It’s been all over the news lately–in the past week, I brought you the story of Banner Hospital in Arizona banning elective cesareans and inductions before 39 weeks (and stay tuned for a post about 20 Louisiana hospitals doing the same!). Now NPR is covering the efforts some doctors, and the March of Dimes with their “Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait” initiative, are making to ensure that babies are not unnecessarily being delivered too early during the last few weeks when important lung and organ development is still taking place. Thirty seven weeks is “term,” but there is new evidence that these last few weeks in the mother’s womb are critical to the baby’s brain development as well as the development of other vital organs.
To read the full story from NPR and for a link to the audio from their program “All Things Considered,” click here.
For more information on the March of Dime’s “Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait” initiative, click here.
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Healthy babies are what it’s all about!