It's International Cesarean Awareness Month!

It's International Cesarean Awareness Month!

April is International Cesarean Awareness month. This month is sponsored by ICAN – The International Cesarean Awareness Network.

ICAN is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by reducing preventable cesareans through education, supporting cesarean recovery, and advocating for vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).

After researching childbirth around the world, the WHO (The World Health Organization) recommended that only 10-15% of all births be delivered via c-section. They stated that higher than that number were excessive and could cause health issues to the mother or baby. They believe only 10 to 15% of cesarean births are medically necessary. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 30% of births in the U.S. are via c-section.

Below is a map of the c-section rate worldwide in 2015. Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest c-section rates in the world and the lowest rates are in Africa. The chart below shows how cesarean births rose from 2000 to 2015.

The rise of c-sections around the world.

Many women are not aware that c-sections are major surgery with potential complications because 1 in 3 births in the U.S. are cesarean. Many women are surprised at the level of pain and the time needed for recovery. Still today, many doctors do not recommend women try to have a vaginal delivery after having a previous c-section. But many women have successfully had VBAC (vaginal births after cesareans) without any complications and greatly preferred the experience.

It is not 100% clear why rates are so much higher worldwide than the World Health Organization recommends; it could be because of the high number of inductions which causes more complications and can lead to c-sections, OBGYNs pressuring mothers to schedule their c-sections so the doctors will get paid a higher fee, or hospital policy. In some hospitals, they want to move laboring mothers in and out of the hospital as quickly as possible. Every hospital’s policy is different. For some hospitals, it is policy for women to be given c-sections after 24 hours of labor and other hospitals, it is based on beds and availability and it may be greatly less.

Of course, there are many conditions which make it medically necessarily to have cesarean births such as premature labor, a viral infection, placenta praevia, and breech births (although many midwives are trained to rotate babies in the womb) so there is no shame in having a c-section. However many women who have had c-sections against their will, have described having traumatic birth experiences which resulted in taking years to accept emotionally and to heal from post-traumatic stress disorder.

In my book, I interviewed many mothers who had cesarean births and offer many different viewpoints. Also I interviewed a highly regarded OBGYN from Lima, Peru, José Antonio Lévano, who gave some candid insights about why c-section rates are so high in Latin American countries, as well as, educated me about natural c-sections, a more compassionate, healthy alternative to the traditional c-sections. In another blog post, I will describe natural c-sections which José Antonio Lévano is an expert and pioneer of in Peru.

Awareness is so important so that women can feel empowered with the decision they make for themselves and their babies.

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