I have always wanted to write about this but I was being lazy. Then after a post went viral on Facebook I thought that it was high time I wrote about my personal experience and thoughts about child delivery.
The post that went viral on Facebook was a blog post by an English woman (married to a Bangladeshi man), who gave birth to her daughter at a top-tier hospital in Dhaka last September. Technically, she did not give birth to her child; the attending doctor forced her to have a Caesarian section. The baby was only 35 weeks old at the time of delivery and weighed 2.5 kg. The premature baby went through some of her roughest days right after coming into this world.
Have you ever wondered why so many babies are now born through C-sections in Bangladesh despite the medical advances of the recent decades? Our parents, aunts, uncles, our friends and we ourselves have come to this world through a natural childbirth process. So, why suddenly we are seeing a shift from what has always been considered normal and natural?
Most of my friends and family in Bangladesh gave birth to their babies through C-sections. While some were voluntary, others were upon the advice of their doctors, and the rest were out of necessity. Childbirth is a scary experience for any woman -- young and old alike. What can be scarier than standing at a junction, where life and death meet every minute? The horror stories we hear about labor from a young age make us even more fearful of the entire childbirth process.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I too thought that C-section would be a far less painful option. My American doctor asked me why I was so eager to have a major surgery when it was not necessary. Of course, I did not have a logical answer for it so I said I was scared. She told me, "Childbirth is supposed to be painful and scary, and if the pain becomes too unbearable, you can always ask for epidural anesthesia."
My doctor took time to tell me why normal delivery was the better option. The benefits of normal childbirth include, but are not limited to, shorter hospital stays and quick recovery time for the mother. It also means that one does not have to walk around with a surgical scar for the rest of her life.
Natural childbirth is also beneficial to a baby in so many ways; among many other benefits, babies born normally often have lower risk of respiratory problems, they are also born when they are ready unlike those born through C-sections, they do not usually have to spend time at intensive care units, and they get to meet their moms sooner than those born through C-sections!
My doctor was not on call the day my daughter was born, but the attending doctor seemed equally nice and patient -- I felt as if I had always known her. The labor and delivery nurses were so caring and professional that when I think of how they treated me in those crucial hours my life, my heart fills with gratitude toward them. I think that is how every would-be-mother should feel when she is at a hospital for delivery.
After my daughter was born, I pondered over what my doctor told me earlier when I was considering a C-section. I remember taking a shower and walking about the hospital room just 11 hours after my daughter was born. I called up the room service and ordered food. Over my breakfast, I called up my grandmother, who could not believe that I was well enough to have a phone conversation. I left the hospital with my baby just 48 hours after she was born. I believe that things would not be so easy if I had a C-section.
A C-section must be performed when it is absolutely necessary, but in Bangladesh, there seems to be a growing practice of performing unnecessary C-sections. On my way back to Washington DC from Dhaka last year, the Bangladeshi woman sitting next to me was a gynecologist employed by the Bangladesh government. While chit-chatting with her, I asked her about the widespread practice of C-sections by our doctors. She said in a tone of dismay that it was a malpractice and that this malpractice had gone beyond the borders of Dhaka, for in the rural areas, C-sections could now be performed for as little as Tk. 3,000. It sounds appalling and it is. Some of our doctors have tainted this humanitarian profession by going against what medical ethics has taught them.
I feel relieved when I think that I was able to deliver my baby at a well-regarded, American hospital. But it is a short-lived feeling when I think about Bangladeshi mothers and babies back home, where doctors routinely perform C-sections to make money and to save time. But it is time the victims spoke up.
Like Emma Clare Burton-Chowdhoury, who boldly wrote about her traumatic childbirth experience, more and more of our mothers should come forward to share their stories, if they think they are victims of medical malpractice.
By Wara Karim
Published in The Daily Star, Feb. 18, 2014
The Daily Star link
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