Why must a woman go through labour when a baby dies inside the womb?

Question

sorry for the horrible question but I just don't understand why a woman should be forced to go through the pain of labour and the harrowing ordeal of giving birth to a dead baby. If a women can opt for a cesaerean (getting nothing on spell check for this) to give birth to a living baby why are they forced to give birth if the their baby has sadly died?

I meant why are they forced to give birth vaginally, why is there no option.
I can understand the operation scar thing and thats understandable of course. But why id there no choice?

Answer 1

There are 2 ways for a baby to enter the world, one is vaginally and the other is via C section. To do a major op on a woman with a dead baby inside her would just add to the already distressing situation. Vaginal delievry is the safest option.

Answer 2

A caesarean is a dangerous operation, and it is a proven fact that - scars and inability to move properly for several weeks aside - that having a c-section can be a contributing factor to post-natal depression. Obviously in the circumstance you are talking about, limiting long-term distress is a valuable thing.

Also, a caesarean leaves a scar on the womb. This means that subsequent pregnancies are more dangerous, and more likely to be caesarean births. The more you have, the more dangerous pregnancy and birth becomes. When a woman has lost her baby, she would not welcome anything that might limit her chances of having another in the future.

Finally, many people have said that distressing though the vaginal birth of a dead child is, it gives them the chance to feel that the process has been 'completed.' To give them the chance to say goodbye, and feel like it is actually a baby, not just a creature ripped from their body. This is not my personal opinion - never having experienced this - but it is a common opinion.

All in all, the problems that a caesarean incurs are great.

I hope that this helps.

Answer 3

c sections are painfull after the c- section and longer recovery also then naturel birth.With a c- section too you bleed for days afterwords too its like having a period for two weeks. It is probably better to go through natural birth because she will not have to stay at the hosptial for a long period of time she can just go home and seek the mental medical help she may have to have to recover from having a still birth. Truefully i feel that is much much better having a vaginal birth then a c section if you have a still born because she will be able to get the help and a faster recover after the birth like i said get the helps she needs faster then she would have if she had a c section
still birth is when a baby is dead on deilvery. SO that is probably why. I had c sections with my two boys. So i know how a c section is and then i have scaring for the rest of my life and muscle that will not come back too. At least she will not have those things if she gives vaginal birth.
hope this answer your question

Answer 4

my baby girl died when I was 23 weeks, I had to give birth naturally too. This happened 15yrs ago I can't believe your not given the choice now. I sympathise with your pain and it's an experience you'll never forget, but it will get easier as time goes on. Mind you I had a Cesarean with my daughter who is now 41/2 months she was 12 weeks early so i had no choice if i had i would have opted for a natural birth, how anyone can opt for a c-section is beyond me, I had so many problems afterwards and still am. I wish you luck for you future :-) xx

Answer 5

A fetal demise can cause major circulatory changes to the mother. There can also be clotting issues commonly, depending on how long the baby has been gone. There is a reason the baby died, and it's often due to infection of some sort.

A c-section truly is riskier when the baby has died. I know it sounds horrible to go through the labor, but I've honestly never had anyone ask for a section. I've delivered demises as early as 11 weeks, and as late as 40. From half a pound to 12 pounds. And it's always horrible. But to labor still is something "normal" the mother can do, and it's oddly sort of comforting to them. Like it's one last thing they can do for this baby.

You spelled cesaerean right. Two acceptable spellings: Cesaerean or Cesarean. ;)

Answer 6

Strange question but I'm sure there must be some websites that could give you accurate answers. However I would say no more than 5 minutes or so as the oxygen supply to baby would be cut off with her last breath. If she was just outside a hospital the chances should be pretty good for the baby.

Answer 7

I often think the same thing.

This happened to my cousin's wife and they made her go through an agonising and long labour to deliver a dead baby.

All the pain etc of labour is said to be worth it when you get to hold your baby but when the baby is dead and you know it is dead then how can you bear that pain? There is no reward at the end of it! It just seems cruel.

It would have been much better for her to have a caesarean. Any physical pain she experienced from the operation would have been nothing compared to the emotional pain of going through labour, holding a dead baby and then having it taken away from her. That was inhuman. And yes they gave her a photo and all that as keepsakes and did a funeral but it did nothing to alleviate her pain. I often wonder how she survived it.

Answer 8

Having a scar would just be a permanent reminder although you never forget. Also when you have a live birth only at certain hospital are you allowed to choose a c section if it is not medically necessary. But in addition to this if you chose to try and conceive again it would mean that there is a risk that you could not have a natural delivery after the c section, or you could have a scar abruption if you chose a v bac. (v bac is vaginal delivery after c section.

Answer 9

First, the dead baby has to get out. There are two ways: the natural one and the Caesarian section. The natural way is painful, although generally not as painful as most people think. (I have a friend who works as a nurse in a maternity hospital.) But the Caesarian is even more traumatic, even if performed under anaesthesia, because it's a serious surgery, not like having tonsils removed: you get muscles and everything cut. It takes days before you can even get out of bed, and a nurse has to wash you and to put under you that special can (I don't know how it's called in English) that you use as a potty. Then it takes two weeks until you feel well enough to leave the hospital. (I have an aunt who had to go through this and she said that all women who had natural birth were leaving the hospital after two or three days, and women like her were staying there for weeks, and looked like operated for cancer or something, and couldn't take care of their babies.) So, I'm not sure what is more of an ordeal.

Then, doctors recommend to all healthy women not to undergo Caesarian, because the body can support only three such surgeries in a lifetime, and it's usually older women who really need it.

There is also the possibility of cutting the foetus in pieces and removing them one by one. I suppose doctors don't do this, because first they want to make sure the baby cannot be revived. Otherwise it's a horrible murder.

Answer 10

Trust me, the pain of the c-section is WAY worse. I honestly don't know how people can choose c-section over vaginal birth. I had my son c-section 13 months ago, and honestly, it still hurts here and there. It wasn't a planned c-section-I just had a big baby that wouldn't descend after 19hrs of labor. If you get pain meds/the epidural, you will be fine through labor-I had the epidural and was giggling with my dad during labor!! Giving birth to a dead baby is no giggling matter, but it doesn't have to be terribly painful. After my c-section, I felt as if I were cut in half! I had to move from the one bed to the other that was in my room afterwards, and just doing that made me cry. To make things worse- I had staples, and one of them got stuck when they went to take them out! Also really painful. So why not go through natural labor and recover a LOT faster? I'm sure recovering from a c-section (from a stillborn) would not be good in any way mentally... the pain would make you think more about your dead baby I would think. To help me through all the pain, I had my baby to take care of, so I had to get better.

Answer 11

A woman is encouraged to labour naturally as the risks of c section are too great. Haemorrhage, sepsis, delayed recovery time to name but a few. Also the uterus is weakened due to the scar and this can affect future pregnancies. Also from a psychological point of view, the scar is a constant reminder of the event and would the operation be seen by tyhe woman as a merely a procedure to remove an unwanted piece of tissue, thus interferring with the woman's ability and necessity to grieve effectively.