I guess I will get straight to the 2 main points I want to make:
1. C sections are great in case of an emergency. Heck, they are life saving for the mom and/or the baby in some circumstances. I’m grateful that the doctors have the training to successfully perform the surgery when it’s needed. One such situation may be when the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck and they are unable to receive oxygen, putting the baby’s life at risk. The World Health Organization states that the best outcomes for mom and baby is having a c section rate of 5-10%. Rates above 15% seem to do more harm than good (Althabe and Belizan 2006).
2. Un-necessi-saraen sections are far to common. As you know, just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s normal. It’s shocking to find that the c section rate in the USA is at a whopping 32.8% (Hamilton et al. 2012). Makes me think something is wrong here. There are a couple things that just really make me mad which I believe may be causing this unnecessary increase in c sections. First is the fear and disease mentality that is given to an expecting mother. This is very dis-empowering to the expecting mother and brings a lot of unneeded mental stress. The body needs to be in a growth and development mode to have an awesome, successful birth. Second is mom’s decision to have a planned un-necessi-saraen sections when the baby may still be going through some development processes and/or gaining weight to be able to handle the outside world. I would think the baby knows better than mom when he/she is ready to enter this world, especially with a possibility of the “due date” being 2 weeks off. The last one here is the one I think is the worst. The doctor wants to schedule the un-necessi-saraen sections for Friday. He really didn’t mention he was going on vacation Saturday, and although it may not be the healthiest for the baby, he just wants to get to a beach chair with a cold adult beverage in hand. I think NOT!
Birth is a natural process that the female body is designed to do. It should be an empowering process. It’s a super important and special 9 months of your life. Learn as much about birth and the options you have out there. You don’t have to be stuck in a white walled hospital bed laying on your back with your body so numb you can’t see straight. Check out birthing centers, water birth, home births, hypnobirthing, prenatal yoga, and all kinds of other activities for the best birth experience possible. Oh, did I mention Chiropractic care. Yes, we care for expecting moms, Ryno Moms!
From the Ryno Family to your family, keep Charging Towards Health!
Althabe F, Belizan JF. Caesarean section: The paradox. The Lancet 2006;368:1472-3.
Hamilton BE, Martin JA, Ventura SJ. Births: preliminary data for 2010. Natl Vital Stat Rep 2011;60(2):1-25. Available at www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_02.pdf
