Birth

Maybe it’s because I am more interested in childbirth than I used to be, but it seems as though cesarean births are increasingly common. Why is this? It seems so unnatural to cut a child from the womb when a canal is provided. On the other hand, I imagine myself needing sedation just to get through it mentally. I panic at the image of even a much-desired baby ripping and clawing its way out of my body; as everyone knows, for a few short moments the fetus transforms into an alien determined to destroy its host as it leaves. Is it wrong and unnatural to use painkillers for this simple act of life? I love the idea of myself giving birth without drugs, without being cut open, and using only my good birthing hips. However, if state of mind matters, I would have died in childbed in the Middle Ages.