A C-section Baby Boom

You might say there's nothing typical about Linda Sorin's childbirth experience. Sorin is a Chicago-area mom of triplets. She gave birth during a full moon and on Friday the 13th. But in one sense, Sorin's delivery was not unusual. Her triplets arrived via C-section, or Cesarean delivery.

According to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly a third (29.1 percent) of all U.S. babies are delivered via Cesarean – a whopping 40 percent increase over the last decade. And this number is expected to climb even higher, says Dr. Jacques Moritz, director of gynecology at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. "I see it eventually getting as high as 50 percent," Dr. Moritz says.

This increase has many experts concerned. While there's no doubt that Cesareans save lives – before the modern C-section, mothers and babies often didn't make it through difficult births. But a Cesarean is major surgery and brings with it its own set of risks. In fact, April 2006 was recently declared Cesarean Awareness Month by the International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. (ICAN), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to lowering the Cesarean rate.

When Karen Hunt's* labor began, her daughter was in the breech position. Hunt's doctor offered her the option of delivering vaginally or choosing a Cesarean, and then gave Hunt and her husband a few minutes to think it over. "We asked the nurse why we should choose a C-section over a regular birth," says Hunt, a mom of two in South Carolina. "We were told that it was possible the baby could get caught in the birth canal and die. After that, it was a no-brainer." Hunt had the C-section and both she and her daughter are doing well today.

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