Can you imagine a woman telling you that her baby was born by caesarean section because the weekend was approaching? Or explain to you that they gave him birth to prevent him from giving birth on Saturday or Sunday? Doesn't that sound absurd? As it happens, and more and more, according to the data provided by the report "BORN IN LABOR HOURS IN CATALONIA" created by Dona Llum, the Catalan Association for a Respected Birth, in collaboration with El Parto es Nuestro, recently published.
And now you will tell me that I am doing demagogy by saying this, but it is that the entry published only three days ago, narrating the words of the gynecologist who said that "Do not give birth at home" I have them so recent that I can not help mentioning them in this entry, adding my own coletilla: Do not give birth at home, come to the hospital, where we will make you mothers from Monday to Friday.
Nor will it be so bad, right?
Well maybe not, or at least that is the impression of those who know the professionals who work in those services, but the truth is that the graphs and data provided in the report are quite enlightening, and leave no doubt.
Look, for starters, in this 2015 table. It costs very little to know what days were Weekend, and what days were festive in Catalonia.
If we compare it with a 1986 chart we can see a clear difference; In those years it was a little easier for the child to be born when he touched him. It is true that the problem was already brewing, but there are still a few days with many births that coincide with holidays:
In order not to have to walk comparing colors and playing riddles, nothing better than seeing the real data in a graph that clearly shows us the trend:
At the beginning of the graph it is observed that on Saturdays of 1985 there were still certain possibilities of being a mother. However, in 2015, it is much harder to have a baby on Saturday, and even more on Sunday. And the difference with the rest of the days is more than evident.
Also, if you look at the following graph you will see how It is much more likely to leave the hospital with a C-section during the week, than on the weekend. The reason that this is done is linked to the workday of professionals, and how the service is organized. And this obviously has no logic; it is the services that have to adapt to the rhythms of the unborn babies, and not vice versa:
What is the problem?
The problem that this happens is that the ideal thing for both the woman and the baby is that the births happen when the baby is ready to be born, and not when it goes well by agenda.
A baby born in week 37 is considered to be a full-term baby, however we might consider that he was born early if he intended to be born, perhaps, near week 42. Because a baby born in the week 42 is also a term baby, and between one and the other there is no less than five weeks apart.
Moreover, there is more and more evidence that says that the ideal is that babies are born after week 39, if possible, because those born before are more likely to have learning problems.
However, we do not know if babies born during the week by induced delivery or caesarean section do so before 39 weeks, although one thing should be clear: not all apples fall at the same time (and there are babies who need more gestation time than the weeks that are considered adequate). However, WHO is clear about this when it recalls that:
No geographic region should have an index of induced labor greater than 10%. Induction of labor should be limited to certain medical indications.
And it is that in the inductions, not being births that originate spontaneously, the risk of instrumentalization is higher. That means that you are more likely to end up using instruments such as the suction cup or the forceps, and in turn, more risk that the delivery ends in caesarean section.
In Catalonia, according to the report, they are inducing 23.5% of births, while in Spain the recommendation is almost doubled, having 19.4%. Similarly, we are also doubling the cesarean section rate, as WHO recommends that it be performed in no more than 10-15% of births, and we are at about 25%.
In Madrid also happens
In case there is someone thinking that it is something that only happens in Catalonia, in 2016 we published an entry in which we explained what were the conclusions of a very similar report made by Childbirth is ours in Madrid.
The conclusions can be summed up in the following two graphs, in fact, so that you can see that there also happens (although they are data from 2010, the trend is clear):
So yes, it is very good that professionals working in hospitals continue to advocate for childbirth care with more means, professional and probably safer than home delivery; But there is still much to do, still many protocols to implement, you still have to change your attention towards a more respectful and humanized model, in which the birth plan is a document that is given the value it has, and above all a very different image must be projected, that of a health that considers that the first thing is the woman and her baby, and not if the day they appear at the door is working or holiday.
