It is unfortunate but true that hospital caesarean rates are on the rise. Whether due to the physician's fear of a bad outcome or some other factor, this can't be a good thing for women. We will need to be careful when choosing a hospital. In fact, we need to make conscious choices about every aspect of where and with whom to give birth in order to birth our babies the way we have envisioned. The World Health Organization recommends that the cesarean section rate for industrialized nations should not exceed 15%. A safe range, as determined by WHO experts, is 10-15%. Most hospitals in our area are well above this rate; but, you can at least make an informed choice by going to our friends at Choices in Childbirth and checking out the numbers. They did a helpful survey of caesarean rates from 2000 to 2008 in hospitals in the 5 burroughs as well as Long Island. When you click on their site, go to their Guide To A Healthy Birth to see the survey and have access to a wealth of information on healthy birth in general. Good luck with your planning!
