontaneous vaginal births, all of them uncomplicated and none of them particularly difficult.
She was born in a hospital in 1933, when most babies were still born at home, because her oldest brother was born at home, and IDK what happened, but his birth was extremely difficult and Grandma would have had a c-section had they been in a hospital - and this was in 1930 when the procedure was still very dangerous. I’ve read that Queen Elizabeth and Bill Clinton were both born that way too, and remember it simply because in both cases, they would almost have lost both of them otherwise.
Honestly, a doctor who would do a c-section - or any other surgery - just because someone walks in and asks for it is not the doctor you would want to be doing it in the first place.