Expecting twins? You probably don’t need to schedule a cesarean section. Most moms can safely give birth without surgery, a big study finds.
It’s the latest research to question the need for C-sections, which are done in one-third of all births in the U.S. and three-fourths of those involving twins. Studies are challenging long-held beliefs about cesareans, such as that women who had one need to deliver future babies the same way.
In the study by Dr. Jon Barrett of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, half of 2,800 moms were scheduled to have C-sections and the rest, vaginal births. About 40 percent of the latter group wound up having C-sections, and 10 percent of those scheduled to have cesareans ended up giving birth vaginally. About 2 percent of newborns died or had a serious problem, but the manner of birth made no difference.
