What Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Having a Cesarean Birth

It is a sad fact that the way women are allowed and encouraged to birth in our country is changing. With the growing rate of malpractice suits and the rising cots of litigation comes the rise of surgical birth's. The climbing cesarean rate also comes with a price. That is the health and potential complications of mother's and babies.

Your Dr. may convince you that you need a cesarean but there is a lot they won't tell you either. At one time a cesarean might have been considered a life saving operation. It is used much of the time as a convenience to a lot of mother's and Dr's. It is also a very attractive option at 40 weeks pregnant I might add! Though I'm not sure how simple convenience outweighs the risks of major abdominal surgery. It definitely puts more money in your Dr.'s pocket though!

Of course cesareans have their place and could save a baby or mom's life but that is generally not the case. A lot of hospital's put time limits on labor's via administration protocol and many Dr.'s also will use scare tactics to coerce a woman into surgery. How many time have you heard a woman say their baby was too big to birth according to the Dr.? Or worse yet that her Dr. wouldn't let her go past a certain week of gestation? What a disservice to women!

The simple fact is in most cases a woman's body will not grow a baby to big for her to birth. Of course there are other circumstances to consider in certain cases, but generally speaking, a woman is usually able to birth a baby her body has grown. The lack of confidence in the birth process is demeaning. Not to mention robbing women of the experience of vaginal birthing all the while risking the health of mother's and babies!

Your Dr. (or midwife) is very unlikely to explain complications and outcomes with you. It's usually a matter of just signing on the dotted line to give consent. After you sign, things will move along quite quickly.

Sometimes during cesareans, the anesthesia or epidural fails. Other times some women will experience extreme pressure in their chest area. This is terrifying while on the operating table!

During most cesareans there is a surgical field that is blocked by a partition. You will most likely not see your baby emerge from your body and take his or her first breath. Also, your baby is most likely going to be whisked away immediately and poked and prodded. It might be 20 minutes before you are able to see your baby for longer than a moment. You also will not be able to hold your baby until you are stitched back up and brought to a recovery room.

Afterwords you will be given stool softeners and given simple instructions for some exercises, but that is the extent of it. You will also not be allowed to eat for up to 24 hours after surgery until the gasses used in the operating procedure have passed through your body. This is often times quite painful. Even with pain medication!

You will have a catheter put into place before your cesarean and it is very common for many women to develop painful urinary tract infections in the weeks post surgery. Your urine output will also be measured before you are allowed to be discharged from the hospital.

The fact is that birthing via cesarean increases your risks of many complications for both the mother and baby. Infection of the incision site is just one of the many painful ailments you could potentially develop.

It has also been noted that women who have cesarean births are at higher risk of developing appendicitis in subsequent years post surgery. Gallbladder and pancreas complications are also very common. As are the need for blood transfusions.

When you have a cesarean you are basically cut in half. It is common for the baby, your bladder and other things to be nicked during the surgery. Some women are left with lifelong bladder problems due to injury sustained during a cesarean operation.

If that isn't enough those mom's who are not even allowed to labor are risking their baby's health. Many baby's born via cesarean need help breathing and or suctioning because they have not had a chance to have the embryonic fluid squeezed from the lungs properly during contractions.

Going into shock after your cesarean is very common as well. It is almost expected in the OR and recovery rooms! This is a very scary experience for a new mother.

Breastfeeding might be difficult for some mother's after a cesarean. You also may be separated from your baby for a length of time depending on hospital policies. Rooming in is not always an option for those who have had a cesarean birth.

Having a cesarean can also complicate future pregnancies. Like the presence of placenta accreta due to scarring in the uterus. It also slightly increases your chances of spontaneous uterine rupture and hemorrhaging. It also will set you up for a fight if you ever intend to have a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) as you will be deemed high risk automatically in all of your future pregnancies if you have previously had a cesarean. Meaning you may well be forced into an automatic repeat cesarean. Further risking your life!

Some women report having fertility issues after a cesarean as well. It has been noted that particularly "rough" operations can very much damage a woman's reproductivity.

Another complication of having a cesarean are adhesions and pain. You may never feel the same again once you have had a cesarean and may have to live with residual life long pain. Adhesions are the formation of scar tissue that occurs from having a surgical incision and can be very painful and sometimes even require additional surgeries down the road to remove them. Adhesions can also pose complications by growing and adhering to your internal organs.

In any event, you most likely won't be able to walk upright immediately following your surgery and all of your abdominal muscles will have been cut into. Oddly enough physical therapy is not offered to mom's who have cesareans.

For many women it takes several months to recover from a cesarean as well. What no one will tell you is life is back to normal pretty quickly for everyone else around you. If you have other children, it can be extremely difficult. Though this is certainly not the case for every mother who has endured a cesarean birth. Everyone heals at different rates. For a lot of women it is extremely difficult during the recovery process. Just picking up your baby might be painful for a very long time.

The scar may pose a problem for you as well once you are all healed. Generally speaking the way you are sewn up after a cesarean is not attractive. Many mom's report having a little flappy bulge after their cesareans that they are never able to get rid of.

All in all cesarean definitely have their place, when they are medically needed. But it is also wise to know what complications can occur along with a surgical birth as well as the hurdles you might possibly face during recovery.

I had a non emergency cesarean which I chose due to exhaustion after around 30 hours of labor and failure to descend. If I had know the complication's I would endure afterwords I would have never opted for it. It was never even discussed though. I was not told anything at all in fact or encouraged to wait. It is really disturbing to me, after going through the experience myself, that women are not being informed of the risks of a cesarean birth.

The emotional scars are very real as well. Many women come away from their birth's feeling like their body's are broken when that is not the case at all rather overzealous Dr's and unfair hospital protocol. "Failure to progress" is probably the number one reason women have cesareans. It can take a lot of time to get over the feeling of failure for a lot of women. Society often downplay this very serious emotional side effect. Sometime you might hear people say "All that mattes is a healthy baby." But what about the mother? Why is a mother's health not as important as the child she must now raise?

Women who have cesareans are also at slightly greater risk to develop postpartum depression (PPD). In turn you might end up on medication that could have been avoided. The struggles of PPD are very real and consuming. Coupled with the feelings of inadequacy over a failed birth, it is surprising that more emotional support is not offered to mother's who have cesareans.

Cesareans might be practical for both mom's and Dr's but they certainly are not safer than a vaginal delivery at all. Also what is the cost for a surgical birth? Weighing your options and knowing the risks long before setting foot in the hospital is a wise idea. Also knowing your Dr.'s cesarean rate and your hospital's cesarean rate will determine if it it will be pushed on you down the road.

It might also be worth thinking about and exploring how the climbing cesarean rate might effect evolution and birth as we have known it for thousands of years. There may be more consequences that we are not currently aware of for high use of cesarean birth.

If you are planning a cesarean birth it would be a great idea to visit the International Cesarean Association Network at www.ican-online.net for much more information that you can educate yourself about cesarean birth.