When it comes to delivering your baby, options are a vaginal birth or Cesarean section (C-section), usually as the situation demands. The recent National Family Health Surveys have shown a growth rate of Cesarean section deliveries in India (17.2% in 2015-2016 and higher in 2019-2020). Although it exceeds the WHO-recommended limit (10-15%), the organization doesn’t relate this to reductions in the infant or maternal mortality rates “at population level”. Discuss with a gynecologist in New Delhi, the risks involved in a C-section before opting for it. Here is everything to know about this kind of delivery.
What is a Cesarean Section?
The surgical delivery involves cutting your abdomen above the bikini line and your uterus to lift out the baby.
Types of Cesarean Sections
Planned C-Section
It’s chosen in advance after discussing with the obstetrician and generally performed from week 39 of your pregnancy. Babies born before that may not be developed enough for life outside the mother’s womb.
You’ll receive the required fluids and medicines intravenously. A catheter (a narrow tube) will be inserted to keep the bladder empty during treatment. You may be given local anesthesia (a spinal block or epidural) to numb pain during the procedure. Else you’ll be put to sleep with general anesthesia. A screen will be placed across the waist. So, you can’t see the operation. After delivery, the placenta is removed and the cuts are stitched close.
You may choose a planned C-section due to:
- A complicated normal delivery with the last baby.
- Feeling unable to deal with pain during vaginal birth.
- Concerns about vaginal tearing in a normal delivery.
- Worries that labor may cause pelvic floor issues like incontinence.
Emergency C-Section
It’s a last-moment decision taken by the medical professional when you need the procedure immediately. You may quickly receive a kind of anesthesia as time permits. The baby may be delivered within 2 minutes after an incision is made in your womb. (This usually takes 10-15 minutes during a planned surgery.) The baby might have to spend a while in neonatal intensive care.
You may require an emergency C-section if:
- You’re carrying multiple babies and complications happen.
- You’re carrying a medical emergency (like serious pre-eclampsia or acute bleeding).
- Your labor fails to progress normally (like when your umbilical cord is prolapsed or your cervix cannot dilate normally or you have placenta previa which obstructs the uterine neck for vaginal birth).
- Your baby is so large that it can't fit through your pelvis.
- The baby has a risky position for labor (like a breech or bottom-down position).
- Your baby carries a health risk (like an abnormal heart rate detected on the monitor).
Risks Involved
A gynecologist in New Delhi may educate you in details about C-section risks like:
- An infection of the uterine lining or at the operated site
- Excessive bleeding
- Reaction to anesthesia
- An injury to the baby
- Damage to the urinary bladder or ureters (rarely)
- Deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in the leg that may move to the lungs and cause complications (rarely)
Ensure to visit one of the top labor and delivery hospitals to give birth to your baby with minimal risks.
