When is it Necessary to Deliver a Baby by Cesarean Section?

My younger sister has two children, aged 29 and 25. Both are boys, and both were delivered by cesarean section. She had wanted a third child - a girl, she had hoped - but her particular condition prevented her from realizing that dream. Her attending physician recommended that her first boy be delivered by cesarean section because she was then having a prolonged labor. Under the same obstetrician, her second boy was delivered likewise by cesarean section, largely because of that similar surgery four years earlier.

The second delivery by cesarean section is quite comprehendible; but someone asked my sister if it was possible for her to have avoided the cesarean section on her first delivery, given her condition then of having a prolonged labor, by means of any medical method of inducing normal delivery. It was clearly explained by her doctor that a normal delivery was very risky for her at that time since her condition was made even more precarious by her having elevated blood pressure.

So when is it necessary to deliver a baby by cesarean section? There are actually a number of answers to this question. The attending physician may recommend performing cesarean section (the surgical removal of a baby from the womb through an incision made in the mother's lower abdomen and in her uterus) if, in her professional opinion, it isn't possible, or isn't safe, for a baby to be delivered normally through the mother's birth canal.

Doctors have identified certain conditions that make vaginal (or normal) delivery risky. Maternal health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, HIV, and herpes, are some of the conditions that will necessitate delivery of a baby by cesarean section. The other conditions include those three in my sister's case, an abnormal position of the placenta in which the cervix is blocked, a breech position, multiple babies, a slowing heart rate of the fetus, fetal distress as when the umbilical cord is compressed, and if the placenta fails to supply enough nutrients and oxygen to the baby. But the most common reason why delivery by cesarean section is necessary is if the mother's pelvis is too small for the baby to pass through.

Since cesarean section is a form of major surgery, it involves risks or complications. Following the surgery, for example, a mother may develop blood clots in her legs, pelvic organs, or even in her lungs. Her uterus may become infected. Compared to vaginal delivery, the mother's recovery time from cesarean section is longer, which is at least a month. The mother will most certainly require medication in the early stage of the recovery period when she experiences agonizing pain. Hospital stays for mothers who go through cesarean section average five days.

It isn't only the mother who's at risk in cesarean section. The baby's alertness may be diminished by the general anesthetic given to the mother prior to the surgery. The baby also faces certain risks associated with premature births when cesarean section is performed before the infant's full development, the most common ones being low birth weight and respiratory problems.

My sister's attending physician clarified that it is possible for a woman who has had one cesarean section to still deliver vaginally for as long as the reasons for the previous cesarean operation no longer exist - a condition that was not met in my sister's second delivery. [Read the Original Article]