Interesting Caesarean Section Surgery Points
More than 27% of all births in the United States are caesarean section surgeries. C-sections also happen to be a topic of heated debate as to when and under what circumstances the surgery should be done. Obstetricians have different opinions as to whether a woman might be considered “too small” to deliver her baby vaginally, and doctors diagnose “failure to progress” at completely different times during separate labors, which explains why the C-section rate may be higher at some hospitals and lower at others.
More and more women today are asking for C-sections as an elective form of childbirth to eliminate pain and take control of the deliver so there is no waiting game, which spurred a movement to do Caesarean deliveries on maternal request. However, little research has been done to support or dispute the safety of elective C-sections.
What’s involved in the surgery
There are several types of C-sections: classical, lower uterine segment, emergency, crash, repeat, hysterectomy, and extra-peritoneal. The differences lie mostly in the incision that is made below the skin and subcutaneous tissue on the mother’s uterus. The classical C-section is a transverse cut resulting in vertical line in the midsection from above the bladder and up, which gives the baby more room to get out but is rarely used anymore because of complications that can result from the surgery. The most commonly used today is the lower uterine segment section, which is a horizontal cut just above the bladder that doesn’t bleed as much and repairs itself quicker.
An emergency C-section is done when labor ceases and the baby needs to come out; a crash C-section happens when something goes wrong during labor and the mother is rushed off to emergency to save the lives of mother and baby; a Caesarean hysterectomy is when the surgery is followed by the uterus’ removal to prevent bleeding or separate the placenta from the uterus. Repeat C-sections are performed through the old incision scar.
Caesarean Section Risks
The most common complaint about a C-section is pain, lack of mobility, and lengthy recovery time after surgery. Because a C-section is a major operation, pain at the incision site can be intense and recovery can take up to several weeks, and if a woman has had a prior C-section delivery she has a higher chance of a uterine rupture. The risks increase if the surgery is done in an emergency situation, because there could be a problem with the anesthesia if the patient’s stomach isn’t empty or there are other factors involved.
History of Caesarean Section
The first Caesarean section surgery was performed shortly before 1316 to remove a baby from the womb of a mother who died during childbirth. It is rumored that the first Ancient Roman Caesarean section was named after an ancestor of Julius Caesar who was born by Caesarean section; however, Caesar’s mother Aurelia lived through childbirth. Additionally, Raymond Nonnatus, a Catalan saint who lived from 1204 to 1240, got his last name from the Latin words non natus — meaning “not born” — because he was delivered by Caesarean section when his mother died giving birth to him. The 1316 death of Marjorie Bruce, mother of Robert II of Scotland who was delivered by C-section, was said to be the inspiration for Macduff in Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth.”
It was so common for the woman to die during a C-section that the first recorded evidence of a woman surviving the procedure was in 1500 in Switzerland when a pig gelder performed the surgery on his wife after an extremely long labor. The C-section mortality rate was very high in 1865 at 85% in Great Britain and Ireland, and for most of the 16th century — that is, until Max Sanger introduced the uterine suture in 1882, anesthesia evolved, surgeons adopted a low transverse incision in 1912, and women were given blood transfusions and antibiotics.
During the 19th century, C-sections were being done on a regular basis in the Great Lakes region of Africa, where the mother was given alcohol as an anesthesia and herbal mixtures to heal her. Amazingly, a woman named Ines Ramirez was the first woman ever to perform a successful C-section on herself in 2000 and lived; her son also lived.
Reasons for a C-section
If delivering the baby vaginally might cause the baby or mother to be harmed, a C-section could be recommended. Reasons for a C-section are: previous high-risk pregnancies, failure to progress or prolonged labor, if the mother or baby is in high distress, if there are complications from pre-eclampsia, if the cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck or prolapsed, if the uterus ruptures, if being induced fails, if forceps or vacuum don’t get the baby out, if the baby is breech or in a weird position, if there is more than one baby, if the baby is too big, if there are abnormalities in the umbilical cord, if the mother has any sexual transmitted diseases that could be passed to the baby, or if the mother has had a previous C-section.
