Levi McConaughey delivered via emergency C-section

I think a woman should be allowed to give birth however she likes, whether it's via c-section or in her home. So long as there's a healthy mother and baby, then who really cares? I think it's unfortunate that women who chose to have c-sections under anything less than medically harrowing circumstances are often judged so harshly.

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Well, considering that well over 30% (closer to 45% in some hospitals in my area!) births are csections, its not a surprise that some of those people would be celebrities. It's accepted that 5% of all births ARE emergencies (and thank God that modern medicine is there to step in) but you have to wonder what is going on with that other 25%. In my opinions, and many others, it is that the US model of maternity care is not conducive to normal birth. As a leader in so many medical advances over the last 50 years, it doesn't make sense that the USA should be behind Cuba in terms of infant and mother mortality rates. We have to look at the system and ask what we are doing wrong, that the leaders in infant and mother health are doing right.

I hope a speedy recover to Ms. Alves, and that she and her partner are enjoying their new little guy.

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Two days of active labour? Emergency cesarean surgery? Umbilical around neck? Sounds like a short cord around the neck was preventing the baby from descending.

Emergent surgeries are life saving treatments to be respected. But, unlike Cassandra, I don't believe healthy women and their doctors should be choosing treatments that are meant for sick women/babies/pregnancies. Choosing non-medically indicated surgery is a dangerous game. (I wrote about one of the little considered consequences of cesarean surgery - hysterectomy - here: http://www.hamiltondoula.com/?p=103

But, the word around the birth scene is that maternal choice surgery is far rarer than the media likes to let on. The media likes to focus on it, but far more surgeries are the result of iatrogenic effects (the way women are forced to labour and the interventions forced on them cause circumstances the only remedy for is surgical delivery) and practitioner convenience (rates of surgery rise just before dinner, just before dawn, before weekends and before major holidays leading analysts to believe many OBs manipulate patients into surgery for their own reasons and not for health related reasons).

I hope Alves, like all non-celebrity mothers, recovers in a timely fashion and that she and the baby are healthy.

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I dont think that C-sections are something that should be done unless there is a medical reason for doing so and these drs who agree to do this are unethical. These people who CHOOSE to have a c-section should pay out of pocket. Yes- child birth hurts- but what would you expect from squeezing a 13" head out a quarter size opening. C-sections have many risks that are taken when these surgeries are opted for over traditional child birth and they also increase recovery time and hospital stays. Insurance should not cover this procedure unless it is medically necessary.

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Two days? For a cord around the neck? How did they go that long without figuring out that the cord was wrapped around the neck? I'm not a doctor, but really, that's baffling. I understand wanting to go natural, but after a day they're usually checking to see what the problem is.

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I can so sympathize. I was induced on a Monday and ended up with a c-section on Wednesday afternoon after I failed to dialate and labour stalled. I hope they are all doing well.

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It's funny to me that I read that and thought, "they gave up after just two days?" Healthy, normal labors can last a LONG time. And healthy normal babies can come out with cords wrapped around them, if birth attendants know how to manage a normal birth. But that's not convenient for hospitals, so they have inadvertently (or not?) created an impression that birth must happen within a certain unnatural time frame and under a certain small set of circumstances.

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