More Prospective Moms Opt for C-Sections

Jan. 14, 2006 — -- Ryan Turmanian is a big baby. His mother's doctor predicted it when he was still in the womb and advised her to get a C-section.

"He did end up being 10.5 pounds," said Erin Turnamian, Ryan's mother. "So we're definitely glad we went that route."

A rise in birth weights is seen as one of several reasons more women than ever are delivering babies by Cesarean section in this country. In the past 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of C-sections has gone up 40 percent as mothers choose the method over natural birth. Nearly one in three babies are now born by C-section -- the highest rate ever reported.

Another reason for the increase is believed to be that more women are using fertility treatments, which means more twins and triplets. Plus, Ob/Gyns -- who face stiff medical liability fees -- are now under heavy pressure to go the C-section route at the first hint of complications.

Dr. Joseph Ramieri, chairman of the Ob/Gyn department at Overlook Hospital in New Jersey, said the very nature of childbirth is changing.

"The delivery of breeches, for example: There are many people finishing their residencies who have never delivered a breech vaginally at all because all breeches are now subject to Cesarean section," he said.

Perhaps the greatest single factor for the spike in C-sections is that new research shows women who had a prior C-section face a higher risk of a uterine rupture if they try to deliver normally. That was why Maria Forero, a patient at Overlook Hospital, needed a C-section.

"When I got pregnant with Jonathan," Forero said, "I said, 'You know, I'd like to go natural.' And they said, 'Well, it's not so easy for you because you had a C-section.' I said, 'But that was 16 years ago.' She says, 'Yes, but you're still at risk.' "

Personal Choice

And there is a small, but growing contingent of women choosing C-sections for personal, not medical reasons.

"I think it breaks down into two groups of women," said Dr. Rhona Magaril, an Ob/Gyn at Overlook Hospital. "[There are] women that come to me and say 'I don't want the labor at all.' [They] have a tremendous fear of the pain associated with labor and don't want to experience that. Or they don't want to take a chance of having any injury to vaginal muscles."

That trend has troubled some doctors. C-sections, they warn, while safer than ever, are still major surgery.

"For the mother, once she's had one Caesarean, she has a scar on her uterus that is not going away," said Tonya Jamois, president of International Cesarean Awareness Network. "And that scar poses a greater risk of problems in her future reproductive life."

ABC News' Nancy Weiner originally reported this story for "World News Tonight."