On the Today show this morning, I happened to catch a segment about the burgeoning rates of c-sections for pregnant women.  It blew my mind.

Way back when I had Lily, I remember our Bradley instructor talking about how many OB/GYNs were quick to wheel a laboring mom into the operating room.  She felt the rates were rising because so many doctors were in a hurry, and weren’t willing to “wait around” while letting nature take its course.  I also knew some mothers who chose c-section because it made it easier for them schedule friends and family.  I knew some people who were induced to accomodate either their own schedule, or their doctor’s (because god forbid, who wants to go into labor at 3 AM???). 

The news this morning featured an OB/GYN who decided to have a c-section with her first baby because, in her words, she “didn’t want to risk problems with urination after childbirth.”  My mouth literally fell open.  Okay, so sometimes after childbirth you might pee when you sneeze or laugh for a while until your pelvic floor muscles tighten up.  The alternative?  Having your baby cut out of your stomach?  Oh my god. 

It’s no big secret that I had a tummy tuck last June.  So I’m not unfamiliar with elective, invasive, and major surgery.  But the only person my surgery affected was ME.  I think it’s just difficult for me to accept that we are now so concerned with timing and everything being perfect that we, as women, are more prone to scheduling the one thing that was never meant to be scheduled:  the birth of a child. If I took one thing away from Bradley class, it was that children will be born when they are ready.  That might be 39 weeks - it might be 42.  Trying to force a baby before they’re even born to conform to a schedule - yours or your doctors - is about the most selfish thing I can think of. 

And what next?  To avoid stretch marks in pregnancy, we’re going to start removing the babies at 20 weeks and incubating them elsewhere?  Come on.  It’s just ridiculous.  Having children changes your life drastically.  It changes your body, too.  Faking yourself out before your baby is even born that you can control everything is laughable.  And talk about reality when you realize you can’t get the sleep you used to! 

Before anyone flames me on this post, I’m speaking only about elective c-sections.  I’m not talking about emergency or medically-necessary.  Before I realized what I was looking for in an OB/GYN, I went the traditional route with Lily.  I had a well-respected OB who consistently warned me (during my 15 minute, cattle-call appointments in her office) that all of us “natural mothers” who were intent on having the least medical interventions were always the ones who ended up with c-sections.  I always thought it strange that she seemed to enjoy telling me that.  Much to my joy, I escaped both a c-section and an epidural.  And when pregnant with Arden, I switched to a hospital that was friendlier to non-medicated childbirth AND had the midwives help me through it all.  The difference between a midwife and an OB was huge.  I still actually miss them all - but not enough to get pregnant again.