Heartbroken

Yesterday was 11/11/11. A big thing in numerology, I'm told. Lucky numbers. Matching numbers. What did some parents-to-be do on this date? They scheduled their child's birth to fall on it. :(

It happens every year. Last year I even heard of women who were planning home births, inducing at home in order to give birth on the "lucky" date. This is a travesty. Babies are literally forced out of their mother's womb before they are ready for life on the outside, because their parents want them to have a "cool" birth date.

There is even an Obstetrician in Des Moines who offered monetary compensation for families who scheduled their delivery yesterday. I wonder how many of those babies ended up in the NICU.

Do the doctors who encourage or allow elective inductions and cesareans for a "lucky" date, caution about the risks involved in doing so? Do they mention the risk of NICU admission due to their baby not being ready for life on the outside? I know that when I was being scared into my first cesarean, 7 1/2 years ago, the OB not ONCE mentioned that it was a risk. He was too busy coercing us into agreeing. My son spent 9 days in the NICU, and I was flabbergasted when the neonatologist assigned to my son, told us that respiratory distress is *the* most common risk of elective cesarean section.

Today I was told that six babies were admitted into our tiny, local NICU yesterday. I am waiting to hear if we will be able to find out how many were due to induction or cesarean for yesterday's date. This is inexcusable, and it is heartbreaking.