So, in noticing the alarming number of women in the May 08 Expecting Club having c-sections, I decided to do a little informal research. I spent about 20 minutes sorting through the first 43 birth stories I found and guess what? Oh, just guess….. come on….. It's right there in the Subject……………
Yes, out of 43 births, 26 of those were by c-section. That is a whopping 60% c/s rate, and we're only a week into May. It's obviously not slowing down, and it looks like I'm the ONLY person who noticed it. It's a good thing I don't post on Ivillage anymore because I'd be seriously trying to wake those women up right now, which wouldn't make me any friends. People really cannot handle the truth.
Well, what are you gonna do? America is experiencing a birth crisis right now, and it seems to only be getting worse. Yes, I blame the greedy doctors and insurance companies, but I blame the women even more. Women are being subjugated by letting the very thing that makes them a woman be silently stripped away. The ability to produce human life WITHOUT any involvement from modern medicine is a great gift…. and here we are, letting a male-dominated industry convince us that we're not capable of it. I do truly believe that what keeps women from being the more dominant gender is the fact that very few women question the status quo. When Betty Frieden admitted she wanted to work outside the home, the other women who were trapped in theirs told her to shut up. When the suffragettes fought for our right to vote, many women took the men's side, afraid of rocking the boat and losing the few privileges that came along with being a powerless wife. Do I even need to remind people of Thalidomide babies? Women listened to their "expert" doctors then and look what horrific epidemic came out of that.
And here we are now… letting doctors tell us our bodies are too broken to give birth, because inductions and c-sections seem so appealing those last few miserable weeks of pregnancy. It's too bad so many women who fall victim to this realize all too late how much damage they are doing to themselves. I am one of those women. No matter what, my first c-section will affect every pregnancy I'm ever blessed with. And I will never get over that.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that the shear existence of these Expecting Clubs is totally unhealthy to the pregnancy process. I mean, when else in your life would you know of SO MANY women due around your due date? And when you're pregnant and uncomfortable, and you see other women having their babies before you (even if they're due weeks before you) you get miserably jealous and start thinking it's a great idea to kick your fetus out too. I understand. I felt the same exact way during my last pregnancy, especially because I was due at the END of the month (and actually delivered on the first of the next month) and it seemed like everyone in the whole wide world was having their baby except me.
God, that was so unhealthy. And here I am with a uterine scar because of my impatience.
Well, I digress. These women are strangers and as much as I care about the health of ALL women, I can't do anything about this horrifying 60% c/s rate. All I can do is keep MYSELF informed and educated, and hope that other women learn what I have learned about the miracle of birth.
Ummm...yeah. It is scary. I'm pregnant with my 5th, and stopped doing the Expecting clubs during my 3rd pregnancy.
Now here is a winner of a post on yours...a mom who is actually UPSET that her Dr. is telling her that she doesn't need to schedule a cesarean, she can attempt vaginal birth. http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp... I get the impression that she may have been told previously that she has a "big baby" and should have surgery without even attempting labor. Sad, just sad.
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