Is it better to have a Cesarean delivery or a normal delivery?

A Cesarean delivery has potentially many more complications than a vaginal (normal) delivery. It is major abdominal surgery done for a medical reason. It is done if either the mother’s health or the baby’s health is jeopardized by a vaginal delivery.

Cesareans are also called C-sections. There are references to Cesareans back to the first century AD. There were usually done to cut the baby out of the mother’s uterus after she had already died in childbirth.

The word Cesarean is from the Latin verb caedere, which means “to cut.”

In 1581, Francois Rousset wrote about cesarean deliveries. He describes the procedure after he received information from letters sent to him. He never actually saw one. By the 17th century there were more reports about cesareans, but it was still a very rare operation. The reason it was so rare was there was no anesthesia. Excessive blood loss and infections killed the mother.

In the mid 1800s diethyl ether allowed doctor’s to experiment with putting patients “to sleep” during surgery.

The British doctor, Dr. John Snow, is credited with being one of the first to discover the connection between the amount of ether administered to the patient, the temperature of the environment and how it impacted the health of the patient. He was an amazing man. He also is credited with being the first to connect contaminated water and cholera.

In 1853, he attended Queen Victoria during the birth of her son Leopold. He used chloroform as an anesthetic during her Cesarean delivery. It was a huge gamble on his part, but he was confident. She was thrilled with the results and had him attend her again in 1857 when she had another Cesarean for her daughter Beatrice.

Even though the use of anesthesia made it a more bearable procedure, many women still died from blood loss and infections. In 1922, Dr. John Kerr figured out how to cut into the uterus without a massive blood loss. His incision technique is still used today. In 1928, penicillin was discovered by Dr. Alexander Fleming. By the 1940s penicillin became widely available and it had a dramatic affect in reducing infections.

In 1965, the national average rate of Cesareans was 4.5 percent by 1988 it was 24.7 percent. Last year the CDC reported that the Cesarean rate in the United States was 32.2 percent.

The surgery itself has become safer so it is more common. It is important to also acknowledge it is rare for women to die during childbirth since the techniques for doing Cesareans have improved. However it still is major surgery and it still carries risks not associated with a normal vaginal delivery.

Discuss your concerns with whoever is providing you with prenatal medical care. They need to hear from you what your anxieties are so they can help you feel confident with the care you receive.

This story was originally published April 24, 2017 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Is it better to have a Cesarean delivery or a normal delivery?."