I had the C-section operation. When I woke up from hte surgery the pain was so intense I fainted. They revived me - I fainted again (they couldn't give me pain medication until my post-surgery blood pressure rose to a reasonable level). It took me 2 weeks to be able to walk without severe pain. It took me a month to get back to normal. Then the scar became infected. Whee.

The female body is built for natural delivery. It is not built to have a scalpel slice through skin, muscle, tendon and fat. Surgery hurts - bad. It leaves big ugly scars. It might be more convenient to schedule a C-section than wait for a baby to begin it's descent down the birth canal - but it's certainly not 'easier'.

Thanks for asking the tough questions regarding the increase in C-sections in this country, although I hope there will be a follow-up piece with some answers.

Many of my friends are reaching that age when they think about having kids, but I have two women friends nowhere near prgenant (they want kids in 2-3 years) who have already decided birth by C-section is the optimal way to go. They want to avoid the pain of chidlbirth. I am trying to tell them that maybe they should make that decision when they get there.

I had a vaginal birth, and hemorrhaged afterwards. Birth is just a messy, painful process, and there is no way around that.

I had a C section, and I'm damn glad I did. When my OB told me the baby would be at least 9 pounds or larger, I made the choice to go with a C section. It wasn't just the fear of pain, mind you, it was the thought of what would remain after pushing out a 9-10 pound baby, natural process though that may be. Both choices have their inherent complications; I chose the one that had the ones that I felt I was more able to tolerate.

I had the best attending doctors (both OBs from my practice were there) along with a fantastic anaesthesiologist who was no-nonsense about what would and would not hurt along the way. My spinal kicked in exactly as it should, and my 9 pound, 12 ounce son was delivered without complications (thank god). The only pain resulting from my C section was having to wait out the 5 days in the uncomfortable shared hospital room until I was allowed to go home.

Now I don't pretend that everyone has had a good experience with C sections, and I also don't think I'm somehow more special because I did. But if I do decide to have another child, I don't want my right to choose a C section to be endangered simply because someone else either had a bad experience with theirs, or because someone else thinks that I'm somehow being coerced into that choice. Let's give women some credit for being able to make their own decisions, OK?

I've been to my obstetrician three times so far, and each time fought with an overzealous ultrasound technician hellbent on introducing an ultrasound wand to my nethers. It's never been needed, but still she demands I strip down and brushes aside my firm refusals with an "oh, we'll try it your way, then we'll do the internal." For now I keep my legs crossed and pants on, next time I'm giving her a print out of the legal definition of rape.

From what I hear, this dismissal of a woman's express medical decision is par for the course when it comes to obstetrics and a primary reason women are looking for alternatives to the hospital birth. C-sections are only the sensationalist tip of the iceberg. In a standard hospital delivery, a woman can expect to be given an enema, shaved, have an IV put in, be hooked up to a continuous fetal heart monitoring machine, given an epidural, given oxytocin to speed up delivery, have forceps or a vacuum machine used on her to speed delivery, have an episiotomy (a painful, slow to heal cut in the perineum) performed on her, and enjoy complete strangers putting their hands in her to check her dilation without so much as a hello. It's not uncommon for cameras, interns, or completely inexperienced doctors in residency to be brought in to treat you like a a final exam, without your permission. If a woman complains about being treated more or less like a farm animal, she's labeled as a control freak. When it's all over, the child is typically taken from the mother for about an hour, though this first hour has been demonstrated to be crucial to their bonding. And if the men find nothing to be riled about here: baby boys have a tendency to find themselves circumcised without a single word to the parents on the matter.

Seeing as I'm facing this for myself in the not too distant future, we're doing the only thing we can: talking about this with the doctor until she's labelled us not only as control freaks but potentially litigious ones. We'll be writing out explicit instructions forbidding all those standard procedures should we find ourselves in the hospital for our delivery, as well as instructing the attending folk to treat us as if we were Scientologists and keep their orders to themselves. (As if any woman needs someone in her face shouting at her to push?!) Naturally, we're making exceptions in case of genuine distress, but not "the delivery is not progressing as fast as I'd like."

theglimmering writes:

"From what I hear, this dismissal of a woman's express medical decision is par for the course when it comes to obstetrics and a primary reason women are looking for alternatives to the hospital birth. C-sections are only the sensationalist tip of the iceberg. In a standard hospital delivery, a woman can expect to be given an enema, shaved, have an IV put in, be hooked up to a continuous fetal heart monitoring machine, given an epidural, given oxytocin to speed up delivery, have forceps or a vacuum machine used on her to speed delivery, have an episiotomy (a painful, slow to heal cut in the perineum) performed on her, and enjoy complete strangers putting their hands in her to check her dilation without so much as a hello. It's not uncommon for cameras, interns, or completely inexperienced doctors in residency to be brought in to treat you like a a final exam, without your permission. If a woman complains about being treated more or less like a farm animal, she's labeled as a control freak. When it's all over, the child is typically taken from the mother for about an hour, though this first hour has been demonstrated to be crucial to their bonding. And if the men find nothing to be riled about here: baby boys have a tendency to find themselves circumcised without a single word to the parents on the matter."

Enemas and shaving are no longer routinely administered, for starters. And it's certainly not been my experience in childbirth, or the experience of my friends and sister to have other medical interventions foisted upon the laboring mother without discussion and consent, except of course in emergencies. I personally had a medically interesting case, and gave birth in a room with about 15 people present, but at no time in my big city teaching hospital was any student, doctor, or nurse admitted to the room without being introduced to me and my being asked if I consented to have them present. My doctor explained everything to me as we went along, and I had a meaningful opportunity to make decisions on my own behalf. A *tendency* to have boys circumcised without parental consent? I've never even heard of such a case.

I think you're getting yourself into a panic without substantiation. Pregnant women should discuss these kinds of concerns with their OB-GYN, and if you don't like the answers you're getting or don't feel asssured that you'll be treated as an individual, that's a good sign it's time to change practices.