Listening to Mothers II

Childbirth Connection has just released the results of their second national survey of childbearing women Listening to Mothers II. Childbirth Connection interviewed 1600 women who gave birth to a single baby in a US hospital in 2005.

This study demonstrates that technology-intensive maternity care in the norm in the US, regardless of risk factors. Also, that more women learn about childbirth from television (the most inaccurate source of childbirth information ever!!!) than from childbirth education classes.

Overall, survey mothers experienced the following interventions: electronic fetal monitoring (94%), intravenous drip (83%), epidural or spinal analgesia (76%), one or more vaginal exams (75%), urinary catheter (56%), membranes broken after labor began (47%), and synthetic oxytocin (Pitocin) to speed up labor (47%).

Additionally, more than four out of ten mothers (41%) reported that their caregiver tried to induce their labor. When asked if the induction caused labor to begin, more than four out of five of those women (84%) indicated that it did, resulting in an overall provider induction rate of 34%. Among all survey mothers whose providers tried to start their labors, 79% cited one or more medical reasons for being induced, while 35% cited one or more non-medical reasons. Overall, 11% of mothers reported experiencing pressure from a health professional to have labor induction, and those reporting pressure were more likely to have had it.

Maureen Corry, executive director of Childbirth Connection said, "Few healthy, low-risk mothers require technology-intensiv e care when given good support for physiologic labor. Yet, the survey shows that the typical childbirth experience has been transformed into a morass of wires, tubes, machines and medications that leave healthy women immobilized, vulnerable to high levels of surgery and burdened with physical and emotional health concerns while caring for their newborns."

Press Release: Listening to Mothers II 

Childbirth Connection: Executive Summary of Listening to Mothers II