Nikki shares another  research article:

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New research bolsters a growing body of  evidence that  an
increasing proportion of women in the industrialized world are   choosing to
give birth by Caesarean section when there is no clear  medical  need.
Caesarean sections are still uncommon, but a study   published this week in
the British Medical Journal has found that the rate  of  elective C-section
among
American expectant mothers with  uncomplicated  pregnancies has increased by
67 percent since 1991, with  a gradual rise from  1991 to 1996 and a rapid
one
thereafter.



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Nikki, thanks for sharing this -- though I'm not sure I really wanted to
know.....  :>)

One wonders how much of this "choosing" is actually the physician
encouraging the "choice."   And how much of this choosing is related  to the fact that I
think many women are absolutely terrified of labor.   Women that don't think
twice about running a 10K marathon (or even the Chicago  or Boston marathon
for that matter) simply can't imagine having to endure what  they perceive as
the excruciating pain of labor.  So they choose to endure  the pain post
delivery instead -- which boggles the mind, it does.

In a perfect world we wouldn't have anything that would interfere with the
bonding and breastfeeding and blessing of the new baby.  No pain, no IVs,  no
incisions, (I intend to ask God when I get to heaven why the afterbirth  pains.
 I understand labor -- I think afterpains are just a bit over the  top, if
you get my drift...)  But this choosing one sort of pain over  another just
blows me away.  Whether women are merely "too posh to push" or  the
media/physician has convinced them they will mess up their perineum for life  -- well, I can
see it isn't too far from the day where we will be figuring out  how to have
cows carry our youngun's -- as was envisioned in a science article  in 1984
and then discussed at a conference by Sheila Kitzinger.

I wonder too if some of the "breastfeeding isn't for me" response we get
from mothers is another part of the "My Body -- just for Myself" sort of mindset
as well.

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
Wheaton  IL
www.lactationeducationconsultants.com

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