hi everyone I'm Melissa welcome back to
cloudmom today I'm answering a question
from a YouTube viewer I hope I say your
name correctly Bhanu Thomas Riya
on YouTube has asked what are the pros
and cons of getting a c-section this is
a great question I'm so glad that you
asked this there have been such
interesting things that have gone on
with the trend with c-sections since I
started having my babies back in 2004
and even earlier so it gives me an
opportunity to talk about that quickly
last March the American Academy of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists issued
recommendations for c-sections and
basically discouraged women from having
elective c-sections or inducements
earlier at earlier than 39 weeks of
gestation and the reason is that there
had been a rapid rise in the rate of
c-sections in this country and some
babies were being born before they were
ready and this was resulting in
pneumonia and breathing difficulties in
many cases so since that point and since
hospitals have doctors have become
increasingly aware of this there's been
this decrease in elective c-sections and
inducements before 39 weeks now the rate
of c-sections is on the decline so this
has been quite a rabid change that being
said I'm assuming from your question
that you're you're questioning whether
this is going to be something you can
choose to do because sometimes you can
assume that you're going to have you
know a vaginal delivery and something
will happen with the baby and the doctor
will make the decision that you need to
have a c-section and there really won't
be much of a choice so sometimes I think
you're not really given that choice but
assuming that you're in a situation
where you've reached 39 weeks and you're
considering whether to have an elective
c-section and everybody's on board
saying it's a good idea what are the
pros so you know here's what I found out
here's some of the pros and again I
didn't have any c-sections I only had
vaginal deliveries but one is the
possible decreased risk of incontinence
decreased risk of sexual dysfunction for
the first three months postpartum
interesting I mean that's really what
some people say you know they're having
a baby you know pass through the vagina
can really
make sex much more painful but more
difficult you know speaking personally
I've done videos about this I think this
does resolve itself over time so weigh
that into your calculation and talk to
other moms reduce risk of oxygen
deprivation to your baby during delivery
big issue reduce risk of birth trauma to
the baby sustained from passing through
the birth canal or from forceps or
vacuum extraction which can happen with
vaginal birth and also another probe
women feel a greater sense of control
knowing when their baby will be born and
they can plan more family help work leaf
etc and here's the big con possible
preterm delivery especially if the due
date calculation is inaccurate as we're
talking about before you could have a
baby with breathing issues or pneumonia
and ends up you know in the NICU which
is a pretty big con and then I would say
another con is that it's really a pretty
serious operation I mean you're cutting
into a very sensitive area of the body
where the flesh is thick and now in
addition to taking care of a young baby
you're also yourself coming back from a
pretty major surgery and I think that it
does vary some women come back and
bounce back very easily for some it's
much more difficult to definitely talk
to a lot more people but that's a
serious thing to undergo and it can be
very painful and it can be hard to you
know get through all of that while
you're taking care of a young baby so
anyway I was just a brief encapsulation
of what's gone on in terms of the
recommendations regarding Alexis
c-sections in you know recent times and
my own experience and I hope it was
helpful to you please let me know what
you decide to do what happens with your
baby how you delivering your baby we'd
love to hear about more about your
experience so please comment on
cloudmom.com and thank you so much for
watching