Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

Recently in the news was the study that found more women than ever before opt to deliver babies by C section – as high a proportion as 34% of women deliver their babies by Cesarean section in the United States.

Though C sections are indicated when there is any risk to mother or baby or in some cases if the mother has undergone a previous C section, in many instances this artificial method of delivery is not warranted.

There are a number of reasons why C sections are on the rise in the developed world as well as the developing countries of the world even when it isn’t medically warranted.

One reason is the erroneous belief among some women that a C section is safer for the baby.

One Australian study indicated that a significant proportion of women opted for a C section under the misapprehension that it would be safer for the baby.

Reasons why women pick C sections

There are also other concerns that women have, that cause them to pick a C section delivery – many women, due to media portrayals or due to stories they may have heard from family and friends fear labor pains.

Rather than undergo labor pains they opt for a C section. Many women also have apprehensions about incontinence that cause them to reject a vaginal delivery.

For some women it is convenience and yet others it is astrological reasons that make them opt for a C section so that they can schedule the birth of their baby as per their own requirements.

Doctors are also responsible

To some extent it is doctors who are responsible for the rise in C sections – either because of financial gain or for reasons of their own convenience they may suggest a C section even if it is not strictly warranted.

Even if a woman shows a preference for a C section, the doctor should be counseling her about the risks associated with it and the benefits to mother and baby when a baby is delivered vaginally.

The celebrity factor

When celebrities such as Kate Hudson opt for a C section after being told that her labor may be long and difficult, or when Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) has her fourth baby by C section, this appears to be a celebrity endorsement for the C section procedure.

Also when celebrities schedule births, and then appear in the media a couple of weeks later looking like a million dollars, women want to emulate them. So the celebrity factor in the scheme of C sections is not to be overlooked.