Obstetricians and pregnant women from Formiga's town, in Minas Gerais states, Brazil. Deciding what kind of labor to be held

Introduction: The decision of what kind of labor should be held is intermittently generating a great debate in Brazil. The growth in the number of cesarean sections has raised some worries in some sectors of the society involving this issue. It was proposed to investigate these factors which lead the women take this decision, trying to understand the principle involved. This project supported by the agency FAPEMIG. Methodology: It was made a review on the bibliography. Some datas were collected in two hospitals – public and private - about the number of labors, during three months in Formiga’s town. Subsequently, the obstetricians and a group of pregnant women were submitted to a questionnaire. The answers were observed in a graph made, analyzed and compared with the related literature. Results: The number of cesarean sections were above the standard recommended. According to the obstetricians, the main reason would be the preference of the pregnant women, fact which was not confirmed by them, that discrepancy was confirmed by the literature. About the level of information about the clinical indications for the type of labor, the doctors and the pregnant women considered satisfactory, data contestable by the academics. The fear and the pain were identified by obstetricians and pregnant women as a predominant factor for the preference for cesarean sections, according to the literature, shows the precariousness of information in relation to a normal birth. Conclusion: The analysis of most of the data collected, showed a discrepancy between the information of pregnant women and obstetricians. Both sides involved in the issue do not admit as responsible for the elevate number of cesarean sections, so, some new approaches are needed for analysis. Next step is the supervision of the pregnant women, since the beginning of the gestation until the birth.