St. Louis, MO was so lucky to host an awesome conference over the weekend from the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). I was not able to attend the whole thing, but I met a ton of great ladies and was able to pick up some wonderful resources and a few personal touching stories. The ICAN motto of prevetion, recovery, advocacy, and the stories that I heard to go along with it were very inspiring. In 2009, the number of cesareans reached an all time high nationwide.
32.9% of Births Resulting In Major Abdominal Surgery
Record-high
Many of these cesarean sections could be prevented with proper education, preparation, having a support system, and trust your instincts.
I learned more in the past few days than I did while I was pregnant with my son. Why? I wanted to believe that "it wouldn't happen to me." I was lucky and able to deliver my son vaginally, but I should have educated myself more... Just incase. Now I can take this new knowledge and passion and pass it along to my new birthy family! I am so excited. If you want to look for yourself, check out ICAN's website.
http://www.ican-online.org/
I hope to have videos from the conference posted soon! Thank you!
~Krista Wampler
Labor Doula and Childbirth Educator in Training
How can you prevent cesarians? Other than women who want a planned delivery date, I thought c-sections were only performed when vaginal delivery wasn't possible.
ReplyDeleteOf course there are many instances when a c-section is necessary. The save the lives of mothers and babies everyday. I'm talking about c-sections that are not medically necessary. Women and health care providers should not go to cesareans when it is for convenience, because the birth is taking too long, or for other unnecessary reasons. Just because a woman had a c-section once, does not mean she has to have one again. VBACs are successful 75% of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe Public Citizen Health Research Group has estimated that half of the nearly 1 million cesareans performed every year are medically unnecessary. That means we can prevent cesareans with the proper education and planning.
Thanks for the great question!