birth activist

Not only has the rising caesarean rate been a concern to those devoted to mother-friendly maternity care, but now a correlation is more publicly being made between caesareans and premature births. An article on MSNBC, "C-sections May Be Behind Rise of Preemie Births" suggests that arbitrarily picking a date for delivery may indeed lead to the rising number in premature births.

From the article: "Premature babies are at greater risk for a number of medical and developmental problems such as troubled breathing, bleeding in the brain, birth defects and death. Premature birth is defined as delivery before the 37th week of pregnancy, rather than the typical 40 weeks."

Due dates are estimations based on generalized numbers and cycles. Unless a mother goes into labor naturally, there is really no one hundred percent accurate way to tell when a baby should be born. Exceptions would be for complications, of course, which according to the World Health Organization should be less than ten percent -- more accurately around four percent.

"There was an increase of 60,000 (between 1996-2004) who were pre-term, and 92 percent of them were by Caesarean section," cites Dr. Alan Fleischman, medical director and senior vice president of the March of Dimes infant health advocacy group. He is particularly concerned about the number of unnecessary cesareans.

Between mothers recovering from major abdominal surgery and infants in critical health condition, our health providers should be concerned as well.