One very valid reason for having a cesarean section to deliver your baby is called cephalopelvic disproportion or CPD. What it means is that your baby is too big to fit through your pelvis in a vaginal delivery.
One very valid reason for having a cesarean section to deliver your baby is called cephalopelvic disproportion or CPD. What it means is that your baby is too big to fit through your pelvis in a vaginal delivery. However, this term is often given for cesareans that could have resulted in a vaginal delivery with a little more patience.
Here is the typical scenario of a woman who ends up with a c-section for CPD. She goes to the hospital in labor or has her labor induced and she doesn't progress according to the charts physicians follow in their medical practices, which in part is dilating one centimeter per hour. Since physicians rarely are patient and wait for women to birth on their own they will end up doing a c-section claiming the baby was too big to be born vaginally.
However, there is no certain way to ever know this is fact and the woman is left with the impression she is unable to deliver a baby vaginally because the baby was either large or had a large head circumference. If she is fortunate enough she will have a VBAC, vaginal birth after cesarean, next time, and birth a baby just as large as the one who was delivered by cesarean.
If pushing goes on for too long the physician will also make the call that the baby is too big to fit through the pelvis. Sometimes pushing becomes difficult with an epidural administered or if the laboring woman is not allowed freedom in her movement and the baby does not descend into the birth canal properly.
Unfortunately the woman ends up believing that her baby really would not have been born vaginally because the physician gives her the reason for CPD.
Another common comment by physicians is that a woman who had a c-section for CPD has hips that are too small to deliver a baby vaginally. Again, it is unfortunate that women will believe this and not question the knowledge given. In actuality, it is the pelvic inlet where the baby passes through that is the real determiner of whether or not a baby will be born vaginally. The pelvic wings of the exterior hip along with extra padding, which gives the visual effect that the hips may be too small, really has nothing to do with the realities of delivering a baby vaginally.
Once CPD is diagnosed in a woman's chart in her pregnancy history it can be difficult to overcome and a source of tension between mother and care provider. When another pregnancy comes along and the woman wants to choose a VBAC, CPD is considered a red flag and one that will cause a physician to be discouraged from agreeing with a VBAC. They will worry needlessly that the same thing will occur and try to scare the woman into choosing a repeat c-section saying that it would be worse to labor and then have a surgically-born baby rather than just schedule a repeat c-section.
It really is up to the woman in deciding how she will approach another birth, but bearing in mind the truth of CPD and its implications will make an informed choice more easily obtained.
