Thank you for sharing your passionate knowledge and experiences doulacara.
As a mum of 3, all delivered by C/S - I would like to say that with my 1st I was cared for by a "Community Midwifery Team", due to my wish for a completely natural delivery. Sadly, I now know that my 1st C/S, that was put down to "Failure to Progress" was infact due to Cephalopelvic disproportion. We nearly lost our first bub due to my absolute desire to do it all naturally, and the "Team's" support of my desire. We went through 3 shift changes of midwives - who were all very busy. It was my mother who ultimately chased down the midwife to alert them to serious drops in bub's heart rate, and a serious emergency followed.
This was all ultimately (with the power of hindsight) unavoidable.....except for the fact that at no stage did any of the "Team" think to have my pelvis checked. Maybe this is not a routine procedure - but a friend of mine (with tiny hips) recently told me that her OB has a 'rule of hands & feet'. He surveys the size of the woman's hands and feet......small hands and feet = potential small pelvic inlet. With size 6 feet and child size hands, I could have used this wisdom.
I feel that the 'push' (no pun intended) for completely natural delivery was the catalyst for me nearly losing my precious son - when he was NEVER going to come out the conventional way - no matter how much I wanted a vaginal delivery.
I believe that the serious decrease in the infant mortality rates(at birth) is attributable to medical 'intervention' and monitoring. Yes, C/S rates are up too - but what proportion of those would have ended in tragedy for bub and/or mum anyway? I am most certainly in that category.
PS - I am very particular about making my children understand that C/S is not an alternative birth, rather an emergency situation. I hope that my daughter will delivery naturally when it is her turn.
I am sorry for my convoluted reply, but I keep getting distracted by 3 little pesky redheads! lol!
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