Too Many Babies Are Delivered Too Early: Hospitals Should Just Say No

I read an article about the scary number of late term "elective" c-sections.  I remember my first pregnancy.  I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and was told I would be induced if the baby wasn't born by his due date.  He was born at 5lb 12oz, well below "average" birthweight.  He was also born by c-section due to fetal distress.  I always wonder, "what if" I hadn't been induced?  Ask any mom who has to leave their sweet baby in the hospital while they go home..waiting to 40 weeks is definitely the more desirable choice.  You can read the article by clicking on the link below.

Too Many Babies Are Delivered Too Early: Hospitals Should Just Say No

"Pregnancy lasts 40 weeks for a reason. At 35 weeks, a baby's brain tips the scales at just two-thirds of what it will weigh by weeks 39 to 40. Going full-term gives a baby's lungs time to mature and improves a baby's ability to suck and swallow. But too many doctors — and moms — are disregarding advice from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to wait until at least 39 weeks to deliver.

It recently released data collected from 773 hospitals about the percentage of births between 37 and 39 weeks that were considered elective, or not medically necessary. The rates soared as high as 40% and varied widely between hospitals across the country and even in hospitals in the same city; in Los Angeles, for example, some hospitals reported rates as low as 4% and as high as 29%. (More on Time.com: Who's Too Posh to Push? High Cesarean Section Rates Aren't Moms' Fault)

Now the March of Dimes is calling on hospitals to solve the problem by requiring every physician who schedules an elective delivery before 39 weeks to justify its medical necessity. “Doctors know it's not right, but they just aren't being held accountable,” says Alan Fleischman, medical director of the March of Dimes."

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/31/too-many-babies-are-delivered-too-early-hospitals-just-say-no/#ixzz1DQWh7m1p