US Cesarean Rate: 31.1%

News alert. This is in from the Childbirth Connection: Relentless Rise in Cesarean Section Rate The National Center for Heath Statistics has just released the preliminary U.S. national cesarean rate for 2006: 31.1%. This rate has increased by 50% in the past decade, reaching a record level every year in this century. The most common …

Two New Articles: My Natural Birth, Parts III and IV

I’ve published two new articles in the series “My Natural Birth,” about the birth of my daughter: Part III: Giving Nature a Place in My Body My body is a temple… Once I realized this, realized it to the point of awe, I understood that my pregnancy and my birth were nature’s domain. I just had to let …

Articles: My Natural Birth, Parts I and II

I’ve uploaded the first two articles in a series about the natural birth of my daughter (now 19 months ago).  I always wanted to get to the bottom of my (seemingly contradictory) desire for a natural birth. Writing this series has been a great opportunity to explore my hopes and fears about the beginning of my …