Personally I am dead against c-section deliveries unless it absolutely necessary and it’s imperative to save the baby and the mother involved. However, within my circle of cousin sisters and friends , I have seen a upswing of c-section babies due to pregnancy related complications and interestingly more women in my close circle have opted for c-sections themselves.Poor lifestyles in men and women with lack of physical exercise, poor nutrition, stress-filled lives and excessive smoking and drinking have severely attributed to first women struggling to conceive and second when they do conceive, they have complications that were unheard of in my mother’s era.
In a age of instant gratification, women are also opting for c-sections themselves. The primary reason being that they want to skip the labor pains and want a short cut to having a baby. I wonder why that is… it could also be due to the fear of being in a unsupported hospital environment that lacks compassion and care for the child bearing woman.
More and more hospitals are also pushing women into c-sections because c-sections bring in more revenue. They don’t have to wait-in and watch for the labor to progress and plus they are able to utilize the hospital bed for a longer period of time thus creating additional avenues for revenue.
An article just published in the Pacific Standard reports that the biochemical mechanisms linked to birth and breastfeeding suggests that over-treatment in the delivery room is having lasting, harmful effects on both mothers and children. For the third year in a row, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of women who give birth by Caesarean section in the United States is hovering at around one-third of births. That’s a 60 percent increase in 15 years, and a public health crisis. Why hasn’t the number budged? Last year, it seemed that every professional organization publicly agreed (the obstetricians here, the nurses here, and the nurse-midwives here) that this is a problem and took responsibility for their part. They blamed, in a word, over-treatment. For more information.