There’s no doubt about it – labor and delivery hurt.  A lot. 

That’s why just over half of women choose to have an epidural, according to a Wiser Pregnancy survey. 

Not into the epidural? There are other pain relief options to choose from:

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Very few people choose surgery, especially if there’s a non-invasive, cheaper treatment around. Yet when it comes to pregnancy, plenty of women opt to go under the knife.

More women in the U.S. have been having Cesarean sections than ever before, despite the risks involved. In fact, 32% of babies born in 2007 were delivered via C-section – an all-time high.

 A Wiser Pregnancy survey bears this out. Of more than 1,500 women surveyed, 26% of them have had one previous C-section; 12% have had more than one surgical delivery. 

Of women who have had a C-section in the past, only 16% successfully delivered vaginally (VBAC) in a subsequent pregnancy.

Why are so many women having C-sections?
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Have you had a Cesarean section and are interested in a vaginal delivery for your next baby? You may have a tough time convincing your hospital or doctor.

The number of women who undergo vaginal birth after Cesarean (VBAC) has plummeted since the 1990s, according to a panel of experts at a national conference on the procedure. And many times it’s the hospital that says no.   

The panel found that one-third of babies are delivered by C-section in the U.S., and nine out of 10 of women who have one C-section have a repeat surgical delivery in future pregnancies.

A Wiser Pregnancy survey supports this. More than 90% of women choose to give birth in a hospital, and of the 1,510 U.S. women polled, 23% of respondents have delivered by Cesarean section, and 16% of women who have had a C-section in the past delivered vaginally in a subsequent pregnancy. 

So why are C-section rates high and VBAC rates low?  Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes it feels like the baby is never going to come out. If so, you may be thinking about inducing labor, just to hurry it along. It’s a popular choice: In 2007, for the 11^th consecutive year, the number of C-sections in the U.S. rose, reaching 31.8% for all live births, according to the CDC/National Center For Health Statistics.

However, you may want to reconsider, suggests a new study from the University of Rochester School of Medicine.  

The study found that inducing labor increases the risk that a woman will have a Cesarean delivery, one that she may not have needed if she’d waited to go into labor naturally.  The study found that 1 to 2 out of every 25 induced labors resulted in a C-section. 

Why is this a concern? Because C-sections, as common as they are, are still surgical procedures. As such, they are associated with several risks, including infection, maternal bleeding, blood clots and injury to mother or baby. Of course, C-sections are medically necessary in some circumstances: You have diabetes, high blood pressure and placenta problems; your baby is not growing well; or you’re 10 days past your due date.

However, if those don’t apply to you, the risks linked to being induced and having an unplanned C-section could outweigh the benefits.    

Fortunately, maternal health problems that may require earlier delivery are not common, according to a recent WiserPregnancy survey:

• 6% of women were diagnosed with gestational diabetes
• 5.6% of women were diagnosed with gestational hypertension (high blood pressure)
• 3.8% of women were diagnosed with placenta previa
• 1.1% of women were diagnosed with placental abruption

In many of these cases, doctors decided early delivery was necessary. 

If your condition doesn’t warrant early delivery, why is it better to wait for spontaneous (i.e., natural) labor?  Besides giving your baby more time to develop, women who are not induced avoid the risk that they will need an otherwise unnecessary C-section. 

Have you considered setting a date to be induced?  Why or why not?