IT’S COMPLICATED: C-SECTIONS IN U.S. MEDICINE

Before the use of anesthesia to aid in cesarean sections, many doctor's resorted to craniotomy. Craniotomy is the breaking of the fetal skull and the extraction of the whole embryo from the vagina.

Despite the fact that this was a horrifying activity, it involved far lower hazard to the mother than attempting to remove the embryo through the abdominal area as with a cesarean section. The development of anesthesia allowed specialists to conduct cesarean sections with more precision as they were able to take their time and were not distracted by the women screaming and moving in pain. Although the procedure itself was safer for both the baby and mother, complications still occurred. Many women died of infection or hemorrhaging as there was no treatment for it.

Before 1871, Less than half of the women who had cesarean sections in the US survived. 

“Cesarean Section - A Brief History: Part 2.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health, July 26, 2013. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/part2.html.

Onion, R. (2018, May 21). How the C-Section Went From Last Resort to Overused. Retrieved from https://slate.com/technology/2018/05/how-the-c-section-went-from-last-resort-to-overused.html

Perforation of the Skull, Removal of Cranial Contents, and Extraction of the Collapsed Skull. n.d. Cesarean Section - A Brief History. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/images/craniotomy.jpg.

Destructive Scissors and Crotchets. Cesarean Section - A Brief History. William Smellie's A Sett of Anatomical Tables, 1754., n.d. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/images/smellie.jpg.

C-Section. Know the Signs & Ways to Avoid a C-Section. Living Mom, January 23, 2013. http://www.livingmom.net/2013/01/know-signs-ways-to-avoid-c-section.html.