A widespread belief is that caesarean section is the best in twin births Well, "neither mother nor babies suffer." But, either in the case of one or two babies, the C-section It is not the magic formula to be born, far from it. It is an emergency practice in case the vaginal birth, for whatever reason, did not prosper.
When talking about normal twin pregnancies that have gone without complications and in which the baby that is going to be born first is in a cephalic position, that is, it is fitted, childbirth does not have to be by caesarean section. This is recommended by a study published in the latest edition of 'The New England Journal of Medicine'.
The study
This is a collaborative study involving four Spanish hospitals (Clínic, Vall d'Hebron, La Paz and Toledo Hospital Complex) conducted with 2,804 pregnant women with twins between weeks 32 and 38 of gestation. They were divided into two groups and a randomized caesarean section or a planned vaginal delivery was randomly assigned, with the option of performing a caesarean section if deemed necessary.
Of the women who were assigned a planned caesarean section, 89.9% gave birth to both babies by caesarean section, 0.8% had a combined vaginal-caesarean delivery and 9.3% gave birth to both babies vaginally.
While among the group of women who were assigned a vaginal delivery, the majority (56.2%) gave birth to both babies vaginally, 4.2% had a combined delivery the first baby vaginally and second by caesarean section, while the rest, 39.6% presented some type of problem and ended up in caesarean section for both children.
It should be borne in mind that vaginal births were induced births, that if not, if they had been spontaneous, the cesarean section rate would probably have been lower.
"A matter of school"
According to the head of the Gynecology Department of the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital, Luis Ortiz, that gynecologists opting for one or another type of delivery has so far been "a matter of school."
But scientific studies are there to show that beliefs are not always founded as twin deliveries do not have to be by caesarean section by choice. As a result, the study concluded that Caesarean section has no benefits regarding vaginal delivery. It does not represent a significant increase or decrease in the risk of fetal or neonatal death compared to vaginal birth. Therefore, there is no need to schedule a preventive caesarean section in twin births when the first baby is fitted.
There is no doubt that vaginal birth is the best for the mother and the baby, whether one or two, if there is no medical reason to prevent it. Caesarean section should be an emergency resource before complications and not an option. The same is being demonstrated in the case of premature babies or babies that come from buttocks.
