A question we always get asked. Am I pro natural birth? The answer to that is both yes and no.
My honest answer to that question is that I am pro safe birth. There are times when a natural birth is not the safer option: breech presentation, placenta praevia, abnormal lie, 2 previous Caesarean sections, a big baby, especially when the abdominal circumference is significantly larger than other fetal measurements on ultrasound scan, to name a few.
When all things are equal and there is no contraindication to normal birth, there is enough evidence to prove that a normal delivery is superior to a Caesarean section.
There is no way of determining antenatally whether a planned normal delivery will be successful. I’ve been surprised by the petite mother who delivers successfully, even though I secretly had my doubts and the taller mom where we were all quite confident of success and were proven wrong. The only real determinant of successful delivery is labour.
At the end of it all, the only thing that really matters is the safe delivery of the baby and a healthy mom, regardless of the mode of delivery. And I try to stress to my mom’s that there can never be “failure” when it comes to birthing your baby. Yes, things did not go according to plan, but as a mom, you have just achieved one of the greatest accomplishments of your life: being part of the miracle of life, which is beyond judgement.
Published by Dr. Amaal Schroeder