Countering C-sections through a sensible way Natural is Priceless

The beauty of creating life is a unique gift bestowed on women. A woman’s body is designed to birth in the most natural way. However, overcome by several apprehensions, women are occasionally wary about labour and birthing, especially natural delivery. It is completely natural to experience pain while birthing. Many have the misconception that without an epidural, they would pass out from the pain.

Having epidural causes the newborn babies body to delay in its ability to heal itself. There are certain side effects due to which the baby could be affected in the future due to the use of narcotics during labor:

• Central nervous system depression
• Respiratory depression
• Impaired early breastfeeding
• Altered neurological behavior
• Decreased ability to regulate body temperature

Also narcotics make the mother feel groggy and not completely present while giving birth. Therefore, instead of resorting to artificial aid, natural birthing can be made a more tolerable and pleasurable experience if pregnant women can practice right relaxation and breathing techniques during pregnancy.

Natural birthing is only proven beneficial for the health of the mother and for the infant too. Babies born through natural delivery are proven to have better immune system, without the aid of any external drugs that could later on the affect the growth of the baby with long-term implications.

Children born surgically miss out on most of the good bacteria from the mother’s womb which will help them counterfeit different types of allergies and illnesses.

Advantages of having a natural birth are explained in detail below:

• Having a natural birth reduces the chances of having a cesarean delivery in the next delivery from 30 per cent to 5 per cent.
• Mothers and children have the ability to recover quickly and healthily when in natural birth.
• Studies have reported that the babies born through cesarean have higher chances of contracting harmful skin bacteria when not delivered through the vagina.
• Babies born through cesarean are more likely to develop asthma, obesity, and Type 1 diabetes.
• Recent studies reveal that natural birth triggers the release of a protein in a newborn’s brain that improves brain development and function as it grows into adulthood. This protein regulates behavior which is related to memory, learning, spatial awareness and stress response, released as the hippocampus is stimulated in the birth canal. Thus, the cesarean deliveries have impaired expressions of the same protein.

Childbirth is truly the gift of god. However, choosing the method of delivery is a woman’s privilege. It is her right to know the options available, perform a critical analysis of the choices before her and decide what is best for her and the baby. However, in the best interest of a woman’s health and that of her baby, a doctor’s prescription will always state, “natural is priceless.” The writer is , Gynecologist, Apollo Cradle – Hyderabad.

By Dr Jayasree Reddy