More often than not, childbirth is a blissful and wonderful event in a woman’s life. However, the road to labor and delivery is perhaps one of the most life-altering experiences a woman will ever go through and should not be rushed with a C-section.
The health of the mother and baby are constantly monitored throughout pregnancy because everything that could affect both is carefully taken into account by an obstetrician. However, like most things in life, anything can happen during the pregnancy, particularly during labor and delivery.
Having a child naturally is not only rooted in tradition, but it is beneficial for the hospital in the sense that more rooms are available. According to an Alternet.org article, the World Health Organization recommends that only 15 percent of deliveries should be done by C-section, which is half of the percentage performed in the United States in 2006. The article adds that some doctors feel natural births are too archaic and that all women should have a C-section.
But why are natural births going away with the times? Have we become so obsessed with time management that we feel the need to disrupt the natural process of labor? What about women who plan to have a C-section even though medically they can have children naturally?
Even some celebrities have opted to schedule their children’s births weeks before their due date to minimize stretch marks.
It is one thing for a woman to want to have a C-section, but it is something totally different when a doctor suggests it without any real explanation. Doctors should know that C-sections leave a lasting effect on a woman’s body such as abdominal pains that reoccur sometimes months or years later. Also, the recovery time after a C-section is often much longer than a natural birth, but doctors do not tell their patients this ahead of time.
Perhaps doctors would much rather perform the surgery, have the mother and baby stay in the hospital for three or four days and collect their paychecks. Since when is the welfare of the doctor more important than that of the patient? C-sections should only be performed in cases of an extreme emergency, such as if performing it will save both mother and child.
Latimer, a post-baccalaureate English student, can be reached via [email protected]
