We’re Having A Baby Tuesday Afternoon But We Should Be Free Later That Evening

The miracle of childbirth . . . with bonus Betsy Gotbaum sighting:

The rate of babies delivered by cesarean section in New York City increased to 30.6%, in 2006, up from 29.7% in 2005, in a trend that some politicians, doctors, and women’s health advocates say is cause for concern.

The citywide increase reflects a national upward trend in the number of cesarean deliveries in recent years. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the national cesarean rate in 2006 reached a record high, 31.1%, according to its preliminary birth data for that year.

“There is alarming concern throughout the country that there are too many cesarean sections,” said Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who in 2006 released a report based on 2005 data detailing individual hospitals’ cesarean section rates. “It’s additional cost and it’s additional risk,” Ms. Gotbaum said, adding, “I hate to impart motives on hospitals and doctors . . . I can just tell you the numbers speak for themselves.”

“It’s clearly been rising,” the head of obstetrics at Brooklyn’s Lutheran Medical Center, Dr. Iffath Hoskins, said. “On a day-to-day basis, there will be three or four cesareans going on at a given time,” she said, estimating that one in three deliveries at Lutheran results in a cesarean.

. . .

The overall increase in cesareans has also been triggered by the changing perception of cesareans among women.

“There’s such a relaxed attitude about induction and c-sections that it’s not considered risky anymore,” the president of the group Choices in Childbirth, Elan McAllister, said.

She said women were getting a message from their peers and from their doctors that vaginal delivery is dangerous, while cesareans are more civilized. “A lot of women today are career women who are used to being in control, so the idea of being able to micromanage their birth is appealing,” she said.