It's still a surgical procedure - General anesthetics are,
afaik, more dangerous than local ones. And recovering from the surgery itself is neither pain-free nor danger-free.
Look, I am not saying that c-sections are a bad thing unless medically required. I am just saying there are other alternatives than c-sections OR natural birth.
Furthermore, interesting as that debate might be, I think the OP has a point in the sense that, if things are getting worse, it is worth investigating. Are women less "courageous" than in the past? Maybe. OTOH, we got better pain-avoidance techniques. But I would not discount the fact that NHS might be doing such an horrendous job of it all that women feel worse than ever, regardless of the actual observable amount of pain modern births inflict on them.
In my case, my daughter, my second child, was born in London. During the pregnancy, my wife never saw a doctor - Or maybe once, had a blood test and maybe a single scan. It was pretty shoddy stuff and the couple of group discussion with a midwife as regulator did not really compensate. OTOH, you could say that, since all was well, nothing more was needed.
When my wife felt the contractions coming, she phoned and said to the hospital she was coming. The nurse tried to desuade her to come! Even after she pointed out that it was her second pregnancy! When we arrived, the "midwife", who was a spanish guy, said we had done well to come - The time was very near. My wife, who had tried natural birth the first time around and eventually requested an epidural when the pain became too much decided that, this time, discretion was the best part of valor and asked for an epidural straight away. While an anesthesist was rounded up, she was given oxygen to shoot herself up. The anesthesist arrived fairly fast but then proceeded to explain in great detail everything he was going to do. My wife kept telling him that she had had one before and just get on with it, the guy was relentless in his desire to explain things up. When he finally got around to put the epidural in, it was a bit late - Our daughter was born 10 mins later... i.e. through the lackadaisical attitude of the anesthesist, my wife had a "natural birth". That being said, the whole thing took less or around 2-3 hours (afaicr) as opposed to nearly 24h the first time around.
The spanish "midwife", who was very nice and helpful (not too many births at the same time so he could concentrate a bit on us) but he did disappear for a long long while just after the birth to deal with some paperwork. Apart from the fact that the procedures then applied to my daughter were very light compared to what happened in France and the fact that my wife was kicked out within 36 hours (mixed blessing: She was kept longer than normal - albeit that's still shorter than the 3 days turnaround she had in Paris but, given the state of the hospital, St Mary's near Paddington, I am not sure she wanted to stay any longer), it went alright.
Still we were furious when a couple of days later, my daughter had an eye infection. But the hospital acted all surprised when we said that they ought to put some sterile or desinfecting water in the newborn's eyes.
A further funny fact occured with the health visitor - It's a great idea. But the woman who came looked at our daughter and said "hmmm... Belly button is a bit red but it's probably nothing. Don't worry about". My wife looked at her and said: "Errrr. It's red coz I put some Mercurochrome." So I know Mercurocrome is no longer standard in English speaking countries but still - You'd expect the medical personel to know about it. And, if you ever get your skin as red as what happens when mercurocrome is used, please panic. You're probably about to die. But, no, it was just "a bit red". Fucking unbelieveable.
Now, it's not like the birth we experienced in Paris had been flawless. The hospital we were in was overrun by delivering mothers and a couple of these births did not go well. My wife was "alright" so she was effectively a bit neglected. During labour, it was alright. But after the birth itself, the midwifes decided that the baby and mother were in good health so they could wait. Probably true but after an hour or so of waiting, I had to insist for someone to come and give us some cover - My son was getting cold. And to be told then "stop making a fuss, your boy is superhealthy" doesn't cut it. Yeah, sure, and I am grateful for that but his skin is getting cold and that ought not to be alright.
Still, Paris got 3 pregnancy checks, the anesthesist didn't take a month and a half to put the epidural in and they did keep my wife and the baby for 3days of rest. If I had to choose, I know which service I'd choose...
Linear Mode
