This is  in response to the posting on elective Cesarean sections....Here in
the Southeast part of Florida we are seeing an alarming number of requests for
planned cesareans for any number of reasons....of course the most inane one
is "I don't want to have any labor pain." We saw it several years ago when one
of the area's OBs was quoted in the Miami Herald as stating she would have her
first child by cesarean so her perineum wouldn't have problems down the line.

Come this September Lamaze International will be having their annual
convention here in Ft. Lauderdale and the concept of Normal Birth will once again be
addressed. I will be attending and urge anyone who truly treasures the concept
that Birth is NORMAL to attend.  I still stubbornly teach Lamaze classes
because I believe that we must start out with the assumption that birth is normal
and occasionally a child needs to be assisted and cesarean is one way to assist
in delivering a child.  I love the concept that baby comes out, placenta
comes out, milk comes in. We see sections for multiples, IVF (too premium to be
born naturally), previous myomectomies and a few of our labor nurses had them
because" we do cesareans and why labor and then have to have one anyway" UGH!
I have just spent a very long weekend with a group of Hispanic mums with cs
who insisted "NO LECHE!" Our focus is to try to get into the cultural barrier
because we have so many South American patients who have already had their
elective cesareans and aren't into early breastfeeding....Elective cesareans
delay breastfeeding further and the question isn't whether you plan to breastfeed
or not, but when....when will you think its a good time to start...Can't wait
til JACHO looks at that aspect next time around. This is why I don't work L&D
anymore and have chosen to tackle the breastfeeding issue. I can impact Moms'
decision to start earlier sooner than later....while elective cesarean is a
looming issue that makes the medical establishment feel vulnerable to litigation
and angry menopausal women with mild urinary incontinence. (Sorry).  Birth is
an empowering event but breastfeeding can be even more so, especially when
Moms and babes learn the dance inspite of obstacles. I know because once upon a
time I didn't think I could and I did and more recently my daughter wondered
if she try and she did and though she stopped just after 4 months it truly
empowered her into mothering even more than her birth experience (NSVD with a
midwife). It all begins with choosing to take the moment whether its birth,
breastfeeding or anything else in life and though ACOG feels that elective cesareans
can be a choice, I think there needs to emphasis on how it effects those
earliest moments....not the ones down the road that involve intact perineums and
urinary incontinence.
Happy Independence Day ....
Lovingly from Sunny too Hot South Florida
Leanne Jewell, RN, C, LCCE, FACCE

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html