Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Long-Term Implications of a High Cesarean Rate in Obese Women

The Well-Rounded Mama: Long-Term Implications of a High Cesarean Rate in Obese Women

C-section are major, abdominal surgury. They should be treated as such.

I thank the Lord we have them available when really necessary, but WHO says no nation should have a rate outside of 5-10% and many people think it should be lower still. America now has 33% of her babies born through the tummy instead of the vagina.

One Third.

And the number is higher among fat women.

When a doctor sees a fat woman enter his office he automatically thinks "complication waiting to happen." This is so severe that in some cases doctors have told a fat woman to get an abortion and then wait until she loses weight to get pregnant again.

There are some BIG problems with this.

1) Yes, fat women have a higher complication rate. That means that 15% instead of 10% will have problems. To word this another way, 80% instead of 85% will have no problems. This is hardly the Dooms-Day scenario most healthcare providers seem to think it is. It means that the vast majority of fat women will go ahead and have normal, healthy pregnancies and deliveries.

2) Some studies are hinting that if the doctor expects a complication, he acts preventatively, interfering before a problem happens. What this means is the doctor thinks there MIGHT  be a complication and interferes in the natural process with the idea that it's better to interfere unnecessarily than to see if the complication will actually occur. This, then, is labeled as a complication in itself (the doctor's thinking a complication might occur). What seems to actually be happening with fat women is that the doctor assumes there will be problems and overreacts, causing the woman to be labeled a problem when there isn't any problems. This, in and of itself, raises the "complication rate" for fat women. Their actual rate if left alone may very well be no higher than a skinny woman's, but we are so fat-phobic it will be a long time until we know.

3) Doctors telling their patients to murder their babies just because mom is higher on a scale than the weight-loss-industry-funded charts say she should be? Really?

4) These doctors are making the same assumption most of our country makes: fat people could lose weight if they only tried, but are too lazy and weak to do it.

Just t'aint true. 

      a) Not everyone is cut from the same cookie cutter. Genetics determines a BIG part of our weight. You just can't starve genetics out of a person.

      b) Socio-economic standard plays an even bigger part in weight. Telling a fat woman who can't afford fruit and veggies, gym memberships, or exercise equipment, who lives in a culture of BBQs instead of Ballets to "just lose weight" is down-right cruel.

      c) God put mechanisms in place to keep us from starving during a famine. Our bodies don't know the difference between a diet and a famine. So when we diet our metabolism slows down, our fat retention kicks into high gear, our body sends messages that we had better hunt harder for some food RIGHT NOW! Our bodies actively work against us in losing weight.

      d) The weight standards are, according to studies, set way too low for optimum health, unless of course, the health you are concerned about is that of the weight-loss industry.

The fact is that our nations higher average weight is the result of...

1) Not starving near to death every winter (a GOOD thing!)
2) Our nations higher rate of dark skin than in the past (minorities have always averaged higher weight. It is natural for them and unhealthy to be any different. Minority groups are growing. So our average skin is getting darker and our average body heavier. This is NOT a bad thing.

There is also some studies that indicate obesity is influenced more by corn syrup, possibly a virus, and dieting itself (dieting makes you fat by making your body think food is scarce and holding on to it harder) than by laziness and weakness.

Anyway, This article lists many of the complications of c-section,which makes it even more likely that a fat woman will have complications in her future pregnancies and her own health. It's the doctor's interference that is the problem, not the woman's weight.

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