The wonderful news that you are pregnant brings a lot of joy to you and your family but at the same time you are filled with a lot of insecurities and apprehensions. Throughout your pregnancy, you are looking at delivering a healthy baby and problem free pregnancy. The question about normal delivery or a C-Section delivery always bother you specially as you near the end of your pregnancy term. As you start to feel how real everything is and realize that your baby is soon going to come out, you may also be hearing numerous stories about difficult labor and C-sections that can make you anxious as to how you will get through all this. Whether you want to avoid a C- section or just browsing for the best and easiest way to bring your baby out, given below are some really useful tips that will ensure you have a normal and stress free labor and avert a C section as far as possible. There is no argument about the fact that a vaginal delivery is the best way to deliver your baby. So read on to find out some simple tips that will help you to avoid a C section.

8 Useful Tips To Avoid A C Section

1. Select your doctor carefully: Many doctors prefer a C section as it is much more convenient for them. So it is imperative that you pick your gynecologist wisely.
   • Check your doctor’s philosophy on caesareans and their Caesarean rate
   • Talk and get all your doubts cleared before you select your doctor
   • You need to find a doctor whom you are most comfortable with and one who will respect your wishes and whom you completely trust
2. Labor at home as long as possible before going to the hospital: Being at home as long as possible also allows the pregnant woman to access familiar ways of coping with discomfort. This includes lying in her own bed, taking a bath in her own shower, taking a walk in her own garden or neighborhood and consuming her favorite high nutrition food. In addition to this, it is seen that if a mother to be waits longer at home before getting to her birth place of choice, she is less likely to experience unnecessary interventions which can ultimately lead to a C- section. So do not go to the hospital until you are in active labor
3. Remaining stress free: It is very common to feel stressed through your pregnancy period. However, it is imperative that you try to calm your mind and remain stress free as much as possible. Stress can play havoc and even turn a normal delivery into a C section if you are unable to control it. To control stress you need to:
   • Try meditating as it really helps to calm yourself and get rid of any unnecessary fears
   • Listening to music helps to relieve a lot of stress
   • Visualization techniques are also quite effective in keeping stress at bay
4. Breathing Right: Although you may not realize the importance of breathing, this is something that can even help your labor become so much easier and thereby avoiding C-section. Given below are some the of breathing techniques you need practice during labor:
   • Shallow breathing
   • Breathing from your stomach
   • Breathing right from your chest
   • Alternating shallow and deep breathing

To know more on this read: Useful Breathing Techniques For Easing Labor


5. Hiring a Doula: It has been found that women who hired a doula had 40 percent lesser chances of a C- section. A doula does not deliver the baby but helps the pregnant woman by ensuring that the delivery happens the way the mother to be wants. She provides much required continuous delivery support by alternating positions and putting the pregnant woman in best position for delivery, she makes suggestions and advocates on behalf of the pregnant woman just in case the mom to be is too distracted or delirious to make decisions herself
6. Ensuring healthy weight gain: Although you are sure to add a few kilos as your pregnancy progresses, it is important to ensure that you do keep tab on what you are eating and not put on too much weight. This is because overweight women find it extremely difficult to have a normal delivery thus increasing the chances of C- section. Being obese leads to :
   • Difficulty in monitoring the fetus during delivery
   • The baby tends to be big making normal delivery quite difficult
7. Moving around: It is natural that pregnancy is quite a difficult phase and all you want to do is sleep and eat. However if you want to avert a C-section, it becomes imperative that you are mobile and you need to exercise as much as you can during this period. Keeping active during pregnancy helps to avoid C-section.
   • It is necessary to go walking every day as this is one of the best low intensity workout that is also ideal for pregnant women
   • Practicing simple exercises that help with labor like Kegel’s goes a long way in ensuring a normal and healthy labor
   • You also require exercises that will make your thigh and pelvic muscles stronger and make it easier for a vaginal delivery
   • Swimming is another great exercise that helps to increase the chances of delivering normally.
8. Avoid induction of labor: Getting induced increases your chances of you having a C section by around 40 percent. This is due to the fact that the cervix is actually not yet completely ready for childbirth and getting induced means forcing a process that is actually not yet ready to begin. So apart from a medical emergency, make sure that you wait till around 41 weeks before getting induced in order to increase your chances of having a normal delivery

An unnecessary C-section puts both the mother and baby at risk and make for prolonged pain and recovery after birth. So if your due date is quickly approaching and you realize that having a cesarean birth is not something that you want unless and until there is a medical emergency, then we hope the above 8 tips will help to lower your chances of having a C- section.
If you have any other tips to avoid a C- section then please share it in the comments section below.