Thanks for the article HotI.

I'm confused as to why birth is labelled risky. Is it because the odds are high or the stakes are high? The chance of a mother dying from a maternal related death in her lifetime is very low in developed nations (compared to sub-Saharan Africa for eg). But obviously maternal death is only one piece of the equation with birth, because infant mortality is at stake too.

I think we need to be careful about perpetuating the cultural fear of birth as inherently 'risky'. The rhetoric about women dying in childbirth for centuries has no place in a developed country like Australia with excellent hospitals and educated population. The women at risk of maternal death are those who have no access to medical care during pregnancy or after birth, who get infections, pph and no medical personel to help. That is hardly the reality in Australia. Instead our risks are associated with the over medicalisation of birth...but these are still fewer than no medical treatment at all.

Also I too have heard the figure of csec births being an ideal...I've read an who stat that was saying it should be no more than 10%...based on their understanding of the certain rate of particular issues that def do require csection.