C Sections Are The Most Common Type of Elective Surgery. Why Are We Putting Our Babies At Risk?

By: Don Caldwell


Is pregnancy that bad?


Excerpts italicized:


Pregnancy is a miraculous thing, but most moms would agree that the last month of it isn't a lot of fun.


You're uncomfortable, to say the least. You can't sleep, thanks to the tiny bundle of wonder practicing his or her best kicks at night. And then there's the heartburn, swelling, around-the-clock trips to the bathroom, and more.


Is it any wonder that so many women wish they could avoid as much of that last month as possible? Given that elective inductions and Cesarean sections have been on the rise for years, it seems as though many new moms are doing just that.
"I have seen women induced or have a scheduled C-section because they have family scheduled to be in town, because they want the baby to be born on an anniversary or someone else's birthday, because they want the baby born prior to Jan. 1 for tax purposes, or because they are simply sick and tired of being pregnant," Dr. Elaine St. John, associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC News in 2009.


Cesarean sections account for 32 percent of all births in the United States, and is the most common operation performed in U.S. hospitals. According to the National Institutes of Health, a "normal" pregnancy can last from 38 to 42 weeks, but recent studies confirm that babies born before 39 weeks gestation haves an increased risk for a host of medical problems, including breathing issues, hypoglycemia, infection, developmental delays, feeding complications, and jaundice

First of all, I am a man….not a woman…so anything I say needs to be taken in that context. (I would also like to avoid the obvious “you are not a woman” comments ...lol). I cannot comment, with any authority, as to what pregnancy is like. But I would imagine it to be a uniquely beautiful time between mother and child. One that should be appreciated….


The Article highlights how many hospitals are trying to buck the trend of C-Sections for various reasons, but I think the bigger story is how C-Sections have become so common place.


Why has a potentially dangerous surgery become so common in light of the potential dangers to both mother and child (granted labor and delivery are not without its own dangers.)? Has this need for convenience taken precedence over the wellbeing of the child itself? If so, what does that say about that relationship?


If love could be defined as caring about another more than your own self, then could this really be based on true love of a child? Or are we as a society moving towards “shades of love” while gradually putting ourselves first and foremost?


What does a baby mean to you?

(ORIGINAL LINK) More Hospitals Banning Elective C Sections | Parenting - Yahoo! Shine