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【英文原文1】
With her due date approaching and her unborn son pointed feet first, Fiona Simmonds tried every technique she knew of -- acupuncture, raising her pelvis above her head and playing music near her belly -- to encourage the baby to flip around and allow him be delivered normally. But in the end, the baby remained breech and she needed a caesarean section.
Today, about a third of U.S. births are done by caesarean section, up from 21% in 1998, one of the highest of any developed country, the National Center for Health Statistics reported in March. Public-health officials are concerned about the rising rate because c-sections hold more health risks for the mother -- including possible infection and blood loss -- and are more expensive than a vaginal birth.
Medical experts say many c-sections -- which involve delivering a baby through a surgical incision -- are performed unnecessarily. But for a growing number of women, a c-section is the safer option for delivering a baby, and in some emergency cases, it might be the only choice. Medical experts say they're now seeing more medically-necessary c-sections as women have children later in life and obesity rates rise.
'We're seeing more obese women and that leads to more' caesareans because they are more likely to have other medical conditions that can lead to complications during childbirth, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, says Jacques Moritz, director of gynecology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York.
Moms with diabetes tend to have larger babies that can get stuck in the birth canal and obesity can make it more difficult to monitor the baby during delivery. Older moms are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia (a condition characterized by high-blood pressure during pregnancy), which can boost the risk of a c-section. And the increased use of fertility treatments including in-vitro fertilization, which can result in multiple births, also can make a c-section necessary, Dr. Moritz says.
