The Mommy Uprising

The Mommy Uprising
Click here to read entire article: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/the_mommy_uprising

They’re fed up with the unwanted C-sections, the endless tests, the dubious interventions, and the scary advice from overworked, malpractice-spooked doctors. And Boston women are shunning the area’s world-class hospitals to go to surprising lengths—and sometimes take big risks—to give birth on their own terms.

By Tina Cassidy, a former staff reporter and editor at the Boston Globe, is the author of Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born (Atlantic Monthly Press, $24). She has given birth once, by cesarean, to her son, George.
Originally published in Boston Magazine, December 2006.

Cesareans are not always life-saving

This poor family - it's so tragic. And a prime example of why cesareans should not be done without extreme consideration.

From: http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20061213/4074903.asp

SOMERS
Mother, preemie die hours after Caesarean

12/13/2006 SOMERS (AP) - A woman who had an emergency Caesarean section after a car crash died within hours of the delivery along with her premature baby, state police said Tuesday.

Police had described the pregnant woman's injuries as non-life threatening after the Monday accident, but an autopsy showed she died of blood loss after the surgery.

Investigator Michael Davis said Lina Borshchov, 27, of Beacon, was "speaking to the EMS people and moving her arms" as she was being taken out of her smashed car on Route 100 in Somers after the crash.

Borshchov's car was hit by a a vehicle driven by Elizabeth Carlen, 84, of Millwood, when Carlen drifted into oncoming traffic while rounding a curve, police said. Carlen was killed.

Borshchov was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where doctors performed the Caesarean, Davis said. Police said Borshchov died at 11 p.m., and the baby died shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday. The baby's death was attributed to complications of premature childbirth.

For what it's worth, it doesn't say why the cesarean was done - it may have been a perfectly good reason and this is not a criticism of the fact that the mother had one. But when was the last time you heard of someone dying after a vaginal birth?

Too Many Cesareans in Buffalo?

Erie County, it is interesting to note, has a cesarean rate for 2005 of 26.1%. This is much lower than the rate for the entire US, which is a whopping 30.2%. So is this a non-issue for the women of Erie County?

My answer is, absolutely not. Women in our area are still being cut way too often. For the first time in at least two years that I've been watching, Buffalo's rate is higher than the state average - 25.4%. The CDC reports that cesareans in an industrialized country the cesarean rate should fall between 10% and 15% - the high end being at high-risk hospitals. In Buffalo, the high-risk hospital is Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, whose rate is 30.5% - slightly higher than the country's average. Why so high?

Here are the local cesarean percentages for 2005:

Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital (Amherst) (2866) 25.4%
Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo (1814) 30.5%
Mercy Hospital (Buffalo) (2588) 24.6%
Sisters of Charity Hospital (Buffalo)(2502) 24.7%

When a woman has a cesarean, every piece of research indicates that a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) is usually the safest bet for future deliveries. There are studies that indicate that if given the proper support and information, the percentage of women who can safely VBAC is in the 90's; and yet, Buffalo doesn't even hit the state average of 15.3%, which is a far cry from the Healthy People 2010 goal of 37%.

Here are the area's VBAC percentages:

Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital (466) 17.8%
Women and ChildrenÂ’s Hospital of Buffalo (304)11.9%
Mercy Hospital (Buffalo) (332)12.1%
Sisters of Charity Hospital (Buffalo) (334)14.2%

What's really bad about this is that, from my own personal experience as well as the experiences of others, is that women are being told plenty of information about Uterine Rupture - a risk that is a possibility in any birth, not just in a VBAC, and everything that women are hearing about uterine rupture is probably pretty accurate, but emphasized in a disproportionate way to the actual risk most women face. An unscarred uterus has about a .2% chance of rupturing. A scarred uterus has about a .7% risk. But how many women hear that a major risk of VBAC is Uterine Rupture and sign right up for that cesarean? Do women know that their risk of uterine rupture in a VBAC is 30 times lower than any other pregnancy related emergency?

Women need to be given complete information before consenting to a procedure they may not want and may put the life of their baby orthemselvess in jeopardy. I pray that this blog becomes the voice of information and reason in a community that is currently too willing to accept the edicts passed down from the authoritative medical community.