When I was in Peru, I interviewed a well-regarded OBGYN named Dr. Antonio Lévano. He is a pioneer in his county for natural c-sections. Natural c-sections originated in the United Kingdom in 2008, but in 2010, Dr. Lévano was the first OBGYNs to implement this technique in his home country of Peru.

It has been well-researched that babies that reach full-term are healthier than premature babies. Babies that are born premature may have respiratory problems such as sleep apnea or require ventilators, and may even have asthma and allergies throughout their lives. Mothers have a harder time breastfeeding babies which are born via c-section too. To remedy these issues, natural c-sections also called gentle c-sections were created.

Lévano described to me how he does natural c-sections in Lima, Peru. These c-sections are planned. Women decide ahead of time that they would like to have a c-section over a vaginal delivery. Unlike scheduled c-sections, after the mother begins contractions, not before, she arrives to the hospital to delivery her baby.

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