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As celebrities like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Anita Hassanandani prepare to welcome their babies, let us take a look at the two methods of childbirth that are most common.
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Pregnancy and the process of childbirth is a complex procedure. As celebrities like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Anita Hassanandani prepare to welcome their babies, let us take a look at the two methods of childbirth that are most common.
Natural birth:
Childbirth without any medication is known as natural birth. In this process, the mother is not given any pain medication during labor. However, there can be a use of other medical interventions, such as fetal heart monitoring. Or it can also mean having zero medical intervention in the process. Sometimes a baby can get stuck in the vaginal canal or the mother can get exhausted during a long delivery, so a vacuum extraction method is used to assist the delivery of these babies. Without any pain medication, mothers rely on relaxation techniques like controlled breathing to help relieve the pain. Use of pain medication can affect labor, such as speeding it up or slowing it down. It can also affect the mother with lowering blood pressure or causing nausea.
Caesarean delivery or C-section:
Unlike natural birth, Caesarean delivery relies on a surgical procedure. A cesarean delivery is typically performed when complications from pregnancy make conventional vaginal birth difficult or put the mother or child at some sort of health risk. At times cesarean deliveries are planned early in the pregnancy, but they are most often performed when complications arise during labor. The surgery involves one incision in the mother’s abdomen and another in the uterus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the process has become so common that it is used to deliver nearly one-third of babies in the United States.
Childbirth through the cesarean process is avoided before 39 weeks of pregnancy, so the child has proper time to develop in the womb. However, there are times when complications arise, and a cesarean delivery must be performed prior to 39 weeks.