Ok folks, I'm going to go on a bit of a tirade, so brace yourselves...

 

The CDC just released it's cesarean data for 2005, and once again the rate has climbed.  This time, from 2004 where it was 29.1% to 30.2%.  In Buffalo, according to myhealthfinder.com, EVERY SINGLE HOSPITAL (that's Sister's, Mercy, Children's and Suburban) saw an INCREASE in cesarean usage (up to 26.3% from 23.6%).  So much for my hope that Buffalo would be pioneers in reversing that trend, as all hospitals were down according to the previous year's data.

 

Some of you have had cesareans that were prudent.  Some of you (like me) may feel that yours was up to question.  But how on earth can we justify more than 1 in four women needing to be cut open in order to do the most natural thing human beings can do? 

 

We need to EDUCATE ourselves and our sisters, friends, daughters, every woman we know - we need to share with them why natural birth is so important, and when the reasons for a cesarean are a steaming load of bunk vs. reasonable.  We need to take our power back in the birth room and before, because our instincts as mothers are the best tools we have, and are often suppressed by trying to be a "good patient." We need to stop being led by "guidelines" designed to protect practitioners far more than they have anything to do with ourselves and our babies.

 

If you are as bothered by this as I am (and I really hope you are), come to the next ICAN meeting - Wednesday, December 6th at 10:45am, 3111 Delaware Ave. at HomeGrown Baby. Let's figure out what we can do to stop this trend now. 

 

-Rachel Zeller

Chapter Leader, ICAN of Buffalo