What is the difference between a caesarean section and a natural birth?

Compared with traditional natural birth, cesarean section is a method of delivery that has become increasingly popular in recent years. If a pregnant woman wants to have a cesarean section, she must first be mentally prepared, because cesarean section will leave wounds on the belly, so she must have psychological expectations. In addition, before a cesarean section, you must prepare enough blood, because cesarean section generally causes a lot of bleeding. The following is a detailed introduction to the difference between cesarean section and natural birth.

The difference between caesarean section and natural birth:

Is cesarean section better or natural birth? This is a multiple-choice question that every expectant mother has a headache about. According to statistics from the World Health Organization, China's average cesarean section rate is close to 50%, and in some hospitals it even exceeds 80%, which is three times the WHO's cesarean section rate warning line, making it the "world's number one in cesarean section rate." This means that half of the women in China do not give birth naturally, but through cesarean section, making it even more difficult to decide whether cesarean section or natural birth is better.

Normal delivery is a natural way of childbirth. It is done through the female vagina, and the mother can recover quickly after delivery. Many people who have experienced this say that babies born naturally are smarter because their heads are squeezed by the birth canal. During the natural delivery process, the baby's head will be squeezed by the birth canal. This squeezing will increase blood circulation in the baby's head, stimulate brain cells, and enhance the ability to cope with hypoxia after birth, which is beneficial to brain development. That's why everyone says that babies born naturally are smarter.

Cesarean section is a surgery that women need to undergo to give birth. It is a means to solve difficult labor and maternal and fetal complications. After the effect of the postoperative anesthetic wears off, the wound will continue to be painful and recovery will be slower than a normal birth. Babies born by cesarean section often have fluid retention in their respiratory tract, making them prone to symptoms such as suffocation and wet lungs.

Natural childbirth has fast recovery and low cost

Compared with cesarean section, vaginal delivery is beneficial for subsequent pregnancy and delivery as well as artificial abortion after unexpected pregnancy. For the mother, cesarean section does not recover the uterus as quickly as normal delivery, and it is also prone to cause complications and sequelae for both mother and baby. The amount of postpartum bleeding in cesarean section is also greater than that in natural birth, and a urinary catheter needs to be retained after the operation, intravenous drip is required, the hospitalization time is longer than that in natural birth, and the cost is significantly higher than that in natural birth.

Less trauma in vaginal delivery

Some mothers use forceps or vacuum extraction to assist in delivery, and the perineum wound is very painful. However, compared with the scar from lower uterine segment surgery, this trauma is still small. Women who have undergone cesarean section face the possibility of high risk of pregnancy again throughout their reproductive years, such as uterine scar pregnancy and pernicious placenta previa. For mothers, cesarean section is very traumatic. The operation increases the risk of postpartum hemorrhage and infection, and the postoperative pain and recovery time are also longer. Moreover, the uterine surgical scar from cesarean section brings many risks to future pregnancies, such as uterine scar pregnancy and uterine rupture during pregnancy.

When talking about cesarean section, mothers may understand more about being able to endure the pain, because the doctor will give her anesthesia, and the doctor will make an opening in her lower abdomen to suck out most of the amniotic fluid in the uterus and take the baby out. This process is very fast and will be completed in one to two hours, but it will also leave a large scar on her belly.

Although the two surgical methods are different, both require the mother to endure tremendous pain. Mothers who give birth naturally will experience tremendous pain due to perineal tearing and uterine contractions during the delivery process, but mothers who give birth by cesarean section also have to endure the pain of the incision after giving birth. The pain is not simple, so being a mother is a very great profession.

Generally speaking, if you want to have another child after a caesarean section, you must wait three years before getting pregnant again, because the incision on the uterine wall after a caesarean section does not heal well in the short term. If you get pregnant too early, the fresh scar can easily rupture in the late pregnancy or during delivery, causing massive abdominal bleeding and even threatening the lives of the mother and baby.