How’s this for a reversal?

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is set to issue a new set of guidelines intended to make it easier — easier! — for women who have already undergone a c-section to give birth vaginally.

ACOG’s new guidelines say that normal birth (meaning vaginal) is safe for most women who have had prior Cesarean sections, as long as the incision was low and horizontal — the typical cut for c-section births.

Women’s health advocates praise the new guidelines, especially in light of the evidence that VBACs are safe. Some 60 to 80 percent of women with a prior c-section who are allowed a trial of labor in subsequent pregnancies have successful VBACs. Continue reading »

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Concerned that doctors and hospitals are thinking more about legal ramifications, rather than a woman’s health, the National Institutes of Health issued a statement today essentially telling doctors and hospitals to stop banning vaginal births after cesareans.

Instead, a NIH consensus panel recommended that pregnant women and their caregivers use evidence-based decision-making in deciding whether to attempt a trial of labor rather than scheduling a c-section. In other words, enough with the anecdotes, we know you’re putting potential lawsuits ahead of patients, look at the science. Continue reading »

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An Arizona mother who says she just wants the chance at natural childbirth is comparing her doctors’ decision to demand a C-section to rape.

As far as Joy Szabo is concerned, the hospital’s not making a medical decision but a financial one in telling her she cannot attempt to deliver her fourth child vaginally. Continue reading »

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Just when you think we’ve gone beyond safety issues with regard to homebirth — what with the findings in this study and, more recently, this one, among others — the Today show goes and airs “The Perils of Home Birth,” a seven-minute segment so poorly reported, so one-sided and salacious, that instead of feeling defensive and outraged — I laughed. Out loud. Alone!

Here’s what I learned: women choose home birth because it’s “hedonistic,” and the equivalent of a spa treatment. Furthermore, reporter Peter Alexander suggests that women choose home birth because famous people like Meryl Streep and Demi Moore had some babies at home. Home birth, Alexander says, is “fashionable, trendy and the latest cause celebre.”

Spa treatments? Cause celebre? (Demi Moore?!) Continue reading »

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