Women with ideas like this about childbirth consider a C-section a fate almost worse than death. They feel that it robs them of the natural experience of birth and that ending up with a C-section indicates a failure. I'll have to look around for some quotes, but I've read things on mothering for words about how traumatized they feel by the C-section and how they feel they are mourning a great loss.
Sooner or later, this thread is going to run up against the concept of VBAC. As far as the woman putting her vanity ahead of the needs of her child, this one gives home birth a run for its money. The acronym stands for vaginal birth after cesarean. Obviously, the uterus is cut open during a cesarean, then stitched up. Healing takes place, but with subsequent pregnancies and childbirth, there is a much higher risk that the uterus will actually rupture along the site of the prior incision.
These women are so boo hoo sad about their prior cesarean that they view vaginal birth as an experience that will heal them. Vbac is possible and not uncommon, but also not encouraged. Anyone who attempts such a thing outside of a hospital setting deserves to have their baby taken away from them immediately, providing that mother and child both survived.
For the life of me, I cannot imagine what goes on inside a woman's head when she makes that kind of a decision. I guess that's because I can't ever imagine putting myself in the position where I would risk my child's life for the sake of hurt feelings.
