Interesting article in The Guardian today: 'How Doctors Give Birth'....

[findtheriver]

..gist of it is that there is a huge divide between midwives and obstetricians, with midwives being far more likely to opt for natural birth themselves, and obstetricians opting for C-Sections. The usual reason given for this is that midwives deal with straightforward births and obstetricians deal with births when things are going wrong. So the latter get a very different perspective of childbirth, seeing all the things that might go wrong. Even so, I was horrified at the stats, which showed a huge percentage of C Sections. Personally I am a huge fan of natural birth, as I'm sure all the stats show that in a 'normal' situation it's the safest option for baby and mother. I've had both - natural births for dcs 1 and 3, and C section for dc2 (essential to save her life). I found the csection far easier in terms of pain, but even so, it's major abdominal surgery (not to mention hugely more expensive than a natural birth) and I do find it bizarre that so many doctors choose this route.

There is a large control freak element and that fact that a lot of doctors are pressured to work up until they give birth, therefore, a planned elective section can be fitted into a work schedule and on-call rotas more easily! The C-section rate for male obstetricians' wives is huge BTW, which I find more interesting- trying to preserve the pelvic floor and vagina perhaps?

I am a GP and have previously worked in obstetrics (and assisted in a lot of normal and very abnormal emergency deliveries). I felt very strongly that I did not want a home birth or a birth in midwife-led unit with no on-site obstetrician. I had a lovely normal hospital-based birth with midwife care and no intervention or drugs needed. I would never have wanted an elective C-section for myself and don't know of any female medical colleagues who have either.

there was another thread on this last night.
i thin k the article looks a bit sensationalised.

I've read the article, and think its not sensationalised at all, it seems quite reasonably-delivered.

Interesting. This probably isn't so much the case here in the Czech Republic, where obstetricians attend all births and so see a normal proportion of uncomplicated to complicated ones.

(Although the proportion is probably somewhat skewed at the top hospitals, which take more people with high-risk pregnancies and thus have higher C-section rates).