Saturday's screening on a documentary on natural birth versus c-section is a step in the right direction for an island that tops the lists for the highest number of c-section births, and I am strong advocate of natural birth. But despite my deepest wishes to give birth naturally, I unfortunately had to give birth by c-section both times I had my two children.
It was never in my plans; I did hypnotherapy, bought a TENS unit and drank raspberry leaf tea in the final month, all to prepare me for natural birth, and I was really looking forward to the experience.
But in my eighth month, I contracted a double-strain infection from my daily swimming pool sessions that is notoriously difficult to treat and requires very strong antibiotics, which I couldn't take during pregnancy. Giving birth naturally carried risks of stillbirth, pneumonia or meningitis for the infant.
The final month of pregnancy was awful for me and was spent in and out of the Dr's office having repeated swabs and tests in the hope that the infection would shift. My Dr, hubby and I kept the hope of a natural birth alive until the very last week when I had to face the realisation that it wasn't to be. Although the risk of my unborn child contracting the infection was small, any risk was a risk not worth taking.
The reaction from people was anger that once again someone was being forced to have a c-section, and some tried to insist that the risk was a fabricated one before finally accepting that it didn't matter how I gave birth, as long as the baby and I were safe and healthy.
So, I had my son by c-section (a horrible experience), breastfed for a week, stopped for two weeks to take the strong antibiotics (all the while pumping and discarding my milk, which was heartbreaking), then resumed giving him breast milk after the antibiotics were out of my system. When I was due to give birth to my daughter two years later, I had a c-section again to avoid tearing the stitches – the policy of my particular doctor – although I know some women do give birth naturally after a c-section.
My sister had a c-section too for her first child at the beginning of this year due to her placenta maturing too quickly, the baby being breach and the umbilical cord being wrapped around the baby's neck three times.
So, whilst I applaud all efforts to reduce the rate of c-sections on the island, and don't doubt that in some cases it can be avoided, we are also lucky to have this option for the cases where medically, a natural birth could be dangerous for mother and/or child. If my sister and I lived in the 'olden days' or in a country with an overworked state health system, we may not have given birth safely.
And whilst it is true our rate of c-sections is high and should be reduced, we also have to look at the infant mortality rate of Cyprus, which is very low. Yes, our private doctors here are overcautious and perform c-sections because they cannot risk their reputation, out of greed for money and also for the convenience of their schedules, but at the other end of the spectrum, you have state medical care in other countries that does the opposite and is willing to take risks for the sake of saving money and as a result of being understaffed.
I don't agree with opting for c-sections so readily, but at the end of the day, there are always two sides to every coin…
First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 19/09/14
