Word: chungs
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After giving birth vaginally, by caesarean and then vaginally again, I nearly lost consciousness reading "Womb Service." The line "Pretty tidy way to conduct the often messy business of childbirth," about Euna Chung's elective caesarean, was most disturbing. Trust me: suffering the effects of major invasive surgery is not a tidy way to do anything. Vaginal birth has been proven to be safest for moms and babies. It is irresponsible for TIME to suggest otherwise. Alana Brown, AVON...
...Chung has unwittingly stumbled upon the latest battleground in maternity care. Just as moms and even doctors once clashed about the importance of breast-feeding, they now debate the benefits and risks of vaginal births and caesarean sections. Rates of C-sections have been climbing each year in the past decade in the U.S., reaching a record high of 31% of all live births in 2006. That's a 50% increase since 1996. Around the world, the procedure is becoming even more common: in certain hospitals in Brazil, fully 80% of babies are delivered by caesarean. How did a procedure...
Some of the rise in C-sections can certainly be attributed to women with routine pregnancies, like Chung, who make a pragmatic decision to keep their deliveries just as uneventful. Preliminary data suggest that such cases account for anywhere from 4% to 18% of the total number of caesareans. On the medical side, better anesthesia and antibiotics are making the procedure safer. Add to that the growing number of women delaying childbirth, those having twins or triplets as a result of in vitro fertilization and America's exploding obesity epidemic--all of which increase the risks of vaginal delivery. Doctors...
...fiscal forces as well, such as soaring malpractice rates for obstetricians. Since doctors are sued more frequently after vaginal births than caesareans, surgery is often the prudent choice when there is even the slightest indication of a difficult vaginal birth. Combine this with the increasing willingness of moms like Chung to talk more openly about their C-sections, and we may be headed for a time when mothers make the vaginal-or-caesarean decision in the same way many now make the breast-or-bottle decision...
...Chung remains convinced that she made the right decision for herself and son Nathan. As our ideas about birth evolve, perhaps more women will feel less defensive about making the same choice...