Optimising Medical Births 4. Positive Caesarean Births

Abstract

In the UK, one in every three to four births is now a caesarean birth. More women and birthing people are choosing maternally requested caesarean births. This is for a number of reasons including increased knowledge of birth modes, fear of vaginal childbirth, the societal perception of birth in the media, previous trauma, and concerns with medicalisation or induction of labour, which is also on the rise with 30–40% of women choosing a vaginal birth having their labour medically induced. Whilst midwives have always been the supporters of physiological birth, we need to support all women and birthing people to have a safe and positive birth being ‘with woman’.