heartbeat because of irritating lights shining on the mother’s stomach or strong electromagnetic fields
caused by nearby electronic appliances such as monitors. Controlled birth studies have shown that a
Caesarean section is performed 3-4 times more frequently if electronic devices were used to monitor the
birth rather than a simple stethoscope.
Mothers in the midst of labor often consent to a Caesarean section when they see intensified signals of
their baby’s heartbeat flashing on the monitor in front of them. It is quite likely that a baby’s heart activity
produces erratic changes when cold electrodes are attached to its head while it is squeezed through the
narrow tube of the mother’s womb. The procedure of connecting electrodes to the head of the baby before
it is born is itself an invasion that may have serious consequences. A controlled study revealed that 65
percent of all children whose birth had been controlled electronically were at risk for developing growth
and behavioral problems later in their lives.
The very setup of a delivery room in the hospital, which looks much like an operation theater, can
induce a fear and stress response in a sensitive mother. The sudden release of anxiety-provoking stress
hormones by the mother may also affect the fetus and make him fearful. The mother’s worries become his
worries, and her fears become his. Recent studies have shown that within a fraction of a second after fear
has caused the racing of a mother’s heart, a fetus’s heart begins pounding at double its normal rate. Fear
can paralyze many important functions in the body, including those needed for delivering a baby.
Often it is no longer in the hands of the mother to “decide” the time of delivering her baby. Unlike a
wild animal, the human mother may be forced to give birth when the doctor tells her it is the “correct”
time, even though, as it has been shown, his calculations can be wrong by several days or even weeks.
Artificially induced delivery is considered more practical than natural delivery and also fits the doctor’s
schedule more conveniently. Induced birth, however, causes nearly three times as much pain to the
mother as natural birth does. To deal with the pain she is given strong medications, all with strong side
effects. It is a lesser-known fact that many of these mothers and their newly born babies end up in
intensive care units.
In October 2007, the British Medical Journal published a major study of more than 94,000 births which
found that women who have a planned (elective) caesarean section put themselves, and their babies, at
increased risk of serious complications and death.
Over half of all Caesarean operations have serious complications. The mortality rate for mothers who
have a Caesarean is twenty six times higher than among mothers who give birth naturally. Since 75-80
percent of them are performed unnecessarily due to excessive use of the new electronic monitoring
devices, a change of policy could drastically reduce mortality rates among Caesarean mothers. Risk of
requiring a hysterectomy after a caesarian was four times higher than after vaginal birth.
In addition to the harm done to mothers, babies who are delivered by Caesarean section are exposed to
the danger of developing serious lung damage, which causes a shortage of breath previously found only in
prematurely born babies. In naturally born babies (which includes not clamping the umbilical cord before
it stops throbbing; see lotusbirth.com), the uterine contractions press out all the accumulated secretions in
the baby’s chest and lungs and eliminate them through its mouth. Caesarean deliveries account for more
than 25 percent of all births today, of which only a few of these are justified. There are indicators when
there is a real emergency, and the doctor normally knows well in advance when a Caesarean delivery will
be necessary.
Fewer Surgeons And Medical Interventions—Fewer Deaths
The American College of Surgeons conceded that the U.S. population would require only about 50
percent of its current number of surgeons to secure America’s needs for surgery during the next fifty