Interesting comments by Louise Sliverton

I was browsing the net, as you do on a Sunday night after a very busy weekend (withdraws from the Internet) I came across this story from the guardian.co.uk 'Fear of pain' causes big rise in cesareans, written by Denise Cambell.
I thought what a "surprise" there's nothing new! the difference is that a Midwife has made the comments - and who is the midwife - Louise Silverton.

Now one of Britain's leading midwives has reignited the debate about cesareans. In an interview with The Observer, Louise Silverton, deputy general-secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, has controversially claimed that an increasing number of women under 40 are less prepared to undergo the physical trauma of childbirth than their predecessors, a trend that is pushing up the rate of surgical deliveries.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Louise on several occasions. It is always nice to meet the author of books you have read. I also think it is time that midwives became more vocal, it does raise our profile.
The article goes on to talk about current trends in the perception of pain in today's society, which is very interesting. I do tend to agree with Louise when she argues that people today do not want to deal with any sort of pain, the answer is take a pill, however I am not sure that is is contributing to the increase in the cesarean section rate. These comments have created debate from all angles, to the point of blaming the shortage of midwives to the raising cesarean rate. I also found it interesting that the cesarean section rate is lower in the UK than in WA which is currently at 30%. I think that people forget that a cesarean is major abdominal surgery, as it is never portrayed in this way.

'Currently, the Cesarean rate [in England] is 24.3 per cent. Therefore one has to question whether the women of this country are physiologically incapable of having normal births, and I don't think they are,' said Silverton, a midwife for 30 years. She wants Britain's rate brought closer to the 15 per cent recommended by the World Health Organisation and fears cesareans 'have been normalised in the minds not just of women but also midwives and obstetricians'.

If you have time click on the link and read the comments by women relating to their experiences of birth.

We all know that 'fear' plays a big part in the birth experience, so if you feel as if this is stopping you or you want to debrief seek some counselling, talk it through.
The best way to deal with 'fear' as Susan Jeffery's would say is "feel the fear and do it anyway"