C-Section or Not

[Eveline 9]

In a similar vein, I remember that I was confused by why you called a Kreißsaal a Kreißsaal. I knew what a saal was but what did kreiss mean? It wasn't obviously referring a circle. Then I looked it up and it came from the verb 'kreißen' an obsolete word for 'to be in labor'. Ok, well, why would that go out of style? A few months later, I was speaking with a woman from Beligum about it who spoke Flemish. She said 'kreissen' in Flemish means 'to scream'. Ah...ha...

So they should call it "Kreischsaal" . Are women still going in a different room to actually give birth in Germany or do you just stay in your birthing suite like here in the US?

[Eveline 9]

Wow, lots of replies on this subject! I didnt think i'd get that many. I havent gone and read them all yet, but thanks for the responses.

It's a touchy subject, probably since there are sooo many women who have experienced either one or both birth methods and I don't think it is easier either way. Sure, a planned c/s might be the 'easiest' way to give birth since you can prepare, you are not as exhausted but I think I would drive people nuts knowing that I will give birth on a certain day and even time...If I have to have another c/s I want it to be over with early in the morning. Preferrably around 6:30am, haha.

[Marlita 0]

It shouldn't even be a "choice"! From my own personal experience I'm astounded at the number of women who are asking for this procedure!! THEY are the ones asking the Dr.'s! Why? Well, several have told me...so that they can pick the day and time, so that they won't have to have a "stretched" #######...so they don't have to go through labour. UGH! I had 2 c-sections because I HAD to. I HAD no choice! I WISH I could have had vaginal births. Why anyone would be given a choice or have it done unless it was medically necessary?

Edited to add that I fully support midwifery! What a wonderful profession marash!

Just to update why I asked this question:

My younger sis just had a baby via CS. She was going for vag but it just wasnt happening. She got an epi cus she cant stand pain (wuss) and hadnt dialted more than 3-5CM. The baby heart started to drop and the doc was rude and didnt seem to want to do CS cause he was almost off work. He wanted to keep her waiting for the next doc to come in an take over. Well the CS was emergency not planned and my sis and baby are fine. She has the normal pain but after about 2 days she was up and walking (hunched over). After a week she was walking around the block. I was shocked to see this cause I always thought CS were weeks of recovery. Now granted she is not 100%, but she can lift baby and walk fine.

Before this i started reading and seeing and hearing about more and more women having CS, even "electing" to have them. I though that to be odd, so i wondered if the CS has changed since when they originally were perforemed. I see the scars on the newer CS' and they are very small...like 1 inch! Thats amazing. So I was wondering if the CS was safer than before and how can a woman just "elect" to have one now?

[Eveline 9]

There was an article in a recent TIME issue called "choosy moms, choose c/s" or so. I couldn't find it earlier. According to that, women ARE scheduling more c/s than before.

Recovery from the c/s takes weeks, if not months. Sure she can walk but I remember nursing my son and he kept kicking me in my scar. That was painful. Then, the area around the scar was very numb for about a year. Now, it's all fine, can hardly even see it.

You are not supposed to lift anything heavier than the baby, can't vacuum, drive a car etc, not to mention care for another older child. Your sister would have probably recovered faster from a vaginal delivery.

A lot of c/s happen after induction. You get into the cycle of 'too much intervention' meaning induction, epidural (cause the pain is terrible), catheter, stalling of labor since you are on your back, breaking of waters (maybe) and then baby's heart rate dropping = c/s. I was one of those moms. I was excited when they told me I was being induced after being miserable and already 40 weeks pregnant (only 1cm dilated and 50% effaced, basically NOTHING and not ready for giving birth). Well, the outcome was a happy, healthy 8lbs 14oz babyboy with apgars of 9/9 so the c/s didn't bother him I guess but it sure bothered me. A lot of women I talked to didn't understand my feelings of guilt and told me to be happy since my baby was healthy. That guilt has NOTHING to do with the baby but everything with the mother. Of course I love my son more than anything but those thoughts if 'what if' wouldn't let me sleep at night. I talked to my DH A LOT (I basically talked his ears off) and I talked to everybody who wanted or didn't want to hear it about it and I read a lot on the subject. That made me feel better.

[Eveline 9]

Here's the TIME article. I think it is very much pro c/s but that might just be my opinion. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1731904,00.html

[Dr. Obvious 49]

So they should call it "Kreischsaal" . Are women still going in a different room to actually give birth in Germany or do you just stay in your birthing suite like here in the US?

Hehe. I heard some interesting theories when I was at the hospital. Some people assumed it was named after a Herr Doktor Kreiss or that women used to give birth in circles. Hmm.

I gave birth in the first room they put me in. I'd hesitate to call it a birthing suite because that would be like calling a Geo Metro a Bugatti Veyron. It was OK though for the short time I was in there. I knew what I was getting into when I decided to go there instead of to Herdecke down the road a bit. I thought about that hospital and actually visited it. I liked the concept, but at 6am, I was lazy and still wasn't really convinced this was the real deal. I had just been to the hospital the afternoon before for what I thought might be labor and they said it was nothing. I didn't want to drive all the way out there for nothing again! :bonk: :bonk:

[kerewin21 2]

Any physician who offers someone a C-Section for no good medical reason is not a good doctor. If that happens you should go running! Although it is a low-risk procedure it's more high risk than a vaginal delivery. It's very tempting for the Ob's to do as many C-sections as possible. They're scheduled ahead of time often so they're less likely to be up all night or at the hospital all weekend waiting for a baby to be born, the Ob makes a heck of a lot more money for a C-section than a vaginal delivery, and they don't have to deal with that difficult moment when they ask themselves, is this baby going to be OK if I wait for him to come out vaginally or should I just go ahead and do a C-section (because I could get sued for a HECK of a lot of money if I make the wrong decision here, whereas if Mom gets a blood clot or infection or other complication from surgery it's not as big of a deal legal-wise).

As for CBR's list:

* Infection. The uterus or nearby pelvic organs such as the bladder or kidneys can become infected.

Uterus yes, but also a high risk of that with vaginal birth (though less). Bladder/kidney infection is not a likely complication of C-section.

* Increased blood loss. Blood loss on the average is about twice as much with cesarean birth as with vaginal birth.

This is true, but vaginal deliveries also lose a lot of blood, it's just part of the process. Women of childbearing age are usually young and healthy and have no trouble tolerating the loss of blood.

* Decreased bowel function. The bowel sometimes slows down for several days after surgery, resulting in distention, bloating and discomfort.

I agree with this one.

* Respiratory complications. General anesthesia can sometimes lead to pneumonia.

Very unlikely; general anesthesia is almost never used in a C-section. It would only be used if mom or baby was in imminent danger and couldn't wait for local anesthesia; in my hospital general anesthesia is used in about 0.05% of deliveries

* Longer hospital stay and recovery time. Three to five days in the hospital is the common length of stay, whereas it is less than one to three days for a vaginal birth.

Usually it's 1-2 days for vaginal, 2-3 days for C-section, so not a huge difference. I do agree that people who have C-sections have more pain post-partum (usually) and it takes them a little longer to get back on their feet.

* Reactions to anesthesia. The mother's health could be endangered by unexpected responses (such as blood pressure that drops quickly) to anesthesia or other medications during the surgery.

Again, very uncommon with the local anesthesia (epidural) used. Blood pressure does drop quickly but again, in a young healthy woman it's unlikely to do more than give a headache.

* Risk of additional surgeries. For example, hysterectomy, bladder repair, etc.

I agree with this, although you have to remember that some vaginal deliveries require hysterectomy or extensive repair of the vaginal wall/ rectum.

In cesarean birth, the possible risks to the baby include the following:

* Premature birth. If the due date was not accurately calculated, the baby could be delivered too early.

This makes no sense. The baby comes when the baby comes, unless it's at 41-42 weeks, at which point the labor would be induced anyway and you'd have the same problem that the dates could be miscalculated.

* Breathing problems. Babies born by cesarean are more likely to develop breathing problems such as transient tachypnea (abnormally fast breathing during the first few days after birth).

Transient tachypnea is very common in all newborns and is considered normal. It's true that C-section babies have more breathing problems, but you have to remember that some babies are born by C-section for a reason; they were having trouble inside. If they were having trouble inside they're also going to have trouble outside.

* Low Apgar scores. Babies born by cesarean sometimes have low Apgar scores. The low score can be an effect of the anesthesia and cesarean birth, or the baby may have been in distress to begin with. Or perhaps the baby was not stimulated as he or she would have been by vaginal birth.

True, but same as above, it's confounded by why the c-section was needed.

* Fetal injury. Although rare, the surgeon can accidentally nick the baby while making the uterine incision.

Definitely true and a legitimate concern. Of course, babies born vaginally can have their clavicles broken or the nerves to their arms damaged as well.

[JVKn'CVO 11]

It really scares me to see the high porcentage of c sections here

when we have kids I think I might look into a birth center rather than hospital. Justin says he would support my place of choice.

Saludos,

Caro

Edited July 3, 2008 by JVKn'CVO

[Eveline 9]

Definetely look into a birth center. I wish my insurance would cover it. I didn't have another choice than going to a military hospital since it was right there. Now, I tried to find a midwife for a VBAC but the state of TX doesn't allow me to birth in a birth center as a VBAC so it would have to be a homebirth BUT we live sooo far out and the nearest hospital would be too far away so I ended up in the hospital with an OB again.

I would definetely recommend a birth center and a midwife though.

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

My daughter did a vbac in hospital. You really have to look for a dr/hospital that will "allow" it. Mine were all normal and with the youngest one I was dancing within a week of giving birth.

[Marlita 0]

whats a vbac? I thought it just meant vaginal birth, but i think theres more to it now.

Whew!! All this talk has really got me freaked out to have a baby now. whether vag or CS. My insurance supports birhting centers so thats good. I guess when the time comes we'll have to look into this alot more.

[Marlita 0]

ok, so i figured out what vbac means. I went to the website of the hospital near me and guess what...they have a video of a CS!!! OMG!! My stomach is still queasy. It was a crazy thing to see it and the whole time I'm watching my heart is racing and blood pressure rising.

If anyone wants to see it here you go: C-Section Video

After the video there's a cool and shocking story told by a woman of her own birthing story.

Well at least its good to know that this birthing center is a really well known and good one. I pass it everyday i go to work and they are even extending the childrens center cause there is lots of construction going on there.

[nunyab 0]

Not sure if this helps but I've had four children four different ways

1. Emergency c/s after 24 hours of labor

2. VBAC with epidural

3. 10lb naturally

4. Planned c/s

of all three number 2 was the best....lol she still is. Good luck with your choice ther are + and - to each.

[Hanna&Mohamed 0]

I would say v-birth also!

[Dr. Obvious 49]

My younger sis just had a baby via CS. She was going for vag but it just wasnt happening. She got an epi cus she cant stand pain (wuss) and hadnt dialted more than 3-5CM.

Let's not start piszing contests about other women's pain. I hate this misogynic idea that women should just just STFU and suffer though this ####### even when there is no real benefit to it. Some racist British azzhole called Grantly #######-Read in the 1940s came up with the idea of natural childbirth because he was appalled about the number of good white British women not breeding and sought to lure them back into the game by making up this idea that women in "inferior" cultures experienced no pain in childbirth. Only because British society conditioned women to believe childbirth was painful, meant that it was painful. Of course, there was absolutely no evidence for his theories, but like a lot of woo, it caught on anyway. This movement was not started by good intentioned women. It was started by a racist dickhole who thought women had no higher purpose than that of a broodmare. Let that roll around in your head a bit.