Prevention

Body: 

Avoid the train wreck of surgical extraction / long-term problems from the beginning
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/weekly/20100531_Dangerous_...

oh, aza, that is chilling.
also chilling is that in my area, c-section rate is above 40%.
the obgyn that used to sign off for my homebirth mw (midwives in NY are required by law to have a dr signing off for them) now only offers birth via section.
upside down world.....

We hear so much about how the risks with caesarian are lower than natural birth. There can be several reasons for this.

Are we talking about the mother and/or baby dying during the birth?

Or are we talking about the risk of something 'going wrong' and the mother ending up in intensive care, or the risk of surgical intervention like episiotomy or a tear, or simply the risk that the vaginal birth won't be perfect?

Are we talking about the doctor taking less risk to his reputation and his insurance costs if the mother is encouraged to go for caesarian?

Are we talking about a birth team who are expecting a successful vaginal birth, or a birth team who are expecting a troublefree CS.

Are we talking about a primigravida with no positive experience of vaginal birth, or at the other extreme the woman in the article having her ninth CS?

Are we talking about a woman who is well-prepared for the rite of vaginal birth that her genes make possible, or a poorly prepared woman who just 'wants it out'?

I think both can be very very safe, but, just like POP repair surgery, you cannot go back once you have had a CS. Your body is altered forever, and the effects of that first CS will be with the woman for the rest of her childbearing days, and forever if the repeated CS capitulates into hysterectomy

...that's before you even think about the awesome experience (IMO) of birthing your own baby. Birthing my own babies ranked for me as life experiences that were in the class of climbing Everest (something that is not on my agenda). I wouldn't have exchanged it for anything.

Louise

that is very scary!!!