Get In 2 Vitamin D

Vitamin D has long been known as a crucial factor in muscle strength and tone. People who are vitamin D deficient have less muscle strength - and muscle weakness corrects quickly once you restore their vitamin D status to normal. Calcium is also a crucial factor in the onset of labor in pregnant women - and vitamin D levels are crucial for your calcium balance. How do these two factors possibly combine? Researchers have identified vitamin D deficiencey as a risk factor for higher risk of Cesarean delivery in a woman's first birth. How big a risk are we talking about? Women with low vitamin D levels had almost FOUR times the risk of undergoing a C-section. Why did they only look at first births? Subsequent deliveries for someone who's had a Cesarean is complicated by decisions about whether or not to have another Cesarean. And, first births are often the most arduous for women - so if there is a effect from vitamin D deficiency, it's probably more likely to show up with primary births. The serious risks of C-sections are well documented (risks to both mother and baby). But if you're getting larger and larger with your first pregnancy, the idea of pushing a baby out may seem worse than getting a C-section. But God knows, it's definitely not. Vaginal delivery is the way to go, even for mother's comfort reasons. Keep in mind, a C-section combines recovering from labor/delivery/pregnancy, with recovering from major abdominal surgery. And doing both, all while caring for a fretful, never-sleeping newborn. Bottom line: The study has some pitfalls - especially since vitamin D deficiency possibly could be a marker for other types of taking-care-of-yourself issues. But making sure your vitamin D level is 75nmol/L or more is a nice, easy way to optimize health for yourself and your baby. And if it helps you and your baby dodge the C-section bullet, all the better.

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• Vital Signs: Having a Baby: Vitamin D Deficiency Is Tied to C-Sections (nytimes.com)