A C-section might be recommended for women with certain health issues, such as a heart or brain condition. There's a blockage. A large fibroid blocking the birth canal, a pelvic fracture or a baby who has a condition that can cause the head to be unusually large (severe hydrocephalus) might be reasons for a C-section.
Cesarean delivery is associated with future subfertility and several subsequent pregnancy risks such as placenta previa, uterine rupture, and stillbirth.
The most common indications for primary cesarean delivery include, in order of frequency, labor dystocia, abnormal or indeterminate (formerly, nonreassuring) fetal heart rate tracing, fetal malpresentation, multiple gestation, and suspected fetal macrosomia.
Caesarean section is a relatively safe operation; however, possible complications include infection, damage to your internal organs, an increased risk of respiratory distress for your baby and complications with future pregnancies.
There is no evidence that your height or the size of your baby can predict whether you will need a c-section. Being short or having a small pelvis or small feet does not affect whether you can have a vaginal birth. But you may be more likely to have a c-section if you're overweight or over the age of 40.
Authors note that the Healthy People goal is to reduce caesarians by 2.3% – and that about women with a prenatal diagnosis of anxiety or depression had a predicted probability of having a cesarean section that was about 3.5% higher than women without anxiety or depression.
In some situations, a C-section is not only preferable but mandatory—situations involving conditions like placenta previa, in which going into labor would precipitate life-threatening hemorrhaging, or cord prolapse, which can cause the death of a baby if a C-section is not performed in a manner of minutes.
Maternal reasons for cesarean preference were classified into six main categories: fear of childbirth, safety concerns related to health risk perceptions, negative previous birth experiences, positive attitudes toward cesarean birth, access to biased information and superstitious beliefs in auspicious birth dates.
Some of the main risks to you of having a caesarean include: infection of the wound (common) – causing redness, swelling, increasing pain and discharge from the wound. infection of the womb lining (common) – symptoms include a fever, tummy pain, abnormal vaginal discharge and heavy vaginal bleeding.
Short-term problems include breathing difficulty, risk of head/facial laceration from surgery, breastfeeding difficulties, and delayed bonding. Long-term problems possibly associated with cesarean are increased risk of asthma, obesity, and developmental delays. >>
The most serious complications for the babies born by cesarean are fetal respiratory problems such as Transient Tachypnea (TTN) and Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS), surgical blade cuts, and increased rates of newborns admission in the neonatal intensive care unit (20-22).
You have a right to say no to medical procedures a doctor or other provider thinks you should have. If a doctor tells you you have to have a c-section, you have the option to tell the doctor you will decline the procedure. You can also simply go to the hospital when you are in labor and decline the c-section then.
Does Walking and Exercise Prevent C-Sections? According to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, women who participated in moderate exercise during pregnancy were 34% less likely to have a cesarean delivery than their non-exercising counterparts.
Overuse of c-sections matters because, while often lifesaving in limited circumstances, the surgery also brings serious risks for babies (such as higher rates of infection, respiratory complications, and neonatal intensive care unit stays, as well as lower breastfeeding rates) and for mothers (such as higher rates of ...
Australia's caesarean section rate was higher than the OECD average over this time and ranked 27th out of 34 OECD countries in 2017, with a rate of 33.7 per 100 live births (ranked from lowest to highest) (OECD 2019). In 2020, 37% of all women giving birth in Australia had a caesarean section (AIHW 2022).
A caesarean section is an operation to give birth to your baby. Caesarean section surgery usually takes 30-60 minutes, although the entire process takes a few hours. There'll be many people in the operating theatre with you.
At the beginning of a caesarean section, six separate layers of the abdominal wall and uterus are opened individually. Once the baby is delivered the uterus is closed with a double layer of stitching.
If the power to choose an elective C-section would make a significant impact to your mental health, talk to your doctor. “If anxiety and fear of vaginal birth and labor cannot be assuaged, I believe that a scheduled elective cesarean delivery at 39 weeks' gestation is appropriate,” says Dr. McClellan.
Chronic stress causes long-term changes in the body's vascular system, hormone levels, and the ability to fight infection. These changes could all potentially influence labor to start before the baby is full-term (at least 37 weeks gestation).
Stress may lead to high blood pressure during pregnancy. This puts you at risk of a serious high blood pressure condition called preeclampsia, premature birth and having a low-birthweight infant. Stress also may affect how you respond to certain situations.
Some C-sections are scheduled if the doctor knows that a vaginal birth would be risky. A doctor may schedule one if: the baby is in breech (feet- or bottom-first) or transverse (sideways) position in the womb (although some babies can be turned before labor begins or delivered vaginally using special techniques)
Ana Langer, who leads the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, one of the most telling findings in the study is that more than 10 percent of women undergoing a C-section died from complications due to anesthesia.