Across the world, these days, most of the deliveries are being done through caesarean section and not normal delivery. Usually, women give birth to only one or two children now, so the focus is not on the number of children but the health of every baby. It is important to ensure that the child has no distress, injury and no slowing down of the heart rate, no less oxygen transporting to the brain and is not releasing stool in the womb. These problems exist and if they happen, can lead to huge concerns. They can cause disability in the child in later years.
In fact, even if the baby starts crying after a delay of few minutes post birth, it can lead to certain ill effect on the development in future. Not only the child, but the mother’s health is of extreme importance. Difficult normal deliveries with tears in vagina, forcep deliveries or prolonged labour can cause damage and result in loss of urine control later (stress urinary incontinence) or looseness of vagina and prolapse (womb coming down). There is a high risk of severe bleeding post delivery in these cases. Onlymyhealth editorial team spoke to Dr Rishma Pai, Consultant Gynaecologist & Infertility specialist attached to Jaslok, Lilavati and Hinduja Healthcare Mumbai, to know about the trend of cesarean deliveries over normal ones.
Risks of normal delivery
There are many reasons as to why a lot of women and experts prefer cesarean delivery instead of normal ones. Some of the most common factors behind a planned caesarean section are breech presentation or transverse lie. Transverse lie is a medical term used for baby being upside down or lying across in the womb. Other causes include baby being IUGR (intrauterine growth retardation) or the drying up of amniotic fluid around the baby.
Also read: Here Are 5 Myths About Cesarean Delivery
In a lot of cases, the mother's pelvis is so narrow that the baby’s head is very difficult to take out. There are also many twin pregnancies, in which patient with placenta pravia (a condition in which placenta lying very low in the womb). This can also create a fuss and a huge risk to deliver the baby vaginally.
Why do doctors do an emergency C-section?
In addition, there are cases in which the doctors hve to take an immediate decision to do an emergency cesarean section even when the woman is in labour. The reasons behind this are:
- The baby’s heart beat falling
- Baby passing stools in the womb
- The labour not progressing at the meeded pace
- Placenta pravia
- Narrow pelvis of the mother
- Transverse lie
- Less amniotic fluid
These days, most of the women have to go through cesarean section under spinal anaesthesia, in which the lower part of your body is numb. It is actually considered safer for both mother and the child. In most cases, it can leave a scar on your lower abdominal area. In a C-section, a paediatrician should be available immediately to take a look at the baby after delivery.
Normal delivery is not a wrong delivery method. But, it should be done only if it is possible easily and without any complications or trauma to the mother and child. It is still considered as the best option, however, a properly done C-section in some patients can save many lives and make sure that you have a healthy baby.
