Are Mothers Driving Up the Cesarean Rate?
A report on Enterprisenews.com would have us all believe that the cesarean rate in the U.S. is being driven in some significant way by mothers demanding elective cesareans with hapless obstetricians following their orders. But is this true? While the Enterprise article cites the experiences of medical personnel in one Massachusetts city, researchers […]
Pitocin: A Cautionary Tale
The blogosphere lit up this last week with posts about “pit to distress” (see here, and here), the practice of administering the maximum dose of Pitocin (synthetic oxytocin) to a laboring women until the baby shows signs of distress. Such overuse (and misuse) of Pitocin in labor raises the risk of cesarean, traumatic vaginal delivery, […]
Insurance Denial for Cesarean Illegal in MN
As of August 1st, it will be illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to women with a previous cesarean in the state of Minnesota. The Twin Cities chapter of ICAN worked along with the Minnesota Better Birth Coalition to promote this legislation. State Senator John Marty introduced the bill, joined by Senators Prettner-Solon, Pappas, […]
"A Healthy Baby is All that Matters"
by Sheila Stubbs Sooner or later, it seems every woman who has had her baby delivered by cesarean section hears those words. While we’re very thankful for our healthy babies, the statement can leave a mother feeling like she doesn’t matter. I’ve been trying to think of some kind of analogy but there isn’t […]
The Birth Story of Kenna Joy
by Krista Cornish Scott, ICAN Chapter Director photo credit: Ken Stigler WARNING: the pictures are not graphic but they do have a bit of blood in them, if you are squeamish. Also there are two curse words in the story that are edited but it’s obvious what they are. Please note the dates on the […]
