NPR: "Doctors Urge Patience, And Longer Labor, To Reduce C-Sections"

A surgical spotlight falls artfully on a white newborn,
apparently being lifted out of their mother during a cesarean
birth by two providers in blue scrubs. Mama's body is obscured.

The new guidelines on reducing cesarean deliveries are aimed at first-time mothers, according to the American College of Obstetricians and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, which released the guidelines Wednesday online and in Obstetrics and Gynecology...

Women giving birth for the first time should be allowed to push for at least three hours, the guidelines say. And if epidural anesthesia is used, they can push even longer. Techniques such as forceps are also recommended to help with vaginal delivery. 

Early labor should also be given more time, the doctors say, with the start of active labor redefined to cervical dilation of 6 centimeters, rather than 4.

"Doctors Urge Patience, And Longer Labor, To Reduce C-Sections"

This interview is fascinating, and not just because it includes updated recommendations for labor! It also talks about the process of medical science, and how we learn to do better. This paragraph might actually be my favorite:

You know, before 1955 there was essentially no quantitative data on the length of labor. Then Emanuel Friedman said we should study this. He studied 500 women, and, of those, he said here are the 200 women who have idealized labors. We then managed 4 million a women a year for the next 50 years based on 200 women. It's not that the wrong approach was taken; it's that we started science and then didn't continue to do the science.

The allopathic, biomedical model isn't ever perfect. What's amazing about it is its ability to improve as we gain new information. Midwives have been making recommendations like these for awhile now, and researchers are investigating those claims, and giving better advice to OBs on that basis.

What should researchers be looking into next to make birth healthier and happier and safer for pregnant folks? Have you seen OBs taking these recommendations into account?

In cahoots,
~Sasha