One reason I feel so strongly about pursuing a natural childbirth is I want to put myself in the best possible situation to avoid a medically unnecessary C-section. While C-sections have become common place (1 out of 2 of my friends have had C-sections in recent births), it is major surgery and should not be entered into lightly. Of course, there are very valid medical reasons to have a C-section performed. I'm not talking about these instances. What I'm referring to in this post are those C-sections where women feel pressured into it by a doctor for no valid medical reason.
Did you know that C-section rates are at an all-time high in the United States? According to the CDC, C-section rates have risen from 5.5% in 1970 to 32.3% in 2008. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends no higher than a 10-15% rate for all nations. In the state of Tennessee, according to statistics derived from the Joint Annual Report of Hospitals filed with the Tennessee Department of Health for 2008, of 80,791 births that year, 30,040 of those were C-sections, thus generating a C-section rate of 34.6%. The hospital with the lowest rate was about 20% and there was one with an outrageous rate of 85%! I haven't gotten my hands on the most current statistics, but by way of an educated guess, there's no reason to believe that these percentages have gone down in the last couple of years.
While not all obstetricians are characterized by convenience driven and defensive medical practices (i.e. doing whatever it takes not to get sued and rushing a laboring woman into a medically unnecessary procedure so that they can make it to dinner on time), this culture of medical care is clearly on the rise. I'm blogging about it with the hope that we'll not only start to educate ourselves about what's going on, but decide to take action to do something about it.
In light of these staggering C-section rates in the US, The Farm Midwifery Center's C-section rate is less than 2%...yes, that's right. I said less than 2%! This is a statistic generated over the course of thousands of births and 40+ years of practice. This statistic is one of the reasons The Farm Midwives are so well known around the world among cultures that understand the value of midwives and women-centered care--- their stats are literally some of the best in the world.
But, don't just take my word for it. Do your own research on this silent epidemic in maternal care that is affecting our friends, wives, sisters and daughters. I found this site to be incredibly informative and comprehensive with statistics and studies from reputable organizations to back up their findings: The Unnecesarean.
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