Vaginal Delivery an Option for Breech
By danotoyou2
January 22, 2008
It seems that half the women I talk to who are planning VBACs had their primary cesarean because the baby was in a breech position, and no doctor can, or will, attend the birth of a breech baby. One of the reasons that breech has become a “mandatory section” is because of the Hannah study, which the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) embraced wholeheartedly. This article by Henci Goer refutes the study, and illustrates how it was flawed.
“The consequences of this situation are many superfluous cesarean deliveries with consequential morbidity in women and the vanishing of obstetric expertise with increased risks to those breech babies who must be delivered vaginally,” and, one might add, a policy that forces women into surgeries they neither want nor need because they have no other viable option.
When Research is Flawed: Planned Vaginal Birth versus Elective Cesarean for Breech Presentation
It amazes me that doctors can, in good conscious, continue to endorse cesareans for breech birth, when the evidence clearly shows that a vaginal delivery is as safe as a cesarean. Maybe it’s simply a matter of them not being comfortable attending those deliveries, because they were never trained in that. But by that logic, doctors should also feel uncomfortable with natural childbirth, because it is rarely utilized in hospitals either.
How do we overcome this naivety? I have no idea, but I’m open to suggestions.
Comments
Got something to say?