Now people want to take away delivery options too?

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/052106dnmetcaesarean.810a271.html

After years of declining popularity, the Caesarean – the surgical delivery of a baby through the mother's abdomen – has made a comeback among mostly affluent, well-educated women. They're mothers seeking a delivery that's convenient, predictable and quick.

Their detractors say they are choosing vanity over biology. But these mothers have the support of their doctors.


Never says, exactly who "their detractors" are other than a difference of opinion from some doctors.

Anyone run into wingnuts saying "dem womens need to go through labor!"

C-sections are a necessary medical procedure and must be availible, but it is MAJOR surgery and it is being used far too often for mere convenience, IMO.

What kind of question is that?

The number of C-sections performed have gone up steadily in the past decade-- most out of convenience.

Having a C-section is major abdominal surgery; the woman cannot even drive for a good 4-6 weeks. There's a lot of problems with people just electing to have C-sections for either convenience or vanity.

I don't know why my post was so controversial :shrug:

and I studied the subject comprehensively before declining an automatic repeat c-section. My second baby was, as my research supported, and my doctor agreed, a much healthier baby having experienced attempted labor before a c-section was performed. Doing them electively introduces all kinds of risks, such as premature birth from an incorrect due date and the chance of cutting a mom's bladder, bowel or her baby with the scalpel during the procedure.

Despite what the article would have you believe, reliable studies show that the risk of incontinence is present because of pelvic floor stress, not labor or pushing, and that just simply doing kegel exercises will prevent most incontinence.

This isn't about taking L&D choices away from women. It's about practicing obstetrics with an eye to health, not convenience.

Because of insurance reasons.

Women often don't have choices in these matters because of money and doctors.

Congrats to you WCS for doing what you did :hi:

To each their own.

I had a fucking nightmare of a first birthing experience, and then accidentally became pregnant about 7 months later. I just wasn't psychologically over the horrors of the 1st labor/delivery experience, so I opted for a repeat C. I felt empowered going into the hospital.

Every woman is different. I absolutely abhor it when people try to second guess a mother's choice of deliver, kwim?

Every woman must make their own individual, informed choice.

For many women, they are either not told of the options or are refused the choice and this must change :hi:

(just across the river) to find a doctor who would try a VBAC. That's an option that's more quickly, and needlessly, disappearing for women.

mostly due to insurance reasons.

They'd have to put me to sleep with a dart gun.....

I'm a lifelong raving lefty. I had to have a c-section for my first child, after 18 hours of labor he was breech and in distress. It was a huge disappointment for me.

I spent my entire second pregnancy doing everything I could to assure that I'd be able to give birth naturally and succeeded, to my great joy. It was one of the most amazing and thrilling experiences of my entire life. There is an awesome power -- and even eroticism -- to natural birth, I am so grateful that I was able to have that experience.

It is absurd and downright insulting to imply that experiencing natural childbirth is some kind of negative option. I think c-sections of convenience -- not necessity -- are selfish and indicative of a lack of being in tune with nature and one's feminine power.

If a woman is not willing to embrace the natural processes of her body, then she is severely shortchanging both herself and her child, imho. What we need in this deadly patriarchal culture is MORE celebration of women's power. Giving birth is an act of sacred warriorhood.

sw

criticizing women for their childbirth choices isn't terribly helpful either. Women should not be made to feel like "failures" for their choices of delivery. It's a bit like the sahm/wohm argument.

Some women opt for a repeat C for other reasons other than convenience. As I noted above, I felt empowered by choosing a repeat C.

that was medically mandated in one way or another. If my second birth had turned out to be impossible to do vaginally, I was prepared to do a repeat c-section. The most important thing, after all, is that the baby makes it into the world safely.

I was specifically addressing the message in the OP, that women were choosing surgical deliveries for "convenience". I just think that's rather sad.

sw

I don't think they wrote "fears repeat of hellish labor so has opted for repeat c" on my chart.

Just because it was for my convenience doesn't mean that I did it for vanity, or to obtain a specific day or anything. I wasn't worried about my hips spreading, or incontinence.

In reading your story, it sounds *nothing* like the kind of choice that the rich suburbanites in the OP are making. You had good sound reasons for your second c-section, it wasn't just a matter of "convenience", it was a necessity for your own physical/emotional health. It was clearly an necessary and honorable choice.

Peace?

sw

c section. i dont like the idea, ..... for me. i didnt do it. had it natural. the most awesome experience in my life was first child. went from 4 to 10 in a flash. i have never felt anything like it. just awesome. didnt happen on the second. not any woman i talk to had that happened. i wouldnt have missed that for anything..... but.... it is none of my business what another woman does if doctor says ok. and i am not worried about the baby either. might even be found to be less stressfull, (though not natural) for the baby.

but.... if i condemn this, another can condemn my epideral, and to that i would say f* u. lol loll lol. i would not support "them" dictating at all what a woman/doctor choice is

:applause:

Elective c-sections have a woman lying down, arms extended and strapped down, while numbed and paralyzed, in the absence of any medical indication, rather than allowing her to experience her own strength.
The encouragement of elective c-sections are the encouragement of female passivity and victim-ness. While they have their place, they should be a rarity, not as a common practice. Childbirth is a natural, empowering process that women should not be discouraged from taking an active role in.

It took me years to deal with the sense of disappointment that followed my first c-section because I never got the chance to learn what my body was capable of, and the result was that my child couldn't breathe, partly because he was unexpectedly premature, and he wasn't able to nurse after our necessary separation of several days in the NICU. Is it really 'choice' for a woman to pick a c-section electively in the absence of correct information? I wasn't apprised of the risks of prematurity, unintentional laceration, breathing issues, etc.

My second child, also born by c-section, followed a 'trial of labor' (I hate that term- all labors are tried!) Because of the stress of the labor we experienced, his lungs were cleared. Because we requested to hold him while I was being stitched, we bonded and were able to attempt nursing right away. He was healthy from the get-go, and that was, according to our dr. mostly due to his experiencing labor.

As I've stated before, electing to have a repeat C in my case was very empowering. Your entire first paragraph is insulting.

after the mother has been educated as to the risks and benefits of all the options. That often isn't the case. It wasn't for my first baby. The supine position of a c-section is symbolic of the passive role a woman assumes when she makes her decision in the absense of accurate, comprehensive information.

liked -- I'm so glad you *got* it!

Your point about "passivity" is absolutely right on! I certainly meant no criticism of women who *can't* successfully deliver vaginally -- after all, that's what happened to me with my first child.

I love the story of your second birthing, I don't think people realize how beneficial labor is to the child -- not to mention how empowering it is for the woman who is willing to honor her own strength.

sw

at least in Dallas.

From the article:

Those are all red, red, red areas. I don't think you can make a political issue out of this.

for convenience. The same ones who say women should be married and have children in their twenties and those that have them in their 30's, 40's or later were "rejecting motherhood," while they were young.

what I do. She's 100 percent on the mark.

If someone wants to chose one for convenience, that's their choice. I live here too, I know women that have had them and been at a party in close to the same dress size they wore before their pregnancy within a week.

I planned to give birth the "natural" way, but my body had different ideas. 24 hours after my water broke, with lots and lots of hard labor in that 24 hour period, my doctors told me they thought they should take me to the OR and do a c-section, as my body was just not dilating the way it needed to. Since the water had broken, and since after 24 hours the risk of infection to the mother and the baby increases, off we went to the OR.

As to women who CAN choose, though I personally find the idea of "vanity" births (or whatever you want to call them) a bit repugnant, I also think it's none of my damned business if a woman makes that choice. It's not for me to judge her.

I had the same problem as you, except that I went through 24 hours of induced labor before they broke my water = nearly 48 hours of labor with no results. Gee, no wonder I "chose" to have a repeat c. :rofl:

You win the prize, girlie!

I'd have chosen a repeat had I had any more children.

We're ready to beam Junior out of Mom.

If ever transporter tech became a reality, that's how I would want to give birth.

It's whatever the individual woman wants. My wife had natural childbirth, with zero drugs. We were told that labor and delivery goes more quickly without the drugs, and that was the case with us. My wife was in the delivery room for like 90 minutes both times. She said that there was pain, but that it was nowhere near as bad as her morning sickness. But some women choose drugs or C-section or birthing in a jacuzzi - whatever works for them, we should all embrace. I see nothing wrong with C-section. It has surely saved many lives.

I was a Labor and Delivery nurse for a few years. I had my first C-section for failure to progress after 48 hours of labor. He was sunny side up. I had the second VBAC after 20 hours later. Six weeks after that I grabbed my husband by the throat and said, "Listen. I don't care if you die tomorrow. I've done it both ways and they both suck and I am NEVER doing this again!" Then I went to my Doc and scheduled a tubal. It was liberating.

(I don't think I was ever as good a nurse in obstetrics after the second one. I could not be firm enough with the patients. I sympathized too much.)

WTF?

man or a woman.


:pals:

not known, a screen name or what I have chosen to be referred to as.

not a big deal.