April is considered CAM or Cesarean Awareness Month. Every year in April, the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) works to raise awareness regarding cesareans throughout the world.
Throughout the month, I'll be sharing articles, facts, quotes and more to help educate and raise awareness.
To start...Did you know ONE in THREE women today in the US is giving birth by cesarean? This is an interesting statistic when in 1996 the cesarean was only 21% and VBACs were around 28%. From that time we have seen a steep decline in the number of VBACS (8% in 2010), but large increase in then number of both overall cesareans (33%, 2010) and primary cesareans (24%, 2010).
I believe these statistics are based on many different reasons - fear tactics, unsupportive providers, flexibility of scheduling your birth and more. I'll touch on many of these topics throughout CAM in more detail including ways you can set yourself up for the best outcome!
However, the good news is, due to pushes to educate and support women, these rates have recently plateaued! The more we are able to push back and demand our rights to birth, the outcomes of birth will continue to improve.
*To be clear...I believe there will always be cesareans. They can be absolutely life saving procedures. I am simply trying to educate women to help avoid primary cesareans for unnecessary reasons/pressure to allow for better outcome in subsequent pregnancies.
For more information on ICAN, visit the website at http://www.ican-online.org/. You can also take advantage of their CAM rates and JOIN.
Statistics and image from ACOG - American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Throughout the month, I'll be sharing articles, facts, quotes and more to help educate and raise awareness.
To start...Did you know ONE in THREE women today in the US is giving birth by cesarean? This is an interesting statistic when in 1996 the cesarean was only 21% and VBACs were around 28%. From that time we have seen a steep decline in the number of VBACS (8% in 2010), but large increase in then number of both overall cesareans (33%, 2010) and primary cesareans (24%, 2010).
I believe these statistics are based on many different reasons - fear tactics, unsupportive providers, flexibility of scheduling your birth and more. I'll touch on many of these topics throughout CAM in more detail including ways you can set yourself up for the best outcome!
However, the good news is, due to pushes to educate and support women, these rates have recently plateaued! The more we are able to push back and demand our rights to birth, the outcomes of birth will continue to improve.
*To be clear...I believe there will always be cesareans. They can be absolutely life saving procedures. I am simply trying to educate women to help avoid primary cesareans for unnecessary reasons/pressure to allow for better outcome in subsequent pregnancies.
For more information on ICAN, visit the website at http://www.ican-online.org/. You can also take advantage of their CAM rates and JOIN.
Statistics and image from ACOG - American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
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