Letters

C-Section

How It's Used

“During delivery, there were signs that the baby was in distress, including an extremely slow heart rate over an extended period of time, according to Ms. Stoltz. Yet no emergency C-section was done.”

“But Cesarean section on a living mother was considered criminal for much of history, because it almost always killed the mother—through hemorrhage and infection—and her life took precedence over that of the child. (The name ‘Cesarean’ section may have arisen from the tale that Caesar was born of his mother, Aurelia, by an abdominal delivery, but historians regard the story as a myth, since Aurelia lived long after his birth.) Only after the development of anesthesia and antisepsis, in the nineteenth century, and in the early twentieth century, of a double-layer suturing technique that could stop an opened uterus from hemorrhaging, did Cesarean section become a tenable option. Even then it was held in low repute.  And that was because a better option was around: the obstetrical forceps.”

"The findings, which were adjusted to control for such factors as socio-economic status, may also help reset a growing tendency for both the medical community and expectant parents to consider inducing birth or have a planned c-section early, even without any medically indicated reason."

"Sure enough, a week later, there I was with my fancy toes and three surgeons removing a baby from the not-designated exit. Ladies, caesareans are not the posh option. That whole too-posh-to-push thing is nuts; it is no less insane than saying, 'I am too posh to have sex. I would rather be stabbed in my kidney.' I have done it both ways, and I tell you from the bottom of my heart, with absolutely no new-age backwash about natural childbirth being beautiful (it really isn't), the c-section is a savagely weird operation. It leaves you with pains so systemic and mysterious that you spend the next two weeks wondering whether they remembered to put both your kidneys back in. And the scar isn't even straight, it's curved like a hideous smile. If I stuck two fish eyes on to my stomach, I could sell my body for Halloween."

Also Known As (AKA)

Caesarean section

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