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Time to Deliver? Mother Nature Knows Best

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

For years, I’ve been sounding the alarm about Cesarean delivery on-demand, and have persuaded my patients that childbirth isn’t something you can simply pencil into your schedule when convenient. It’s not just that a baby needs all the time nature gives her within the womb to develop, and that delivering just a few days early can mean that lung development and other functions may be potentially compromised. Cesareans are major surgery, which brings inherent danger to both mom and newborn. Necessary Cesareans are often life-savers. Unnecessary Cesareans can be just the opposite.

And now, at last, the word is spreading.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:


Babies born early through induction or C-section without a medical reason are nearly twice as likely to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit, researchers say. They also are more likely to contract infections and need breathing machines, according to a 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine and a number of other reports.


“We are finding out that the last weeks of pregnancy really do count,” said Leslie Kowalewski, an associate state director for the March of Dimes.


“At 35 weeks, the brain is only two-thirds of what it will weigh at 40 weeks.” Many organizations are responding with programs designed to eliminate early elective deliveries. Most significantly, chapters of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have begun to notify doctors about the serious consequences of performing early elective births.

With luck, as information about potential consequences spreads, expectant mothers and their doctors will decide to let nature take her course, for the sake of the mom’s health and her baby’s.

- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

Posted in Childbirth & delivery, General health news, Pregnancy, Women's health issues, Women's health news, Your newborn baby | No Responses »
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Why is the Maternal Mortality Rate in the U.S. So High?

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

In the richest nation on earth, with an advanced health care system, and the technology available to monitor and treat mothers and their babies, you’d expect the United States to have among the lowest rates of maternal mortality. So it’s distressing to learn that, although it’s still relatively rare for mothers to die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth, it happens here more often than it should. The U.S. is ranked 41st in maternal deaths among 171 nations analyzed by U.N. experts. That’s a worse record than virtually any other developed country — even worse than a good number of under-developed countries. What’s even more distressing: the death rate is rising.

The question is why? Why is pregnancy so risky in such a rich nation?

Often, the reason is a pre-existing disorder that complicates pregnancy, such as obesity, high blood pressure, or diabetes. The lack of access to good quality care among the uninsured also puts women at risk, leaving them without diagnosis and treatment for conditions that can cause problems until the condition gives rise to a full-blown emergency.

But there’s one contributor to maternal death that might surprise you. Our wealth, itself, could be contributing to the risk, because it encourages the prevalence of Cesarean-on-demand.

According to the CDC, in 2007, 31.8 percent of births were by Cesarean section. The rates of births by C-section have risen every year for at least eleven years.

While C-sections can be, and often are, life-saving, it’s difficult to justify that high a rate. The World Health Organization estimates that the U.S. rate is twice what would be medically necessary.

Cesarean births are now treated as routine, but major surgery is never routine. Major surgery comes with the risk of complications, including hemorrhage. And the C-section, as common as it has become, is still major surgery.

Childbirth is usually very safe, but it could be safer. Giving all women access to pre-natal care and preventive medicine is an important start. But it’s also important to remember that a woman’s body was designed to deliver babies the old-fashioned way. And choosing unnecessary surgery instead could be inviting trouble.

- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

Posted in Childbirth & delivery, Women's health issues | 2 Responses »
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