25 percent of babies delivered by C-Section!
March 8, 2007 by planetultramarathon
Nearly 25 per cent of babies born at Calvary Hospital are C-section
Almost a quarter of all babies born at Calvary Hospital are delivered by elective Caesarean selection, with the number of women choosing this method of delivery nearly doubling in five years at the hospital.
The statistics released in the 2005 Mothers and Babies report released this week by the NSW Health Department show a state-wide trend towards more births by elective caesarean with a number of factors contributing to this, Charles Sturt University Bachelor of Nursing course manager Heather Latham said.
Mrs Latham said the belief the procedure was less painful and less damaging to pelvic floor muscles was a factor as was the desire to be able to book the time of birth in advance.
“People want to be able to schedule the birth into their busy lifestyles these days,” she said.
“Also there is a feeling out there that a Caesarean is a way of avoiding the painful experience of vaginal birth. On a personal note, having been through both, that the Caesarean was certainly more painful and took longer to recover from but that might be different for another woman.”
She said exercising the pelvic floor muscles can reduce the damage and that having a Caesarean came with its own risks as it was a major surgical intervention.
“The risk to the mother is higher in a Caesarean and there is an increased risk of bleeding in subsequent pregnancies,” she said.
Mrs Latham predicted the number of elective Caesareans to continue to rise for no other reason than women who have delivered in that manner once are likely to do so again in their next pregnancy.
She said women should take the advice of their health professionals in deciding what is the safest way to have their children delivered.
The full Mother and Babies Report 2005 is available at www.health.nsw.gov.au
