and dil is already planning for the next baby..but dgs was a biggie (10 lb) and they had to do c section) and she's not due til dec and is already showing lots..her mom did the same thing...

she has her blood done in case of diabetes...watches what she eats,ect...

i've heard it's bad in sweden?

And of course there is always the factor of defensive medical practice in our litigious US society.

Medical necessity (as in your DIL) is one thing, but as a country we're clearly going beyond medical necessity. I hadn't heard about Sweden, so I looked it up. Here's one thing that I found:

The cesarean section rate increased from 5 percent in 1973 to 12.3 percent in 1983, and thereafter declined steadily to 10.84 percent in 1990. Perinatal mortality was halved from 14.2 to 6.3 per 1000 live births, and the number of newborns with low Apgar scores (

I doubt the rate shot back up after 1990, since a decline in C-sections corresponded with an improvement in the condition of newborns. But of course one never knows....

Maybe doctors recommend it if there is even a slight chance of delivery problems. My friend's baby died at 8 months in the womb, and they induced her labor and had her deliver the baby because it was safer for than a c-section. It was a sad time.

Taking care of a newborn and recovering from abdominal surgery at the same time is rough--not enough sleep, night sweats, tired tired tired. Not one of my happiest memories.

When I became pregnant with our first child (after 7 tears of trying) DH went along with me on my gyno/obstetrician visit and told the doctor he did not want me to have a C Section. I remember after our baby girl was delivered vaginally, I was put in a room with another new mother who had had a Caesarian. She was in a lot of pain from anesthesia, stirches, surgery, and I'll never forget her moaning. I was fine.

Gibby hit it right on the head. You can thank all the malpractice lawyers for that. Any time there is a hint of fetal distress, OB-GYNs are doing c-sections. And what choice do they have when they have fetal monitor tracings of every laboring patient? They will be shredded in court if there is a bad outcome and the lawyer says "why didn't you deliver that baby when the heart tones dropped to 70 at such and such a time?" Just did one this morning at 0500 for just that reason, baby was fine.

I just saw Gibby's post, and I agree, too.

I don't know how fetal monitors are regarded now, but back when they were introduced I remember they were not exactly warmly embraced by the proponents of natural childbirth. They restricted movement, and raised some false alarms, I believe.

Not only are they doing them more they are doing them sooner. One day over due date and they are talking c-sections.

Too many sonograms also. Baby is "guestimated" to be a big one and the c-section talks begin.

Such a shame that our country has medicalized childbirth to this extent.

In California a study was done and it was found c-section had a 17% more chance of occurring in for profit hospitals.
In one Los Angeles for profit hospital c-sections comprised a whopping 47%!

My opinion? If my DD has her wish and gets pregnant I will do everything possible to insure she has a doula. The trend is downright scary and no a way do i want her in the delivery room without a patient advocate.

In 1976 when I had my DS I was having natural childbirth (my 2nd). My own doctor happened to be out of town and the attending doctor yelled at me when i refused fetal monitoring. DH and I told him if he couldn't be productive to just leave us along. 15 minute L later I was nursing my healthy almost 9Lb. baby boy. I am 5'1" so the size of the mother doesn't matter. i get so tired of the she's too tiny argument. Nature gave us a pelvis for childbearing. A six foot giant of a women can have a narrow pelvis which doesn accommodate.

Sometime I think we are in the dark ages regarding childbirth and all the fears that accompany it.

At the same time although 75% of mothers start breastfeeding only 43% still are at 6 months. That saddens me. The lack of support and real facts about breastfeeding are lacking. Unless a mother seeks out info for herself chances are she will be given silly unreliable advice. No wonder we have the failure rate we do.

C sections are performed before the due date to avoid the possibility of the mother going into labor. IF the c-section is necessary for medical reasons then it is important to avoid labor. My own was scheduled 1 week prior to delivery - but my child had a mind of it's own and I went into labor the day before. Now that was a scary drive to the hospital since the baby was a single footing breech - one leg was down the other was bent across the body and there was a significant danger of the umbilical cord compressing during vaginal delivery.

Well said, Wildchild. The popularity of ultrasounds is another hot issue with me. We've had KT discussions before about their overuse and possible risks. A higher rate of left-handedness has been observed in boys exposed to prenatal ultrasound, which leads to the conclusion that the scans may affect fetal brain development. I can't help wondering about other possible manifestations, including autism.

Parents can go to an "ultrasound boutique" at the mall and get a long 3D (some say 4D) video of their baby in utero. With the proliferation of regulations we have in this country, I don't know why ultrasounds are not regulated.

Here's an interesting article on ultrasound safety that was published just last week. It's worth reading.

"A higher rate of left-handedness has been observed in boys exposed to prenatal ultrasound, which leads to the conclusion that the scans may affect fetal brain development. I can't help wondering about other possible manifestations, including autism."

Hmmm, Susan, just what are you suggesting??

Erin, a left-hander.

(I hope you know I'm kidding, because I have a lot of respect for you.)

Eeek! I'm glad you qualified that, Erin, because it really is so hard to interpret written comments sometimes! :-)

But just to clarify the handedness thing (you know I love to keep going when I'm on a roll), here's an explanation from another article:

Kieler found that of the men born between 1976 and 1978 who had ultrasonic scans in the womb, 32 per cent more than expected were left-handed. In an average population, around nine per cent of men are left-handed.

The results suggest that some men who genetically would have been expected to be born right-handed had actually grown up to be left-handed. Kieler says this could be due to a disruption of their brain development in the womb: "It's commonly known among neuropsychiatrists that right-handed people can become left-handed by slight damage to the brain."

I wonder if the reverse is true, that left-handed people can become right-handed the same way......? It would make sense.

Those 3D ultrasounds creep me out. My best friend showed me hers a few weeks ago and the thing looked like a little deformed alien and it was truly repulsive. Some things are better left till "done" lol. But yeah, I wish people didn't do things like that for the novelty of it. It's still too new to really know the future effects.

Boy, that report does seem to suggest that left-handers have some sort of brain damage--I never heard that before. I'm pretty sure my mom never had a scan with either my sister or me, as we did the bare minimum when it came to medical care, due to lack of funds. Also, both our parents were left-handed, before they were forced to use the right. It sure would be interesting to see if the reverse is true, but I'm not sure that could be measured as right-handedness is most prevalent.

I can remember seeing a discussion of C-sections on tv a few years ago & one woman had opted for a C-section because she did not want her vagina stretched out & misshapen by birthing. And.... get this..... she was a PHYSICIAN! I found that just incredible! Talk about "vanity"!?!?

If you want to see a good movie about how screwed up our American medical system is in regards to childbirth and the laboring process watch "The Business of Being Born". You can get it on Netflix, which is where we got it. Very interesting movie. Made me wish I had had a doula and a home birth in water, lol.

sleeperblues, I recommended that documentary on the KT last time we had a similar discussion. Wasn't it fascinating?? Anyone with an interest in this topic should really see this movie!

Out of all my friends that have had babies in the last 5 years or so (and there's been quite a few!), almost every single one of them has had a C-Section!

I think that movie would do terrible things to my blood pressure. Back in the day, I read (and took to heart) Suzanne Arms' book, Immaculate Deception. Sounds like something similar. Curiosity may get the better of me, though. And I do have a Netflix membership.....

Bee, your story reminds me of someone who once told me she didn't want any more children (she had one) because a pregnancy would ruin the tattoo on her stomach. She was a counseling psychologist, BTW.

I had a friend tell me she didn't nurse any of her 3 children because she didn't want her breasts to sag.