ImprovingBirth - South Florida

rth choices. Declercq, PhD, Professor of Maternal and Child Health, Boston University School of Public Health, presents the sobering statistics of birth in the United States today. http://www.orgasmicbirth.com/birth-by-the-numbers

"So we find far higher rates of high-tech, unnecessary use of technology in U.S. maternity care than, for example, any country in Western Europe, even though the United States loses far more babies and women around the time of birth. Because of its obstetric-intensive maternity care, the United States spends twice as much per capita on maternity care than any of the other countries with lower mortality rates for women and babies around the time of birth. The financial waste of
scientifically unfounded high-tech obstetric maternity care in the United States is enormous. By changing to a far more modern, more scientifically-based maternity care with 75 percent of the births attended by midwives, the elimination of routine electronic fetal monitoring and a cesarean section rate in compliance with the recommendations of the federal government, the United States could save $13 billion to $20 billion a year." -Marsden Wagner

Examine the Evidence
Many reasons given for induction are not supported by evidence. http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10652#reasons

“The World Health Organization recommends no more than a 10 percent induction rate.31 Despite modern techniques, induction of labor still introduces considerable risk compared with natural onset of labor, and many, if not most, inductions are done for reasons that are not supported by sound medical research.”
http://www.motherfriendly.org/Resources/Documents/CIMS%20Fact%20Sheet-%20Problems%20and%20Hazards%20of%20Induction%20of%20Labor.pdf

“Cesarean rates have been rising for all women in the United States regardless of medical condition, age, race, or gestational age,52 and while the number of first cesareans performed without medical indication is increasing, no evidence supports the beliefs that these elective cesareans represent maternal request cesareans or that the rise in elective first cesareans has contributed significantly to the overall increase in cesarean rates.52”
http://www.motherfriendly.org/Resources/Documents/TheRisksofCesareanSectionFebruary2010.pdf

Study: Two-Thirds of OB-GYN Clinical Guidelines Have No Basis in Science
http://vbacfacts.com/2011/08/22/study-two-thirds-of-ob-gyn-clinical-guidelines-have-no-basis-in-science/

http://www.motherfriendly.org/Resources/Documents/CIMS_Evidence_Basis.pdf
http://www.milbank.org/reports/0809MaternityCare/0809MaternityCare.html