{"id":5582,"date":"2020-02-05T12:50:15","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T20:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nebulous-oyster.flywheelsites.com\/?p=5582"},"modified":"2024-02-06T06:28:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T14:28:42","slug":"everyone-i-know-had-a-c-section-whats-the-big-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennifermargulis.net\/everyone-i-know-had-a-c-section-whats-the-big-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone I Know Had a C-section, What’s the Big Deal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Everyone<\/p>\n

“Everyone I know had a C-section, what’s the big deal?”<\/p>\n

My friend, in her late 30s, wasn’t being snarky; she was genuinely confused.<\/p>\n

She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to have any of her own biological children but every woman she knew\u00a0in the high-powered well-heeled literary scene<\/a>\u00a0in New York City, she told me, was giving birth abdominally.<\/p>\n

Why not just have a Cesarean birth?<\/p>\n

After all, it’s a lot quicker. It’s also more convenient. And you can choose a nifty birth date for your baby, like 1\/17\/17 or 04\/04\/2024.<\/p>\n

Plus, everybody’s doing it.<\/p>\n

Cesarean birth may be popular, but that doesn’t make it safe<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Here’s what your doctor who is encouraging you to have an elective C-section<\/a> isn’t telling you: A woman is at least three times<\/em>\u00a0more likely to die<\/a> during or after Cesarean birth than during or after vaginal birth.<\/p>\n

That’s what happened to Frances Cappuccini, a vibrantly healthy\u00a030-year-old mom giving birth to her second baby, as reported by the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And in November, 2016, 30-year-old Cassie Davis<\/a>, a first-time mom in Utah whose pregnancy with twins was healthy and uncomplicated, died. Cassie passed away after her doctors ordered an emergency C-section.<\/p>\n

So did\u00a0Michigan mom Bethany Mellish<\/a>. Bethany Mellish died on December 30, 2015 while her husband was stroking her hair, leaving him to raise their 18-month-old daughter and newborn son by himself.<\/p>\n

\n

Woman dies during C-section<\/h3>\n

Posted: Jan 07, 2016 6:39 PM PST<\/em>Updated: Jan 08, 2016 2:22 AM PST<\/em><\/p>\n

By Andrew Keller, Multimedia Journalist<\/span><\/p>\n

LAPEER COUNTY, MI (WNEM)\u2014<\/span>Last week James Mellish\u2019s wife, Bethany, gave birth to their second child, James.<\/p>\n

But what was supposed to be one of his happiest days, soon became one of the darkest.<\/p>\n

“One minute she’s OK, and the next, she wasn’t,” Mellish said.<\/p>\n

The couple went to Hurley Medical Center for a scheduled cesarean section on Dec. 30.<\/p>\n

Everything was going well, but shortly after doctor’s delivered James, the unthinkable happened.<\/p>\n

“I was just sitting there, rubbing her hair while they were getting this little guy, and then the next minute, she’s not, not there,” Mellish said.<\/p>\n

Bethany\u2019s father, John Kaiser said, “The doctors said it was a one in a million chance with this blood clot, and the nurse that was in the operating room thought that she called it an amniotic embolism.”<\/p>\n

Just three and a half years ago James and Bethany got married in her father\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n

Kaiser held his 18-month old granddaughter, Penelope, knowing that she and her little brother have healing power.<\/p>\n

“I think James is what’s gotten him through, James and Penelope,” Kaiser said.<\/p>\n

Mellish said faith has helped him accept his wife’s death.<\/p>\n

But caring for two small children at this very tough time is something he couldn’t do without family.<\/p>\n

“My parents, my brother and sister, my in-laws \u2013 I wouldn’t get through without them, I know that. I’ve had somebody at my house pretty much non-stop,” Mellish said.<\/p>\n

Though times are tough, Mellish said he’s pushing through because he knows Bethany wouldn’t want it any other way.<\/p>\n

“My wife would want me to be strong for the kids, and that\u2019s \u2013 I try to think about what my wife would do in a situation and I do it. That’s basically it,” Mellish said. “I know she wouldn’t want me sitting in the corner crying all the time, she’d want me to be there, playing with my kids, and taking care of them, so that’s what I’m doing, that’s what I’m doing.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The highest maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While the media and the medical establishment tell us often that it’s rare to die in childbirth, the truth is the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any country in the industrialized world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Economic disparities, racism, lack of access to prenatal care and poor health during pregnancy\u00a0play a role in our ignominiously high maternal mortality rates, as do our\u00a0high cesarean rates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Woman

Screenshot via BBC News http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-england-kent-38634044<\/p><\/div>\n

But a catastrophic event is not the only reason to avoid having a cesarean birth.<\/h4>\n

Pain at the incision site (a dear friend is dealing with this now. A full year after her baby was born, she continues to be in constant pain),\u00a0complications from the anesthesia, injury to internal organs, postpartum\u00a0infections, and problems with the placenta in subsequent pregnancies are all well documented risks from C-section birth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And then there are the risks to the baby.\u00a0Doctor-caused\u00a0injuries to the baby (here’s a\u00a0list of possible injuries<\/a>\u00a0compiled by a medical malpractice lawyer), a disrupted immune system<\/a>, disrupted digestive system<\/a>, difficulties breastfeeding<\/a>, and a higher risk of chronic health problems<\/a>, including obesity and asthma, are just a few.<\/p>\n

Yet even\u00a0as we have definitive scientific evidence that the safest birth for both the mom and the baby is the least technological<\/a>, doctors are performing\u00a0some\u00a0600,000 unnecessary<\/a>\u00a0Cesarean births in America every year.<\/p>\n

So if you don’t want a C-section, what can you do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n