Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Cesarean Awareness Month

April is Cesarean Awareness Month! Cesarean Awareness Month is an "internationally recognized month of awareness about the impact of cesarean sections on mothers, babies, and families worldwide. It's about educating yourself to the pros and cons of major abdominal surgery and the possibilities for healthy birth afterwards as well as educating yourself for prevention of cesarean section."

Who should care about cesarean awareness? "Cesarean awareness is for mothers who are expecting or who might choose to be in the future. It's for daughters who don't realize what choices are being taken away from them. It's for scientists studying the effects of cesareans and how birth impacts our lives. It's for grandmothers who won't be having more children but are questioning the abdominal pains and adhesions causing damage 30 years after their cesareans."

Why have a cesarean awareness month? Because cesareans are SERIOUS. "There is no need for a 'catchy phrase' to tell us that this is a mainstream problem. It affects everyone. One in three
American women every year have surgery to bring their babies into the world. These women have lifelong health effects, impacting the families that are helping them in their healing, impacting other families through healthcare costs and policies, and bringing back those same lifelong health effects to the children they bring into this world."

For more information visit ICAN.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Most women are unaware that a c-section is major abdominal surgery. They are also unaware that they can develop a life-altering, debilitating condition known as ARD--adhesion related disorder--as a direct result of the c-section. 93% of patients who undergo major abdominal surgery will develop adhesions with 53% of those patients returning to their doctor(s) at some point in their life due to the adhesions which have become problematic. Unfortunately, this is when many women are told they are "depressed," have "IBS", etc., thus setting in motion an exhausting and painful journey of going from doctor to doctor in search of an answer to their pain. A c-section should only be performed when the life of the mother or baby (or both) is at risk.