Why so high?
Did you know that New Jersey's average rate for birth by cesarean section is now 38.3%? And the 2007 national average is 31.8% ?* Why are so many babies being 'born' via major abdominal surgery? Is it making birth safer for mothers or babies? And what does it say about contemporary attitudes towards women and their bodies? This week we present the responses of three local women whose work is dedicated to educating and supporting pregnant and nursing women, plus one writer whose only choice for giving birth — three times — was at home.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15
You're So Brave (I Bet You Think This Birth is About You)
by Helena Holgersson-Shorter
THURSDAY, APRIL 16
Corporate Undermining: Setting Up Mothers to Fail
by Maria Parlapiano
TODAY: FRIDAY, APRIL 17
You Make Me Feel Like a Natural...Cesarean?
by Kim Collins
SATURDAY, APRIL 18
Medicate, Subjugate, Dominate, Operate
by Gayle Lemke
*http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_12.pdf
You Make Me Feel Like a Natural...Cesarean?
by Kim Collins
You know you’re in trouble when the new wave of advocacy is for “natural” cesareans. That’s right . . .a piece on April 4, 2009, in The Times (UK) recently reported on this movement, which is being lead by Professor Nicholas Fisk, formerly a consultant obstetrician at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London.
What would a “natural” cesarean look like? According to The Times’ piece, it means lowering the drape that divides the mother from her abdomen to allow her to see her baby's head emerge (the baby itself blocks the mother's view of the operation); next, the cesarean is performed slowly so the baby is able to "autoresuscitate" - start breathing unaided - while still attached to the placenta, as in normal birth. The baby is "half-delivered" and a combination of the naturally contracting uterus and the baby's vigorous wriggles allow the lungs to expel fluid in a similar way to a vaginal birth. This reduces the risk of the baby needing help to breathe; a common occurrence after a Caesarean; finally, babies are to be handed immediately to their mother for skin-to-skin bonding. The article correctly indicates that current monitoring methods would prevent this and so the approach would require attaching the ECG/EEG wires to the back of the chest so that the baby can be placed on the mother after birth, adjustments to the anesthetic dose so that there is no feelings of heaviness in the arms to prevent holding the baby and a clip that measures oxygen in the blood attached to the toe instead of the finger. I’d add that it’s important where the IV is put, preferably a non-bending part of the arm or wrist.
Obviously this is worlds better than the way things are done currently. I applaud this doctor for seeing this and understanding the importance of a more “natural” birth and mother/child bonding. I will forward this information to the care providers with whom I work. It fits nicely with what I teach to my childbirth students and doula clients about how to make a cesarean a birth and not just an operation.
However, I fear that for many the work will stop here at “natural” cesareans. I am not accusing this doctor or others quoted in the article of promoting cesareans, but I do think it’s telling that we have come to a place where cesareans are so common that we now have to try to make them more like vaginal birth instead of working like hell to make surgical birth less common. It calls to mind Margaret Atwood’s futuristic “Handmaid’s Tale,” in which the old ways of fertility and birth were a distant memory. I fear we are losing what is intended and adapting rather than fighting…a sick twist on evolution.
Kim Collins, aka DoulaMomma, is a wife; mother to three boys; former attorney; and for the last seven years, birth doula, childbirth educator, birth photographer, belly cast maker, placenta printer, birth advocate and columnist for The MotherHood Magazine. Oh, and blogger.
Kim Collins, DoulaMomma
Childbirth Services For Mommas & Their Families
917.992.4424 doulamomma@mac.com
http://www.doulamomma.com
Read my blog at http://doulamomma.blogspot.com/
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Resources
We urge women to educate themselves fully about their options for birth, including all the risks associated with cesarean sections, and vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC):
Childbirth Connection: http://www.childbirthconnection.org
A source for up-to-date, evidence-based information and resources on planning for pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. Founded in 1918, Childbirth Connection is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of maternity care.
VBAC.com: http://www.vbac.com
A woman-centered, evidence based, website providing childbearing women and maternity care professionals access to research-based information, resources, continuing education and support for VBAC* (vaginal birth after cesarean).
International Cesarean Awareness Network: http://www.ican-online.org
The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. (ICAN) is a nonprofit organization that was founded by Esther Booth Zorn in 1982. ICAN’s mission is to prevent unnecessary cesareans through education, to provide support for cesarean recovery, and to promote VBAC. Information about local ICAN chapters can be found on the website.
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To read more about The MotherHood magazine, or order back issues, go to:
www.themotherhoodmagazine.com, or contact us at themotherhood@comcast.net.
2 comments:
After caesarean , how will you feel?
As we all know,a caesarean is a major surgery, but it may still surprise you on how much it will hurt after.
You may feel can't do anything yourself : even move up the bedsheet a little you'll need sth or someone to hold onto.
Trapped wind is also a problem by about day three : tightening the abdominal muscles on an outward breath will help to expel the gas.
Peppermint water will be available in the hospital and it can help.
Wearing the knickers which are a size bigger than you usually need (or special knickers made from stretchy gauze or boxer shorts) may make your wound feel much more comfortable, and sanitary pads are necessary because of the lochia, or bleeding from the uterus, is the same as after a vaginal birth.
http://better-pregnancy-birth-infant.blogspot.com/
We are going to have a child soon and I am going to ask my doctor about taking this approach during the birth. It sounds like it is a win all around.
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