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That's a great article. I'm a big fan of Consumer Reports.

Excellent article....and precisely the reasons why I'm so happy I gave birth in Australia and not the US. I love that the Australian system views pregnancy as a natural occurrence, not a medical condition requiring treatment, and I think this article highlights a lot of the key differences. I'm hoping to give birth to our next (or next two!) in Australia for many of the reasons listed in the article.

ETA: I know there are many practices in the US where one can have a more natural childbirth experience (not referring to a med free birth, but a low intervention pregnancy/labour) but I'm referring to the system as a whole.

This is great! I hope this encourages more women to make informed decisions regarding procedures.

Thanks for posting this!

@pastemoo: you have nothing to feel bad about. Mosr c-sections aren't a choice. You did what was necessary to have a healthy baby.

How is sending your newborn to the nursery considered a procedure? After pushing for 3.5 hours, I was beat and had her in the nursery that night. They brought her to me when she needed to nurse and then she went back. I don't regret that at all. There is no such luxury when you get home so I think it's great that I could do that during my limited time in the hospital. A momma's recovery is very important, too.

Hmm. I normally like CR, but I agree with @looch, it could have been presented much better.

i dont like this article, i feel like its meant to judge moms and make them question thier decisions (that u cant change). plus find it highly contradictive, one sided and narrow minded. alot of these things like ultrasouds after 24 weeks cant be avoided.
personally i am thankful for my ultrasounds and fetal monitoringand felt like it helped bring my baby here safely.

@sorrycharlie: This is terrible to admit, but when I see Moms who overbearingly post about things like no meds, etc, and I feel like they're being judgey, I secretly hope they end up with what they're judging against. It worked a couple of times, and I was pleased to see the judginess go away after delivery went in a direction that they had formerly judged against. Maybe I am a bad person for wishing that on them!

I really try to not judge- just because I feel like it's so easy to do. You want an epidural instead of feeling your vagina ripped in half? Go for it! I do too! You want to feel your vagina ripped in half? More power to you! You want to do CIO? Great! You think it makes the baby have abandonment issues when he/she gets older? That's fine too. I just want to do what's the best for my baby and my situation at that moment, and no one can ever really know what that may/may not be! The ONLY things that matter is that the baby gets here safely and is loved to pieces after he/she is born. The rest is just small stuff.

@jholler25: haha i thought i was the only one who secretly hoped people who were overbearen would have to get what they were judging about...i feel guilty admiting it. lol....hey atleast it teaches them to not judge so eaisly, right?!?!?

@Arden: Thanks for posting this! It was actually part of my extenstive research of birthing options when I was pregnant with DD. first go round with DS I had pretty much all of those things & ended up with an "emergency" cesarean. It took a really long time for me to not blame myself & finding things like this actually helped me! It reminded me that I was the patient & it was my doctors that decided to practice in a way that isn't/wasn't evidence based.... The only mistake I made was, unfortunately, trusting my doctors believing they wouldn't use procedures that put me & my baby at more risk. Yea, I have a healthy baby, but what about being able to have a healthy baby without all the negative risk & consequence.... Ie. risk of placenta accreta & uterine rupture in future pregnancies (not just labor but through all subsequent pregnancies). These were the things I was NOT made aware of the first go round but I got to worry about with DD.

Now, I 100% understand that there is a place & time for every single intervention listed BUT it's certainly not all the time or even most of the time which is how they're used now. If the benefit doesn't outweigh the risks (all risks) then doctors shouldn't okay doing them.

I probably seem in the judgy camp & can totally agree... But my problem isn't with the moms it's with the medical community & that they really should change their model of practice. I'm sure having friends & other moms I talk to experience horrible outcomes because of their misuse of technology just adds to how I feel. If a mom is aware of all the risks and still chooses to go along with the intervention then that is there informed choice to make. Since most aren't fully aware though I guess something in me just gets very protective of women in a time that they should be able to be vulnerable & trusting but can't because of things like this.

One huge thing I regret everyday is being unnecessarily induced. I am sure my labor and delivery would have been much smoother. It was a traumatic experience that I don't want to go through again! I hope to go into labor on my own next time.

@Minnie_Girl: I love childbirthconnection.org! It had great unbiased, matter-of-fact vbac vs. erc info so I refer a lot of expecting moms to their site!

@sorrycharlie: @jholler25: I will be the first to admit I WAS one of those pg moms!!! I totally planned a lovely, natural waterbirth with midwives. I was SO excited. And while I was heartbroken that I didn't get that, I see how every woman and their birth is SOOO different.

I ended up being transferred to the hospital and induced. Both of which I never planned on or even researched about because I was so set on my natural birth. But it was SUCH a great experience and everyone took amazing care of me. I no longer have a fear of hospitals or the feeling that they are "bad" or "evil" and want me to fail at natural birth. Having a different birth than intended really opened my eyes and I am so much less judgmental now! I am still sad I didn't get the birth I wanted, but I'm also happy that I learned from my experience. And I do hope that eventually I get the birth I want, but that doesn't mean I think everyone should do it the same way as I want to.

@pastemoo: aww sweetie!! I know it was really hard for you, but I know that it wasn't your fault and was necessary. I really, really hope you can find healing and come to terms with it soon.

@Ree723: Totally agree.

Thanks for posting -- the article did seem to be a weird fit for Consumer Reports, and it makes me feel bad for choosing a doctor instead of a midwife lol but whatevs. It does give me an idea of what to watch out for and what to ask for -- only obtaining interventions in the event that the baby will suffer from a lack of them. There comes a point, though, where I need to trust the provider we've chosen and their ability to recommend what's best for me.

Speaking of judgey, I had an acquaintance tell me that ultrasounds are bad for my baby because they can hear them and that I shouldn't have any. So I told her I've already had 6. That shut her up.

My second baby was a c-section because my first was a c-section. I wanted SO badly to have a VBAC but no doctor in my area would allow me to do this! I would have to travel into Houston to the teaching hospital in order to attempt a VBAC. What kills me even more is that my water broke with my second baby, I really really really wonder if he would have come out vaginally and I'll never know I hate hate hate that. I have to agree with @pastemoo I always feel like my c-section was my fault (even though I pushed for an hour and was all the way dilated) and because of that my second pregnancy resulted in a c-section and now I am doomed to ALWAYS have a c-section...

@MamaBehr: Aww. Hugs! And.. my cousin's wife had to have a planned c-section for #1 because she (baby) had a serious medical condition. No one in her area did VBACs so she had #2 by Csec. #3 she tried to labor at home but ended up at hospital w section #3. BUT #4 and #5 were BOTH VBA3C. So it is possible--she had to pay for midwives to come out to her area. After 3 sections, 2 of which she did not want, she everything in her power to get people who would let her have her VBAC.
But I hear you on hearing those constant what-ifs. Ugh those darn what ifs!

I know so many of you say the article is about the medical community and not about us moms. Still, when I see an article written this way it seems like I should have been able to do something differently because I KNOW the c-section rate and unnecessary intervention rate is so. I KNEW that going in and I was just so sure it wouldn't happen to me. Even before the c-section as soon as they told me they were going to do one I lost it. It sucked. I felt like if I had waited longer to go to the hospital they wouldn't have done monitoring which wouldn't have led to pitocin which wouldn't have led to internal monitoring, which wouldn't have led to introducing an infection to me and the baby, which wouldn't have led to c-section. And I am the one who chose to go to the hospital when I did even after all the books, magazines, and websites I read that had information like that article.
However that was the first article that pierced me so painfully.