For those who are interested...

The US cesarean rate has now risen 50% since 1996. Last year, it was 30.2%. This year, it is 31.1%.

From one article (http://www.newwest.net/citjo/article/cdc_releases_preliminary_2006_childbirth_data_record_high_cesarean_rate/C33/L33/):

[quote]The risks of cesarean were tragically highlighted this year by a rash of deaths related to the surgery, including two schoolteachers and friends from New Jersey, Valerie Scythes and Melissa Farah, who died within two weeks of each other in the spring. Both left behind healthy baby girls.

In August, the Centers for Disease Control released a report showing that, for the first time in decades, the number of women dying in childbirth has increased.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_19.pdf Experts note that the increase may be due to better reporting of deaths but that it coincides with dramatically increased use of cesarean. The latest national data on infant mortality rates in the United States also show an increase in 2005 and no improvement since 2000.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/prelimdeaths05/prelimdeaths05.htm

“At a time when maternal and infant mortality rates are decreasing throughout the industrialized world, the United States is in the unique position of having both a rapidly increasing cesarean rate and no improvement in these basic measures of maternal and infant health.” says Eugene Declercq, Ph.D., Professor of Maternal and Child Health at Boston University School of Public Health. [/quote]

If you want to learn more about cesareans and cesarean prevention, please visit www.ican-online.org, or contact me at icanofbuffalo@.... There is an ICAN meeting at 2:30 this Sunday at HomeGrown Baby, 3111 Delaware Avenue in Kenmore.

-Rachel