YOU CAN PREVENT IT!!!!

Take Action! Preventing the Preventable C-Section!

There’s been a lot of talk lately about unnecessary cesareans. Cesarean surgery has become common practice in the United States. Despite the fact that our cesarean rate—nearly one in three—is higher than it’s ever been in history, there have been no recent improvements in outcomes for women or babies, and we are beginning to see alarming increases in serious health problems that result from cesarean surgery. Most of the countries with the best health outcomes for mothers and babies have cesarean rates well below the U.S. rate. In this country, it’s clear that more cesareans take place than are necessary.

Talk with almost any woman who has had a cesarean and she’ll say her surgery was necessary. Indeed, by the time many cesareans take place, the surgery has become necessary—either because the baby is signaling distress or labor is not progressing. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that these problems often occurred as side effects of the way labor was managed. Some cesareans can be prevented with care that supports—rather than interferes with—the normal processes of labor and birth. By talking about “preventable cesareans,” instead of “unnecessary cesareans,” we can point to specific choices and care practices that might change the course of labor.

Research reveals that interfering in the natural processes of labor and birth can create problems that, in turn, must be managed with more interventions. Lamaze International has identified healthy birth practices, adapted from the World Health Organization, that help keep birth natural and improve birth outcomes. Together, these practices go a long way toward preventing preventable cesareans.

1. Let labor begin on its own 
2. Walk, move around and change positions throughout labor
3. Bring a loved one, friend or doula for continuous support
4. Avoid interventions that are not medically necessary
5. Avoid giving birth on back and follow the body’s urges to push
6. Keep mother and baby together – it’s best for mother, baby and breastfeeding

Other things you can do to avoid a preventable cesarean surgery include:

• Select a care provider and birth site with low cesarean surgery rates. Research suggests that this may be one of the most important things you can do to lower your chance of having a preventable cesarean. Some states make this information available from the Department of Public Health or another agency. You may also ask your provider his or her rate, which should be around 15 percent or lower.
• Download and read the free booklet What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know About Cesarean Section .
• Plan for excellent labor support. Consider hiring a doula.
• Let your labor start and progress on its own unless there are clear, compelling health reasons to induce or speed up labor.
• Move and change positions often during labor.
• Labor at home for as long as possible.
• Keep up your energy by eating if you are hungry and drinking when you are thirsty in labor.
• Insist on intermittent auscultation (listening to the baby’s heart periodically with a handheld Doppler instead of continuously monitoring the heartbeat with a machine) if you are healthy and you do not have complications in your pregnancy, such as high blood pressure.
• Try lots of non-drug comfort measures before considering an epidural.
• If your baby is breech and other measures have not worked to help the baby turn, plan to have an external cephalic version (manually turning your baby head-down). External cephalic version is generally safe and is effective at turning babies.

Here is where the rate was in 2007.....
it only goes HIGHER in 2010

Adapted from The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth with Confidence.