#116 by Rachel Bronwyn » Aug 13, 2015 8:21 am
I'm so sorry to hear that.
One of my biggest heartbreaks is that people don't understand, just because you CAN push it out doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD. While it's true that a lot of women who have c-sections could have pushed the baby out, there's another huge reason we perform them and it's got nothing to do with a woman's ability. Yes, vaginal birth reduces the risk to the patient but in lots of cases it can injure, even kill, the fetus. It's the reason natural childbirthers insist c-sections are often unnecessary. Unnecessary to the patient, sure, but necessary if they wanted a healthy, live baby. Even if the baby is born alive, birthing injuries can be debilitating or deadly. A live birth doesn't indicate no one was harmed in the delivery.
My dad's well over six feet with massive shoulders and a big head and my mom has very narrow hips (not short though) so no one should have been surprised when she couldn't get my sister out. My mom's sister (an OB/GYN) actually thinks it was malpractice to let her labour past about eight hours. The long labour was super traumatic to her body - she was sick for months afterward - and obviously wasn't going anywhere and my sister could have been seriously harmed. The doc offered to let her labour with me for the experience though he was convinced she wouldn't get me out and she kind of laughed at him. She had a planned c-section a couple weeks before I was due and I was already over 9lbs.
In addition to my dad being way bigger than my mom, we now know the shape of the inlet of my mom's pelvis just isn't suited to delivering babies much less big ones.
what a terrible image