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C/S rates in Dec

979 views 29 replies 22 participants last post by  felix23 
#1 ·
Anyone what the Csection rates are in Dec?

I vaguely remember seeing a statistic somewhere (of 70%!!!) but I don't know how accurate that is.
 
#2 ·
Really?? I wonder why? DD was born in december though, and she was born vaginally. DH and I are also DEC babies and born vagianally, although that was in a different time.

I'd be interested to see the statistics though, if anyone can find them.
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#3 ·
I don't know about actual stats, but it does seem like there is a higher % of inductions and c-sections around major holidays and during the Christmas season.

I am due around Dec 4, but the backup OB has my due date at 11/26 by ultrasound (right before Thanksgiving); the homebirth MW has me down as 12/4. Luckily, he is OK with having to work on a holiday, but that does remind me to ask him if he's going to be out of town at Thanksgiving next time I go to an appointment with him.
 
#6 ·
from frequenting other boards, it seems to me its many more times the women who are trying to talk their docs into doing a c section to avoid the holidays. havent heard of one doctor that has suggested it but at least ten women who are trying to talk their doc into it. luckily they are hitting resistance!
 
#7 ·
The insurance deductible shouldn't be so much of a factor in OB/GYN practices that use global billing; it's all sent in at once. Now the hospital bills, those are another story---almost everyone there is an "independent contractor".

DH has made a few jokes about the tax write-off but I heard from my MW (who has an 18 year old DD born in December) that you can't claim them the year they turn 18.
 
#8 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by hollycat View Post
from frequenting other boards, it seems to me its many more times the women who are trying to talk their docs into doing a c section to avoid the holidays. havent heard of one doctor that has suggested it but at least ten women who are trying to talk their doc into it. luckily they are hitting resistance!
That is good they are hitting resistance now, but it'll be interesting to see how many of them get a difference response the closer it gets to Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years. Again, no medical stats to quote, but I know a number of women who were fine at one appt and then all the sudden they needed to be induced the week before the holiday due to {insert crappy reason here} all so the dr could reduce his/her chance of having to be at the hospital on the holiday. I know a lady who had a four day induction from Thurs-Sun and all the sudden needed an "emergency c-section" first thing Monday morning. Why was it not needed the other three days....it was Easter Weekend.
 
#9 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by hollycat View Post
from frequenting other boards, it seems to me its many more times the women who are trying to talk their docs into doing a c section to avoid the holidays. havent heard of one doctor that has suggested it but at least ten women who are trying to talk their doc into it. luckily they are hitting resistance!
Exactly why I don't visit other boards...
 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by ferrum97 View Post
That is good they are hitting resistance now, but it'll be interesting to see how many of them get a difference response the closer it gets to Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years. Again, no medical stats to quote, but I know a number of women who were fine at one appt and then all the sudden they needed to be induced the week before the holiday due to {insert crappy reason here} all so the dr could reduce his/her chance of having to be at the hospital on the holiday. I know a lady who had a four day induction from Thurs-Sun and all the sudden needed an "emergency c-section" first thing Monday morning. Why was it not needed the other three days....it was Easter Weekend.

what a bummer. and so not my experience, so i cant even imagine it. when my last pregnancy (and this one!) was in trouble my ob opened his office just for me on a saturday so i didnt have to deal with other people. on one of those saturdays we saw my last baby died, and tho there was no reason i couldnt wait a day or two, i was destressed and he insisted on delivering it asap, even tho it was easter. i even told him we could wait, he woudnt hear of it. hes a fancy beverly hills ob, btw. i adore him.
 
#11 ·
It has already been mentioned to me that "maybe you can get induced early" (since I am due 12/24)- this was NOt by the doc, I must say, although when I mentioned I would like to go earlier, one doc did say "yeah, us too!".

I WOULD like to go earlier, but not enough to get induced. Baby will come when she's ready....I just hope that's in 2008!!
 
#12 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by mom2annika View Post

DH has made a few jokes about the tax write-off but I heard from my MW (who has an 18 year old DD born in December) that you can't claim them the year they turn 18.

Yeah, you can only claim kids ages: birth-17. It doesn't matter what month they're born, as long as they turn 18 by midnight dec31st/jan1st they can't be claimed for that year.
 
#13 ·
You can claim kids on your taxes who are 18 and older and full-time students. I think you can claim them up to age 24. Most kids who turn 18 in dec/jan are still in high school. My parents claimed me until I was 22.
 
#14 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by KSLaura View Post
You can claim kids on your taxes who are 18 and older and full-time students. I think you can claim them up to age 24. Most kids who turn 18 in dec/jan are still in high school. My parents claimed me until I was 22.

The child tax credit only for kids under 18.

I thought you could claim students to help with your deductions, but not for the child tax credit.

Or am I getting this all wrong?
 
#15 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by A Mothers Love View Post
figures!!!! our EDD are likely bad timing for DR.'s who have holiday plans
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even tho this is the profession THEY picked for themselves.
I'm sure not all HCP are like this....I just don't think very highly of DR.'s I suppose.
Don't forget that doctors are human, too. Doctors have spouses and children, and they would like to see them sometimes. Doctors work a lot harder than a lot of people realize and miss out on LOTS of family time. Isn't that a heavy theme of mothering? Strong, involved families?

This is why the SYSTEM needs to change, so midwives can oversee low-risk births in the US. OB/GYNs simply have TOO MUCH going on and that is generally out of necessity so they can make enough to profit AND cover their malpractice premiums. I'm sure a lot of people are scoffing at that..."pffft....how much do doctors need to profit, they are already rolling in money." Not always true. Too often when med students graduate, they are greeted with $200k-$250k+ in debt from undergrad and med school. They won't be enjoying the champagne and caviar and the posh life. A lot of them live paycheck to paycheck, just like so many non-docs. Jennifer Block talks a lot about this in "Pushed" -- about how OB/GYNs are just stretched too thin and have to take on big case loads just to pay the bills, and yes, they're human with families.

That doesn't mean that it's ok to hack open women's bellies out of convenience, because it's not. Just try to see both sides of the coin. OB/GYNs are not evildoers who run around in a butcher's apron waving around a scalpel. Focus your anger and disgust on the SYSTEM in this country, it's the only way we'll get things changed.
 
#16 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by ferrum97 View Post
I don't know about actual stats, but it does seem like there is a higher % of inductions and c-sections around major holidays and during the Christmas season.

I am due around Dec 4, but the backup OB has my due date at 11/26 by ultrasound (right before Thanksgiving); the homebirth MW has me down as 12/4. Luckily, he is OK with having to work on a holiday, but that does remind me to ask him if he's going to be out of town at Thanksgiving next time I go to an appointment with him.
Not in your DDC but wanted to throw out there that I would assume it has a lot to do with the holidays. I am having another planned c/s due to my heart conditions, and I am due 11/22 just before Thanksgiving. We scheduled my date last week for 11/17 to be sure that the date was available. My OB said that slots were filling up very quickly due to the holiday.
 
#17 ·
It makes sense, sadly. Doctors and some women wanting to avoid being in the hospital and/or delivering near or on the holidays. Dp's step cousin (i think?) said the same thing to me a few months ago. She had a december baby and was insistent to her doc that she would NOT be in the hospital on xmas...and it "worked out" that she was not.
 
#19 ·
Not in your DDC but I know someone due 12/24 that was trying to get her doctor to do a C-Secton before Thanksgiving so she didn't have to do the holiday pregnant.. She didn't even care that it would mean the baby was a premmie.. The doctor told her no, has to be after 38 weeks. She actually tried several before giving up.
 
#20 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by hollyvangogh View Post
I convinced my doc to do a c/s for me. I just don't think I can handle having a Christmas baby, kwim? And my due date is CHRISTMAS EVE! So yeah...totally happy about that.

JUST KIDDING!

I totally skipped over the "just kidding", I think my brain thought it was part of your signature. Then, after reading the post about 5 times I saw it.
 
#21 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by dsaucone View Post
The child tax credit only for kids under 18.

I thought you could claim students to help with your deductions, but not for the child tax credit.

Or am I getting this all wrong?
As far as the child tax credit...in 18 years who knows *what* will exist with regards to that! I'd rather have it now, while we're young and likely are making less money than we will in a decade or so. If you make too much you don't get the full amount of the tax credit back anyhow, if any. And, if the tax credit exceeds your liability you may/may not get money back actually from it depending on the situation. I googled it, and that aspect was rather complicated.

Either way, they can still be a dependant past 18. For most people that is the *big* money!
 
#22 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by phatchristy View Post
... If you make too much you don't get the full amount of the tax credit back anyhow, if any. And, if the tax credit exceeds your liability you may/may not get money back actually from it depending on the situation. I googled it, and that aspect was rather complicated.

Either way, they can still be a dependant past 18. For most people that is the *big* money!
And if you make too little you don't get the full $1,000 either.
 
#24 ·
To be honest, I would really rather not have my baby on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. That DOESN'T mean that I'm going to push for a c/s or to be induced. It just means that I'll be doing a lot of praying that he's a little bit early or a little big later than his 23rd due date.
:

I had an emergency appendectomy on Thanksgiving Day in 2000. It kind of sucked. Poor dh had his turkey dinner in the hospital cafeteria. Actually he was dear fiance' at the time, and he married me anyway--go figure!
 
#25 ·
I think I'll be anxious if the baby hasn't been born by Christmas, but not for myself - but for my support folks, who will have to sacrifice to be with us! My mw is planning to be in town, and she's not worried about it. But, I realized the other day that I need a back-up person willing to be at my house to watch the kids - who do I know well enough to do that? barely anyone! The ones I know well enough will most likely want to be with THEIR family for Christmas, not witnessing home birth. <sigh> (I don't even have a first-choice person yet, yikes)

And as for deductions, we're selling our house in the spring, and buying an RV - we need all the tax relief we can get. We have had write-offs for the past 6 years of business-ownership, which we won't have this year, and that makes me nervous. So, I'll be doing a lot of talking to the Biscuit in December to make sure s/he arrives on time. Dec 31 is 42 weeks on the dot, according to one calculation.

oh - and doctors and holidays: my mom is an M.D. Whenever we visit her, she *always* has to go in to work for one reason or another (rounds at the hospital, a patient admitted during the night, someone dying, on-call, etc). Doesn't matter if she's scheduled vacation days or not. I'm glad she's devoted and a great doctor, but it's very frustrating to the family of a doctor when it eats into family-time, especially with the grandchildren who only get to see her twice a year.

--janis
 
#26 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by jrabbit View Post
But, I realized the other day that I need a back-up person willing to be at my house to watch the kids - who do I know well enough to do that? barely anyone!
--janis
Not in this DDC, but Janis, you need a doula!
And I had to post because my daughter was born on Thanksgiving Day last year, and it was not bad at all. My midwife ate dinner, told her family "I'll be back for dessert," and then was.

I think when people choose this line of work it's expected that life and holidays will be interrupted sometimes.

But I also have heard that there are more cesareans in November and December. I know one woman with three all due in late December, who were all born in mid-December.
 
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