April is C-section Awareness Month

Definition of C-section:

a) An abbreviation for cesarean section.

b) A major abdominal surgery where the uterus is cut open to extract the newborn instead of allowing the newborn to be born naturally and normally through the vagina.

c) A very important medical procedure that is necessary to save the mother's or child's life for about 10% of pregnancies, but is being abused, used in over 30% of pregnancies in the United States.

Definition of VBAC:

a) An abbreviation for a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean.

b) A birth option that allows a pregnant woman to have a natural and normal birth in a pregnancy after a possible traumatic experience with a cesarean, and an option that is medically possible for over 75% of women with previous c-sections without risk to the mother or child.

c) A birth option that many hospitals and doctors limit, ban outright, or discourage improperly.

In honor of C-Section Awareness Month, I make the following oath and committment:

Except in the case of a true emergency:

1. I will not go to a hospital with c-section rate above 30%, and will travel to another state or country if necessary, or forgo medical treatment if possible.

2. I will also not go to a hospital that has any (implicit or explicit) VBAC ban. If the hospital has a VBAC rate below 30%, I will consider there to be an implicit ban even if the hospital officially states that it allows VBACs.

3. I will not seek care from a physician whose c-section rate is higher than 15%.

4. I will not participate in conversations about physicians who have cesarean rates higher than 15% unless it is to explain the dangers of such physicians to our society and to each individual woman.

5. I will see midwife for all well-woman care who is either affiliated with an OB that meets the above criteria or who is not affiliated with any OB.

6. I will write to my congressional representative this month, encouraging him to help pass legislation in favor of mother-baby friendly birth practices and midwifery.

7. I will never recommend an OB to a woman with a low-risk pregnancy.

8. I will write an extensive blog entry at least once a year with a focus about the dangers of the current c-section rate in this country.

9. I will support women in their pregnancies, births, and postpartum with their rights to be protected against unnecessary c-sections, and in their recoveries of unnecessary c-sections.

10. I will raise my daughter to know, see, and appreciate normal birth, whether it is through the birth of her siblings in our home, the birth of friends' children in their homes, or the birth of complete strangers. I will not allow her to grow up never seeing a normal birth, or being under the misconception that .

For more information on C-Section Awareness Month, c-sections, or VBACs, visit http://www.ican-online.org.

Interesting Trivia in Honor of C-section Awareness Month: Home birth is safe, as many women who have had no other option to avoid a c-section have discovered. Remember that there have only been THREE U.S. presidents born in a hospital. The first U.S. president not born at home was Jimmy Carter in 1924 (about 150 years after our country was founded). The second U. S. President born in a hospital was twenty-five years later with Bill Clinton in 1946, which was the same year that U.S. President George W. Bush was also born in a hospital.