Birthin’ and Readin’ (Click on the image to read the article)
Doctors puzzled by the rise in C-setion rates???
“Public health officials are puzzling over a medical mystery — why thousands of young, healthy women facing low risk births are opting instead to deliver by Caesarean section.”

Maybe it is because no one in the Medical Profession is taking the time to teach these women the FACTS about Caesarean Delivery.
“In 2004, nearly 13 percent of all C-sections in Massachusetts were performed on women under the age of 30 giving birth to their first child — considered the lowest-risk birth group.”
MMMmmmmh I wonder what is going on here. This article makes me think of recent musings on the part of certain educrats wondering why the people of America are having such a difficult time reading….All these professionals, scratching their heads wondering…why, what could be causing it? Children can’t read, and the C-Section rate is out of control….hmmmmm
“Health officials say they can’t fully explain way, but suggest a range of possible explanations, from last minute medical complications to worries about malpractice and fears of a ruptured uterus to women asking for the surgery for their own reasons.”
If you people are so worried about rupture, why do you keep giving pregnant women Cytotec to induce labor???
“There are a substantial number of women with no discernible risk having C-sections,” said Bruce Cohen, director of research and epidemiology for the Department of Public Health.
“The rise in C-sections among young, healthy women mirror an overall rise in the procedure in Massachusetts, which hit an all-time high in 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available.”
“In the past seven years the rate of C-sections has climbed from 21 percent of births in Massachusetts to 31 percent — 7 percent higher than the national average. Of 22,892 C-sections in Massachusetts in 2004, 2,948 involved lowest risk pregnancies.”
“One reason for the rise in C-sections is malpractice insurance, according to Ronald Burkman, chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.”
“A single claim can result in a $30,000-a-year hike in insurance rates, he said.”
Boo Hoo Hoo
“Another factor is the growing acceptance that C-sections are nearly as safe as vaginal births, he said.”
WHO is fueling that acceptance???
“Twenty years ago, a woman asking for a C-section without a pressing medical reason would likely be talked out of it by her doctor, Burkman said. Today, doctors are more willing to agree”.
WHY???
“Differences in risks between C-sections and vaginal births are not huge for the first (birth) so it has become more acceptable,” he said.
Differences in Birth “NOT HUGE???” Lie.
“For some working women, the chance to schedule a delivery rather than waiting to go into labor can be reason enough for opting for a C-section, he said. There are also solid medical reasons for C-sections, including the age of the mother, size of the baby and if it is a multiple birth.”
“Mary Barger, director of the midwifery education program at the Boston University School of Public Health, credits the rise of C-sections on what she calls a “cultural shift.”
“As C-sections became safer, they also became a kind of routine default option, she said.”
“Even so, she said, the vast number of C-sections have some medical explanation.”
“I think women coming in and requesting a C-section early in pregnancy even when they are healthy are still quite rare in Massachusetts.”
“Even though C-sections are relatively safe,”
LIE, LIE, and LIE!!
CULTURAL SHIFT???
SAFER???
MEDICAL EXPLANATION???
“There are reasons to encourage women to deliver vaginally, she said. Hospitals with midwife programs tend to have lower numbers of C-sections.”
“The question is how safe is safe?” she said. “Even though death is very rare, your chance of dying from a C-section is three to six times higher than a vaginal birth.”
Yeah, and lets all keep a close eye on the maternal mortality rate….as the C-section rate goes up, so does the number of mothers who die giving birth.
“The mystery isn’t limited to Massachusetts.”
What mystery??? Birth activists have been screaming for years that this is exactly what was going to happen, the question is when are American Consumers going to say “enough is enough!!!”
“Nationally, the rate of C-sections has climbed to an all-time high, with nearly 1.2 million C-sections performed in 2004, accounting for 29.1 percent of all births that year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. In 1970, the national rate was 5 percent.”
Yeah, and hospitals would conduct an internal inquiry if the rate went over 5% to find out why the rate was SO HIGH!!
“The C-section rate increased nationally even among healthy, first-time pregnancies with a full-term, single child — that despite a 2000 national public health goal of reducing the C-section rate for such births to 15 percent by 2010. The rate now is about 24 percent.”
LIE – it is 29% and climbing…
I don’t know who the moron is at the AP who wrote this story, but they just said the rate was 29%, and then finished the article with the lie, “the rate is about 24%. So which is it??? The Medical Profession is shaking in their boots, because THEY KNOW the 2005 stats are being compiled as we speak and that when the CDC publishes the FACT that the rate has jumped another 5 or 7% IN ONE YEAR, they know they are going to have a problem on their hands in terms of Public Relations. And so the spinning, spinning, spinning has started…
Who is going to blow this story out of the water??? Come on Bloggers, take your heads out of the sand, it is time to educate our people on the true risks of C-sections to both Mother and Baby, and start holding our medical profession accountable.
WHO has the incentive to turn things around??? Only mothers and father fed up with being railroaded into surgery.

Jenny Hatch
Read the Introduction to this Blog!
UPDATE:
OK, I read through this article again, and realized that the writer was refering to the C-section rate for healthy first time mothers when they said 24%. My apologies to the author for the name calling, however, the emotion and angst that motivated me to write this Blog post are still a part of my passion to see mothers and babies have a better start than what is currently being shoved on them by the Obstetricians.