Death by birth or crude C section?

[caters]

Now I have already set it so that these criteria are met when it comes to birth:

• At least 1 person by the mom, preferably 4 or more
• Vertex birth: any position is fine
• Breech birth: Prone position and other positions that put pressure on the back are not fine
• Transverse birth: any position that puts pressure on either the sides or the back isn't okay

Here are the 3 types of birth:

Now my humanoids prefer vaginal birth when possible.

Even for big babies like this one:

They prefer vaginal birth so much that they typically don't do a C section.

But there are some situations in which it would be C section or death.

But my Kepler Bb humanoids don't have precise surgical tools so a C section could just as easily cause death as vaginal birth.

So their C section would be crude and I wouldn't be surprised if this crude C section causes uterine rupture with subsequent pregnancies.

Plus, they don't have anesthesia and the pain meds they do have is not safe at the dose required for labor pains, much less labor pains + surgery.

This is a very difficult decision. On the one hand, vaginal birth could lead to maternal and neonatal death. On the other hand a C section can lead to maternal death and if there are no other lactating women or the lactating women are too busy with their own babies, the baby could starve to death(no formula is available to replace breastmilk).

So in situations of crude C section or extremely difficult vaginal birth, if the mom dies, should she die from a C section or from a difficult vaginal birth?

 

[kdl121]

I voted for difficult vaginal birth because when I saw "crude C section" I had flashbacks to an awful episode of Private Practice (I mean the episode was well done, but it was a main character and it was horrific that it happened to her).

 

[Annoyingkid]

If the mother dies either way, the C section has a higher chance of saving the baby without serious injury

 

[caters]

True but without modern technology, a C section also has a higher chance of uterine rupture with subsequent pregnancies. Uterine rupture, I would think would be more of a disaster than neonatal death, especially early on in the first trimester. Uterine rupture would have all these side effects:

Infection in the uterus, especially if there already is an infection such as appendicitis
Menstrual contents building up in the abdomen
If early on in pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy(abdominal pregnancy is the only ectopic pregnancy I know of that can carry to term)
Iron deficiency anemia(as if menstrual cycles do not pose enough of a risk, now you have bleeding of the actual muscle, arterial bleeds are very serious no matter how small the artery is)
Painful contractions(uterine muscle contracts to try to stop the bleeding, this is also what causes menstrual cramps)
If not treated, a uterine infarction could happen meaning that a hysterectomy is needed

 

[Annoyingkid]

If they go through a C section like that, their reproductive days are over. There is no subsequent pregnancies. Especially since you're asking Death by X or Y. You can't have subsequent anything if you're dead.

 

[arizela]

I've tried to respond a few times, but the forum keeps timing me out or something. I'm not going to retype my whole long answer again, but I am a neonatal intensive care nurse specialist with lots of experience with labor complications and birth complications from a clinical perspective. I have also done a lot of research on maternal mortality and maternal-fetal medicine prior to the advent of current medical standards. C-section is the last way you'd want to deal with any of these presentation problems in a non-modern setting. Google external version, internal version, and Trendelenburgh position - all of which can be used to move a baby out of the problem presentations without cutting into the uterus. Here is a post I wrote several years ago on maternal mortality that might also be helpful Maternal Mortality | Muse Medicine

 

[pmmg]

I think this just comes down to personal preference, or the decisions of those attending. I could see one mother (to be) sacrificing herself, and another afraid of the knife and willing to take her chances with the birth. I don't think there would be a one answer fits all in this. If you want my opinion, if I thought I would die in the birth anyway, I would choose to have it c-sectioned out. That is was a crude method is probably just the reality of the world in which I live.

I do like the visual aids

 

[Russ]

It's kind of a strange question.

So in situations of crude C section or extremely difficult vaginal birth, if the mom dies, should she die from a C section or from a difficult vaginal birth?

Perhaps the answer is "whichever is better for the story"? As Ak says, if she is going to die anyways, the rest is really just details.