International Cesarean Awareness Network

The choices a woman makes around her birth are obviously very personal ones. The author admits that this article is one sided. The author states that he/she wants to inform readers of the benefits to cesarean sections. How about a link to the risks of cesareans so that woman can be truly informed and choose for themselves?

Additionally, the risk of the first cesarean my not be so high. What about the risk after multiple cesarans? If the author wants to suggest that a cesarean is low risk than to be truly informative, he/she needs to add the caveat that it is low risk for women who are choosing to limit their family size. Placental abnormalities are on the rise due to cesarean sections. These abnormalalities create risks for future births and for the mother. The more cesareans a woman undergoes the greater the risk there is for complications.

Additionally, there are some myths that this article perpetuates. The article states that usually episotomies are performed, suggesting that you can avoid this with a cesarean. In most areas of the country, episiotomies are becoming less common if not rare. To state that that “usually” episiotomies are done is is a bit of a scare tactic.

Having had one child by each method, I can say the pain of a cesarean lasts much longer than the labor and post delivery pains of a vaginal birth. With my cesarean my doctor put restrictions on my driving and bathing. No driving for 6 weeks. No bathing in a tub. No such thing with a vaginal delivery. To state that you know the duration of pain in a cesarean section is really inaccurate. Tell that to women who have pain due to scar adhesions or nicked bladders.

To call coming through the birth canal a trauma is also inflammatory. The reason that a baby’s head is mishapen is to fit through the birth canal. This is hardly birth trauma. The definition of trauma is any injury whether emotionally or physically inflicted. Can you cite some research to support your use of this term?

Additionally, there are some definite advantages to coming through the birth canal. One big advantage is that it helps clear the baby’s lungs. Babies who are born vaginally have less respiratory issues. There is also some research to suggest that babies born vaginally have the benefit of exposure to good bacteria which helps populate the baby’s intestines, helping with digestion.

In terms of dignity and privacy, there is nothing private about having your uterus exteriorized meaning that it is taken out of your body. To liken a baby being surgically removed to something like having a splinter pulled – “done in a matter of minutes” is also a bit of a misconception. You still have to get prepped for surgery, your abdominal cavity has to be opened and then muscles, uterus, and skin stitched back up. Some mothers experience postop infections. This delays healing as well. If a mother has had multiple cesareans than there is more scar tissue to be cut through. This can make the surgery take even longer.

With a cesarean surgery, a mother is in a hospital for a longer period of time. More time to get poked and prodded. Often postop, there are no solid meals until you have had a bowel movement. Yes, this is major abdominal surgery. The hospital wants to make sure that everything was put back into the right place and your digestive system is operating properly. There is no privacy in medical staff asking each time if you have had a bowel movement.

Looking forward to that joyous moment when you can finally hold your baby? Find out the hospital policy ahead time. Some hospitals routinely take healthy babies away from the mother for hours at a time. This delays bonding and (if it is the mother’s choice) it also delays breastfeeding.

While it is true that it is an added convenience to schedule events, there are benefits for babies to remaining in utero. The March of Dimes is finding increasing rates of late preterm babies due to inductions and cesareans being done prior to 40 weeks. Their research suggests that even these late preterm babies are at risk for developmental delays. In their petition for preemies they are calling for doctors and hospitals to voluntarily assess cesarans and inductions done prior to 39 weeks to ensure consistency with guidelines. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that scheduled deliveries should be after 39 weeks. For the author to suggest that you can just schedule the delivery any time you want is irresponsible for the health of the baby regardless of personal choice.

The decision to schedule a cesarean, have an unmedicated or medicated birth, choice of care provider and choice of birth environment – hospital, home, or birth center is a very personal decision. Everyone should have the option to make a truly informed decision weighing the risks and benefits of all choices. However, if this website wants to offer elective cesareans as a choice, please include all the facts so that women can make informed decision for themselves. This oversimplification of a major surgery really is patronizing to women. Women should have choices. Let’s promote truly informed ones. Even internet websites should be held to some standards of responsible journalism.

I also submitted a comment to this article yesterday, but it has still not been approved. Here’s what I said…
 

"This is unfortunate. In my experience, an article like this with no author’s name and with no references cannot be trusted to be accurate. I hope people who stumble across this know enough to look for info that is well-researched and cited with proper sources. Try ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) or Childbirth Connection for some evidence-based info."
 

Lisa H.

c/s, cbac, & a vba2c

Why haven’t you touched more on the safety issues?  What about statistics?  Whoever wrote this can’t honestly believe this will make women think it’s a-ok to have a cesarean do they?  Do they think women are so ignorant we are going to believe someones ramblings without proof to back it up?  What about how the maternal mortality rate and it’s increase that correlates to the cesarean rate increase?  What about the number of mothers that die either from the surgery or complications.  What about issues of infection, the last thing a new mom should have to do is pack an infected incision every day (shudder)  What about the very real risk of cutting the baby?  Yes, it does happen!

No labor pain, what about pain after delivery?  The recovery from a cesarean is twice as difficult than a vaginal birth.  Labor is only for a number of hours and yet recovery from a cesarean lasts for days/weeks/months.  How about caring for a newborn (and possibly more children)after a major abdominal surgery? 

Dignity and privacy, there is no dignity lying in bed with a chux pad under you catching the blood post delivery.  There is no dignity in moving post cesarean when you can’t fully stand up or move on your own.  There is no privacy having your stomach sliced into, intestines moved and uterus lifted out. 

Trauma for the child-  that ‘trauma’ also helps to squeeze the amniotic fluid out of the babies lungs.  That trauma also helps with maternal-baby bonding by a release of hormones that can’t be replicated through synthetic hormones and ripping the placenta out. 

Finally, scheduling the delivery.  We all have such hectic lives and scheduling a delivery has a nice ring to it BUT we must ask what harm comes of it.  We must ask if the outcome is worth the risk.  In most cases, it simply is not.

Obviously, the writer of this article has never had a c-section, and didn’t do any research.  As a birth doula who has supported women during surgical deliveries, I can say that there are significant safety risks. I have watched women have significant blood loss and nearly lose their ability to carry more children.  Sure, maybe a woman doesn’t have a single hard contraction, but recovery is long and painful.  Not only are you healing from major surgery, you’re doing it with a newborn who needs round-the-clock care.

And let’s talk about dignity and privacy for a moment, shall we?  To be prepped for a C-section, you are shaved, a catheter is placed w/ a room full of people looking on, and then you are strapped to a narrow table before being draped.  After the baby is extracted, your uterus is removed from your body, checked over and replaced.  Once you are sewn up, several people will work to slide you onto a postpartum bed, your still-numb legs flopping around. How dignified.

And then there’s the babe. Labor and delivery is not a ‘traumatic event’ for an infant.  It’s a carefully designed process that transitions the child from womb to world, squeezing amniotic fluid from the baby’s lungs during the journey to prepare it to breathe on its own.  Watching a baby be extracted through a narrow incision in its mother’s abdomen is traumatic. The child is pulled out by its head.  The chest isn’t compressed during extraction, so surgically delivered infants need invasive suctioning to clear their lungs, which also increases the risk of infection.  A vaginally born baby can be delivered into a warm, dimly lit room and immediately placed to mom’s breast, but a surgically delivered baby is born into a freezing cold, insanely bright room, and then whisked away to a table where it’s suctioned, stimulated vigorously, and in the hands of strangers.  Skin to skin contact with mom may be hours away, depriving both of that necessary bonding immediately after birth.

I’m not surprised you’re not approving comments, because you’re a coward and can’t accept that this article is biased and full of untruths and skewed information not based on real scientific evidence.