would you pick a c-section or a vaginal birth?
04 Mar 2010
I am in the 3rd month of my first pregnancy and am worried about the effects on a woman from giving birth vaginally. Before I thought much about it I thought, "of course, I’ll have an unmedicated vaginal delivery, because that’s the best way to go." But the more I read the big, long-term empirical studies with thousands of women in them, there seems to be a strong correlation between vaginal delivery and urinary incontinence and/or vaginal prolapse in a woman’s later life. Now of course many women who give birth vaginally don’t have these problems! But the literature seems to suggest that they are more prevalent in women who did so vs. c-section delivery, and that the WORST outcomes are in women who try to give birth vaginally end wind up having to have a c-section or forceps delivery anyway. Furthermore, I have also read a good bit about vaginal tearing and fecal incontinence, as well as loss of sexual sensation in women who have complicated vaginal deliveries. It makes it sound like it might not be the best bet for a woman, if she can avoid it, all "natural" considerations aside.
I want to make it clear that I am not concerned about the pain associated with vaginal birth. I am concerned about the long term effects on my health. My doctor is willing to perform an elective c section and I have confidence that he is more than capable of performing this (after all) pretty standard operation, but ya know, it’s major abdominal surgery too, with risks and potential complications of its own.
In fact when I asked my doc which was better, he said, "It’s basically a wash – there are benefits and drawbacks of each." I am interested in the reactions of others to this statement since I know elective c sections are both controversial and on the rise. Did you go one way, and wish you’d gone the other? Were you happy with your choice? Let me know how you view this option.
The risks that carrys from a vaginal birth are much lower than from csection not to mention the pain and the fact that you will have to fight for a vaginal birth (if you decide) with your next child as some doctors will not like to do VBACs. What you outline of the risks that a vaginal delivery can cause like prolapse, incontinence (which can also just come from age with a women who has never had kids) and loss of sexual satisfaction are all quite low. I myself have had two drug-free births and my first i tore and needed 6 stitches and my sex life had never been better and then i had my son which i had a small tear and graze with no stitches needed and my sex life is still great. As for the incontinence that can help helped a great deal by doing your pelvic floor exercises/kegals regularly during pregnancy and after and right through your life to help prevent this from happening. I don’t do them too much and sometimes experience a little bit of a leak if i sneeze if i have a full bladder but sometimes people who have never had children get this or even women who have had a csection as the pelvic floor has a lot of strain on it just from the pregnancy its self.
A complicated vaginal delivery all depends on many things but most of it starts from little interventions or just lack of knowledge on the mother behalf. Things like an assisted delivery by forceps or ventouse or very preventable. The key is KNOWLEDGE!
Here are just a few…..
# Follow Optimal Fetal Positioning during your third trimester to avoid your baby getting in a bad position which can highly effect how the labour can go and sometimes make it a harder labour ending up with forceps or ventouse
# Do NOT push on your back. Being on your back makes your pelvis much smaller and makes the chances of your baby getting stuck much much higher as they will often get stuck behind your coccyx bone. Being upright opens the pelvis right up and it is also easier for you to push and reduce the chances of tearing. Squatting can open up your pelvis by a major 30%
# Have an active birth. This means you do not get confined to the bed with monitored and that you get upright, change positions, walk around, go in the shower, hop in the tub, lean over a birthing ball
# Choose the right OB or even better to choose an independant midwife or care lead by midwives as the lowest rates of intervention happens at home with private midwives and with midwifery-led care, and the highest rates of intervention happen in private hospitals with private Obstetricians. However this is not to say that you can’t have a natural birth in a hospital – you just need to prepare yourself and your support team very well and be prepared to firmly stand your ground.
# Just get knowledge in general. Do your research. The more knowledge you have the more equiped you will be on how to have the best birth possible and how to avoid nasty interventions which you may constantly hear about.
I highly suggest you read
"Ina Mays Guide To Childbirth"
A MUST watch doco is
"The Business of Being Born"
and a great website (even though Australian based) which is full of wonderful information many women do not hear or learn about through their pregnancy….
http://bellybelly.com.au/articles/birth
Der Musculus urethralis (Harnröhrenmuskel) ist ein quergestreifter Muskel an der Harnröhre (Urethra). Der sogenannte künstliche Schließmuskel (artifizieller Sphinkter) ist ein Kunststoffsystem, welches aus 3 Komponenten besteht.
Die Harnröhrendruckmanschette sieht aus wie eine miniaturisierte Blutdruck- manschette, sie kann über einen Schlauch mit Hilfe der Pumpe mit Flüssigkeit aus dem Reservoir gefüllt werden und drückt so die Harnröhre ab. Die Druckmanschette wird um die hintere Harnröhre gelegt, die zu diesem Zwecke freipräpariert wird.Wenn alle Schlauchverbindungen hergestellt sind, wird die Haut wieder verschlossen, sodass alle Teile im Körper versenkt sind. Die beiden Schnitte der Operation liegen 1 x in der Leiste und der 2. im Bereiche des Damms, also zwischen Hodensack und Anus.
Der Harnröhrenmuskel ist ein quergestreifter Muskel an der Harnröhre. Der künstliche Schließmuskel ist ein Kunststoffsystem, welches aus 3 Komponenten besteht.
Dr. Michael Feloney explains the surgery to help people with irregular bladder function. During a short operation, a surgeon can implant a stimulator that acts as a pacemaker for the bladder, giving patients the opportunity to lead a more normal life.
“If we look at the most common the urologists take care of, it’s urinary tract infections, and guess who has those. It’s women, not men.” Dr. Vaughan of New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center dispels the common assumption that urology is a medical field dedicated to men. Dr. Vaughan also reviews several urologic conditions that commonly afflict women, from incontinence to kidney stones.
an instructional video
(DVD)
