Category: caesarean
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Comments On Maternal Request Cesareans
A couple of days ago, the charity Birthrights published a report into maternal request cesareans. It found that 75% of UK maternity units were going against NICE guidelines and refusing women this option for giving birth to their babies. The story was covered by TV and online news, including this piece by Rebecca Schiller from…
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Consent
Is it consent if you don’t really want to, but you say ok anyway. Because it doesn’t seem worth the argument, and you don’t want to piss off the person who’s asking? If you make a thought out choice to agree to a big thing, can it be assumed you also consent to something lesser…
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The Slightly Sweary Caesarean Recovery Plan
I’ve had three caesarean births. I still wish I had a detailed plan about how to recover from one. If you look for the pros and cons of C-section V vaginal birth, the recovery is always a big deal. Caesarean recoveries are much harder we’re told. But that’s about all we’re told. When I first…
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Michael Odent Wants Me Dead
I’ve written about Michael Odent before here and here. For those not familiar with him, he is a retired French obstetrician, credited with, among other things, introducing water births. This weekend he got himself a piece in the Guardian to promote his new book: The Birth Of Homo, The Marine Chimpanzee. I’ll be honest, I’ve not…
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Thinking About Birth, Third Time Around
I’ve been awaiting the invention of fetal teleportation for more than seven years now. I mean seriously world, I can instantly access all of human knowledge, every pop song ever recorded and eleventy zillion cat videos all from this slab of metal on my lap. But when it comes to the seemingly minor task of…
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Caesareans May Be Altering Human Evolution. But Not Much, And I Don’t Care.
According to reports on the BBC (and elsewhere) today, the number of women having C sections is causing our species to evolve bigger heads and / or smaller pelvises and so we are becoming less able to give birth without surgical help. The Miami Herald got particularly upset declaring: “C-Sections Are Increasing Because We’re Messing…
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Choosing A Caesarean, And Having that Choice Refused.
I seem to write endlessly about caesareans on here, it was never my intention with this blog, but hey that’s the joy of having one’s own little online vanity project. Often I’m writing in response to news articles on the subject and almost always those talk about the terrible rise in C sections, how unecessary…
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The National Maternity Review – What Does Choice Mean?
The NHS National Maternity Review has called for women to have more choice and greater continuity in their maternity care – yet it was very quiet on some of the choices many women want or need. So what does choice really mean for pregnant women and will the options recommended in the review ever be…
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The Microbiome: Seeding Some Questions
The current next big thing in health news seems to be the Microbiome. According to a growing number of reports it could be involved in everything from Schizophrenia to Obesity. So there has been speculation about where it comes from and if how a baby is born, either vaginally or by C section, could determine…
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C Section Rates – The Economist Edition
So I was going to take a break from blogging this month. It’s the school holidays and I’ve been trying to juggle childcare, work and my new sideline reviewing festivals (check out the fab Festival Kidz website btw). Frankly, I’m exhausted. But, MrSB sent me an article in the Economist and now I’m sneaking back in…
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