Why more expectant mothers prefer caesarean deliveries- Expert

The fear of instrumental delivery techniques when vagina delivery could put the baby or mother at risk is said to be the reason why more expectant mothers prefer to go for caesarean delivery.

A senior registrar at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr. Olawale Oba, disclosed this in an interview monitored by National Daily.

He said due to low acceptability of these instruments and increased rate of litigation, where people are gradually moving away from use of instrumental delivery, caesarean delivery has been a major option.

Dr. Oba disclosed that instead of doing a caesarean section, in some cases, instruments can also be used to bring out babies from the vagina, adding that the low acceptance of instrumental delivery techniques often leads to the increase of caesarean delivery.

“Even though, there is cap by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on caesarean section rate which should be around 20 to 25 per cent but this incidence has been on the increase.

According to him, Instrumental delivery includes the use of obstetrical forceps and vacuum extraction to bring the baby out of the vagina. “These are safe procedures that can be used to assist a woman who is exhausted in labour, or in a situation where the child is tired out of a prolonged labour.’’

He said that the procedure could also be used “in the case of rotational forceps, where it is used to realign the head of the baby in relation to the maternal pelvis for labour to continue so that delivery can be achieved.

“But recently, pregnant women at the sight of forceps refuse and disagree for it to be used on them but rather go straight for a caesarean section, “he said.

Oba said that there had been an increased in the number of women who willingly request for caesarean section. “Due of westernisation, many women are out rightly coming out to demand for caesarean section because they don’t want to go through labour pain.’’

He said such attitude had “made this procedure one of the commonest surgeries performed worldwide due to its safety.

“For the misconception about the pain in vagina delivery, there are other options that can be adopted to take out the pain during the period of labour, which is known as the epidural,” he said.