surgical birth

Yet the widespread belief that surgical birth is inherently unwanted and inferior, reinforced in most birth books and parroted by celebrities, leaves little space for mothers who could not have had children otherwise.

To counter the effects of a surgical birth on the infant’s microbiome, a growing number of women whose babies are delivered by cesarean are requesting that medical staff transfer microbes from the mother’s vagina to their infants soon after birth.

The finding suggests that the arduous experience of labor — that exhausting, sweaty, utterly unpredictable yet often strangely exhilarating process — may give children a healthy start, even when it’s interrupted by a surgical birth.

So that even though the mom had developed a complication that risked her out of home, unless she immediately needs a Cesarean, she can still receive midwifery care inside those hospitals, with a physician available should we need her or him for a surgical birth.

More time needs to be spent on women's health issues and less on preserving low surgical birth rates and saving money.