Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from Brazil and the elective c-section rate at *private* hospitals is over 90%. It is assumed this is the route all middle-class women prefer. I had my first baby there and did just that. I was shocked when I had my 2nd baby here in the DC area and docs actually asked me if I had a birth plan.

I lived in Brazil and have a lot of Brazilian friends and always found this interesting. None of them-including several doctors- ever considered anything other than a section. They view vaginal birth as something to be avoided and for poor or very rural people. Something you would do if you couldn't afford a good hospital and were likely to have tons of kids, which is not generally desired by the middle class and up. Increased risk after multiple doesn't really phase them because none of them ever planned or wanted 5+ kids.

The maternal mortality rate in Brazil is appallingly high: 30/100,000 -- 30 women die out of every 100,000 giving birth (for comparison, in the U.S. it is 17. In the UK it is 6). With all those c-sections you would think they could save more moms. But the reality is performing too many c-sections increases deaths, just as does performing too few of them.

Would have to look at the data, but really not convinced wealthier women having c-sections with competent surgeons in private hospitals is driving this maternal mortality rate in any statistically relevant way. I'd expect the 14 year olds in the favelas and in rural communities are largely driving this, the 30-something bank execs in Sao Paulo and Rio? Not so much.

Not for middle class women, who generally have 2 kids.

Hi OP-

I will skip all the reasons to undergo a C-Section - or not. It is your body. Hard stop. I am having a planned C-Section after an emergency one last time around.

I would broach the issue with your provider at the next scheduled appointment and explain why you are making this choice. If he/she is not supportive, try out another practice. I would suspect that a provider in a private practice (e.g., Reiter Hill, CWC, Foxhall) will not even blink from your request. My understanding is that GW is more pro-vaginal birth so perhaps it is not for you

good luck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from Brazil and the elective c-section rate at *private* hospitals is over 90%. It is assumed this is the route all middle-class women prefer. I had my first baby there and did just that. I was shocked when I had my 2nd baby here in the DC area and docs actually asked me if I had a birth plan.

I lived in Brazil and have a lot of Brazilian friends and always found this interesting. None of them-including several doctors- ever considered anything other than a section. They view vaginal birth as something to be avoided and for poor or very rural people. Something you would do if you couldn't afford a good hospital and were likely to have tons of kids, which is not generally desired by the middle class and up. Increased risk after multiple doesn't really phase them because none of them ever planned or wanted 5+ kids.

The maternal mortality rate in Brazil is appallingly high: 30/100,000 -- 30 women die out of every 100,000 giving birth (for comparison, in the U.S. it is 17. In the UK it is 6). With all those c-sections you would think they could save more moms. But the reality is performing too many c-sections increases deaths, just as does performing too few of them.

Anonymous wrote:I am from Brazil and the elective c-section rate at *private* hospitals is over 90%. It is assumed this is the route all middle-class women prefer. I had my first baby there and did just that. I was shocked when I had my 2nd baby here in the DC area and docs actually asked me if I had a birth plan.

I lived in Brazil and have a lot of Brazilian friends and always found this interesting. None of them-including several doctors- ever considered anything other than a section. They view vaginal birth as something to be avoided and for poor or very rural people. Something you would do if you couldn't afford a good hospital and were likely to have tons of kids, which is not generally desired by the middle class and up. Increased risk after multiple doesn't really phase them because none of them ever planned or wanted 5+ kids.

Anonymous wrote:Hello everyone!

After much research (I am myself a nurse) I decided that I'd like to have my baby via scheduled c-section but haven't had the chance to bring that up during my first appointment because I somehow was afraid of being judged.

I reflected on that extensively and came to the conclusion that, as long as my decision is informed and with full awareness of the risks and benefits, nobody else should feel ethically entitled to force me to go through extra suffering just because they think so.

At this point, I'd like to collect ideas/recommendations of how to find an OB who won't shame me/judge me or intimidate me into changing my mind.

If you successfully delivered via scheduled c-section, what was your process?

Just ask...that is what I did. Told my doctor a Vaginal birth terrified me and he said okay. C section it is.

I am from Brazil and the elective c-section rate at *private* hospitals is over 90%. It is assumed this is the route all middle-class women prefer. I had my first baby there and did just that. I was shocked when I had my 2nd baby here in the DC area and docs actually asked me if I had a birth plan.

Anonymous wrote:What garbage from the skeptical OB poster. Csection And vaginal birth are both safe methods of delivery. They each have different risks. Do you think if surgery were safer for the baby anyone would still give birth vaginally? Plus labor takes longer and is less profitable for hospitals and doctors. Come on, use your head.

Abdominal surgery causes adhesions - scar tissue. The scar tissue can threaten future pregnancies and puts you at higher risk of needing a blood transfusion in a future delivery or if you need a hysterectomy later on. The risk increases the more of them you have.

How is what I said garbage, exactly? I pointed out each mode of delivery has different risks. You clearly didn’t read the link or the research it cited.

What garbage from the skeptical OB poster. Csection And vaginal birth are both safe methods of delivery. They each have different risks. Do you think if surgery were safer for the baby anyone would still give birth vaginally? Plus labor takes longer and is less profitable for hospitals and doctors. Come on, use your head.

Abdominal surgery causes adhesions - scar tissue. The scar tissue can threaten future pregnancies and puts you at higher risk of needing a blood transfusion in a future delivery or if you need a hysterectomy later on. The risk increases the more of them you have.

I would not have dreamed of asking for a csection, and I really enjoyed giving birth.

Then there was the uterine prolapse, cystocele, and rectocele. Then the surgery for that. Of course with the hysterectomy the uterine prolapse is no longer an issue, but the other problems were back in pretty short order. Apparently this is common.

If you'd rather do the section, go for it. And everyone else, leave her alone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is judging you, you are getting perspectives from people who have had c-sections that it isn't the easier option. It's also conspiracy minded to think that doctors have some sort of sadistic agenda that keeps them from doing elective sections. They don't like to because all of the data clearly points to them being more dangerous for the mother, despite what people on here might say.

She's getting a good number of perspectives from people who have had emergency, unscheduled c-sections which is so far from a planned section it is basically irrelevant. For some women it indeed may be the easier option, but you don't know that until you're giving birth vaginally and about to end uo with lifelong pain and damage.

Once again, because people don't seem to get it. Yes, there are risks of complications for vaginal birth. Those risks are FAR LESS LIKELY than the risks of complications with a (even planned) c-section. Of course there are horror stories from both experiences, but the data shows that vaginal delivery is by far safer.

If 100 women had a vaginal birth and 10 had complications from that, that's still less than the 20 women out of 100 who had complications from the c-section. No one is saying that there isn't a risk to vaginal, were saying it is statistically way less likely.

Citation please? No one is saying C sections are without risk to mom. But something like 1/3 of women will end up with one regardless of their plans to deliver vaginally (and emergency c section carries greater risks that planned). C sections statistically are safer for baby. And 1 in 9 women who deliver vaginally end up with pelvic organ prolapse, many end up with incontinence, etc. C sections are protective to the pelvic floor if done prior to labor to some extent. Many women with uncomplicated vaginal births will end up seeing a urogynecologist and having pelvic floor reconstructive surgery (often multiple surgeries) to correct that, or to fix their incontinence, or will end up with a hysterectomy. Those surgeries come with risk as well. So it’s a question about what risks are you most comfortable with. And who do you wish to confer risk to during delivery (yourself or baby). Her body, her choice.

https://www.skepticalob.com/2018/03/what-if-c-sections-are-better-and-safer-than-vaginal-birth.html

I don’t know for sure because I didn’t go this route but I strongly suspect the OBs at Bloom OBGYN would do this without judgment. They were really good about presenting options at every step of the way and did not seem to judge any of my choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is judging you, you are getting perspectives from people who have had c-sections that it isn't the easier option. It's also conspiracy minded to think that doctors have some sort of sadistic agenda that keeps them from doing elective sections. They don't like to because all of the data clearly points to them being more dangerous for the mother, despite what people on here might say.

She's getting a good number of perspectives from people who have had emergency, unscheduled c-sections which is so far from a planned section it is basically irrelevant. For some women it indeed may be the easier option, but you don't know that until you're giving birth vaginally and about to end uo with lifelong pain and damage.

Once again, because people don't seem to get it. Yes, there are risks of complications for vaginal birth. Those risks are FAR LESS LIKELY than the risks of complications with a (even planned) c-section. Of course there are horror stories from both experiences, but the data shows that vaginal delivery is by far safer.

If 100 women had a vaginal birth and 10 had complications from that, that's still less than the 20 women out of 100 who had complications from the c-section. No one is saying that there isn't a risk to vaginal, were saying it is statistically way less likely.

Anonymous wrote:No one is judging you, you are getting perspectives from people who have had c-sections that it isn't the easier option. It's also conspiracy minded to think that doctors have some sort of sadistic agenda that keeps them from doing elective sections. They don't like to because all of the data clearly points to them being more dangerous for the mother, despite what people on here might say.

She's getting a good number of perspectives from people who have had emergency, unscheduled c-sections which is so far from a planned section it is basically irrelevant. For some women it indeed may be the easier option, but you don't know that until you're giving birth vaginally and about to end uo with lifelong pain and damage.

No one is judging you, you are getting perspectives from people who have had c-sections that it isn't the easier option. It's also conspiracy minded to think that doctors have some sort of sadistic agenda that keeps them from doing elective sections. They don't like to because all of the data clearly points to them being more dangerous for the mother, despite what people on here might say.