What are We Doing?

Quote from the US CDC: "The cesarean delivery rate rose to a record high of 32.9 percent in 2009, up from 32.3 in 2008. The cesarean rate has increased every year since 1996, when the rate was 20.7."


All our advancing technology in birth sure has made a world of a difference, right? Only all these cesareans are not actually saving lives; the U.S.'s  Maternal and Infant Mortality rates are not going down, despite this increasingly upward trend of major abdominal surgery.

We have a ways to go to make birth safer in the U.S.

Mom of Twins Experiencing Prodromal Labor

So, I am a little late in posting this, but as of 8:12 this evening, there was no announcement on Natasha's blog that prodromal labor had culmanated into the birth of her twins, so I'm going to post this, thinking she is most likely still experiencing PL.

Read this post from last week and if you are inclined, encourage this mommy that she won't do this forever.  Prodromal labor has its challenges, and discouragement can be one of them.   Hopefully, someone who visits the post will not only encourage her, but her story will encourage a reader in the future that prodromal labor is not all for nothing.

I hope she updates when she gives birth, and I'll link from here.


*Updated to add: Natasha had her twins via c-section on the 17th!  Read here about "the twizzlers'" arrival and Natasha's coming to terms with a surgery she didn't want.

If I Were Truly "On" Face Book, I'd "Like" This

Sarah, from here, said this:

Many people are vaguely aware that "too many cesareans are being done," but they are unaware of the cause-and-effect that lead to preventable cesareans and other interventions. I know this because almost every woman who has had a cesarean, thinks that *her* cesarean was necessary/life-saving/not preventable. Statistically, over half a million preventable cesareans are performed annually in the US, so SOMEBODY'S cesarean was preventable.

(Contented sigh as I revel in reading the thoughts of others that validate my own.  Someone else said it.  I can't be that crazy. :)