Even slightly early C-sections are much riskier

The Washington Post is reporting that a first-time comprehensive study published in the New England Journal of Medicine ”of more than 24,000 full term babies found that those delivered through elective repeat Caesareans at 37 weeks were about twice as likely as newborns delivered at the recommended 39 weeks to suffer breathing problems, bloodstream infections and other complications. Even babies born at 38 weeks were 50 percent more likely to have problems; just a few days early the risk was about 20 percent higher.”

Catherine Y. Spong of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which sponsored the study, is quoted as saying, “I think that as a patient or a physician you might be convinced that being close to 39 weeks is probably good enough and there’s probably no difference if you are going to turn 39 weeks on a Sunday to have a Caesarean on, say, a Friday. Before this we didn’t have the data to say that there would be more risk.”

So, apparently, letting babies cook to full-term, and not just close to full-term, is a rather good idea, especially if a C-section is expected (or is considered probable) to occur.  That’s sobering news.  I thought that since a pregnancy is considered full-term after 37 weeks, there’s no appreciable difference in outcomes; I now need to consciously revise my thinking.