Cesarean Statistics and Caesarean Awareness Month

April is Caesarean Awareness Month and the International Caesarean Awareness Network report that newly released cesarean statistics show that the rate in the US in 2007 was 32 percent, up 53 percent from 1996 with the rate for women under 25, up 57% in the decade since 2000.

My first caesarean was a medical emergency that saved both my life and my baby’s since, as later tests confirmed, the inlet to my pelvis was too small to allow the head to pass through – which is why it never engaged. Add in to that the fact that the baby had turned to present with her back facing my back and her head was tilted so that she was pushing against the small of my back rather than forcing the cervix to thin and dilate with its downward pressure. There was no way she would ever have found the way out on her own.

After 23 hours of labour, she went into distress and I had an allergic reaction to all the chemicals that were being pumped into my body to ‘assist the process’. We were taken off to an operating theatre and, an hour or so later, my Husband was presented with a blue blanket that contained our little girl. As he watched, I was wheeled out, a shivering lump of flesh that had just had its abdomen sewn back together. It was pretty horrific when he was so tired and had been on tenterhooks since that time the day before.

My next caesarean was elected. I was able to pretty much book an appointment for the time and day. I could make childcare arrangements for the few hours that would be required for my Husband to be present. I knew roughly how long I would need to stay in hospital and, above all, I knew what was happening, so I was able to do the research on any areas that I didn’t understand.

One stand-in woman gynae did try to forcibly persuade me to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) or at least attempt a trial of labour. With all the reports showing that it was virtually impossible for me to do this, I was very angry that she would advise me to pursue such a course of action and I was extremely glad that I had all the facts at my disposal to refute her assertions. My main obstetrician who was a man with decades of practical experience said that he would never force a woman who had had an emergency caesearean to endure a trial of labour unless she really wanted to.

I think that’s the thing. In the backlash against the celebs who have caesareans because they are ‘too posh/too famous/too busy to push’, normal women are being put at risk by health professionals who don’t want to be seen to be pushing the caesarean option because of the opprobrium they will receive when the cesarean statistics are released.

Well, for some of us it was a life-saving necessity which we were made to feel guilty about for a long time afterwards – by the smugness of some who had managed to ‘drop their kid behind a bush, tied it to their back and gone back to harvesting’ and by our own feelings of failure at not being able to perform the most natural of womanly functions.

Unnecessary caesareans are a dreadful thing and stories of healthcare professionals who do these ‘so they can get home on time’ are horrendous to hear and celebrities who make c-sections a fashion accessory are to be villified. But some caesareans are vital to the life and health of both mum and baby. The statistics need to be rejigged to reflect these factors.

In Caesarean Awareness Month, it’s bad enough beating yourself up for decades after the event, but having the official cesarean statistics do it every year too…?