Five Ways to
Lower Your Risk of a Cesarean |by Krista
Cornish Scott
Education Director for ICAN, the International Cesarean Awareness Network.
Imagine you’ve just had surgery. You came through it great, but you know that for the next few weeks you’re going to need to take it easy, relax, not lift anything, and avoid bumping that scar area near your lap. And then you’re handed a newborn baby and told to take care of it, too. This is reality for about a third of mothers giving birth in the US today. And while cesareans are certainly appropriate and life-saving in some cases, the current cesarean rate is more reflective of current birth practices and beliefs than it is of true medical necessity. Keeping yourself in a low-risk category and supporting the natural birth process by choosing some of the following tips can help you not have to imagine what it would be like to take care of a newborn after having major abdominal surgery.
#1 Stay Active While most women know the importance of eating healthfully during pregnancy, many are not equally focused on how staying active and fit can help reduce your risks of complications which could lead to a cesarean. Research has also shown it can lead to a shorter labor. Who wouldn’t want to sign up for that? A multitude of studies reinforce that mothers who keep active through their entire pregnancy have lowered risks of many complications and interventions, including cesarean. Helen Varney, author of Varney’s Midwifery textbook, cites several studies on exercise during pregnancy that show a 75% reduction in the need for forceps delivery or cesarean, which each carry
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