one-sided article

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i was just sent a link for an article from the babycenter.com website. it refers to pelvic organ prolapse as a serious gynecological disorder that "CAUSES more than 200,000 women each year to undergo corrective surgery." (emphasis mine) unfortuanately, i think it is the surgeons who CAUSE many of those women to undergo surgery by offering them no alternative guidance whatsoever beyond KEGELS! i think i may write to babycenter asking that they present a more balanced picture.

by the way, the woman who sent this to me had studied & desired to have a natural delivery with her first but had to have a c-section to protect the baby's health. after reading this, she is re-thinking whether she should go for a vbac.

best regards to all,
mary ann

here's the link! http://click.babycenter.com/b/?le=7VxZ&cn=emailafriend&en=20070205&ce=0&t=0
scroll down as it is from yesterday

Hi Mary Ann

Please do email BabyCenter.com . What they have written is a bit extreme for my liking too.

I have had a look at this article and followed it back to the original paper, the Astract of which is available from the website of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology which is available at their website. The paper itself is not quite so negative, but wouldn't sell any newspapers. I am reading between the lines that this team of researchers is not happy with current ways of treating prolapse, and not happy with the way Kegels are taught. I have emailed Professor DeLancey as a woman with prolapses, and hope to be able to discuss prolapse treatments with him.

I have tried very hard to express the appropriate humility in my email but I guess I will probably get the brushoff. You never know unless you try. It won't be my first knockback, and I am sure it won't be my last either ;-)

Cheers

Louise

Hey Mary Ann

Prof DeLancey emailed me back. He sounds like a reasonable man and certainly does not assume that surgery should be done for prolapse. He is keen to see more studies done on other ways of treating prolapse. I will keep up the correspondence and keep Christine informed too.

Cheers

Louise

thanks for your follow-up, louise. i finally sent babycenter an e-mail myself. i mentioned christine's work/book. (maybe they'll look into it & cover it in a future article -- a girl can dream...)i was interested to hear about the full article & its author. (you certainly are resourceful!) perhaps if we keep banging the drum, the rest of the world will wake up & listen.

Yeah! Bang on!

Louise