Recent Interview in the Daily Telegraph in Melbourne, Australia: Feb 2019

Dr. Aristizabal was recently interviewed by the Daily Telegraph in Melbourne Australia about low intervention models of care for childbirth and reducing the rate of cesarean. Here is a portion of the article:
The World Health Organization recommends a population caesarean rate of 10-15 per cent. US obstetrician and author Michelle Aristizabal says we should be concerned about the rising caesarean rate.
“Caesareans are more dangerous for both mothers and infants and each caesarean a mother has is riskier than her last,” Aristizabal says. “Furthermore, it is incredibly difficult to become a new mother and have to cope with recovering from major surgery at the same time.
“We know that operative deliveries are a significant risk factor for post-partum depression and anxiety and that mothers who have a caesarean are less likely to breastfeed.”
Aristizabal wanted a natural birth for her second child, after having her first child via caesarean section. But she found a lot of resistance at the hospital where she worked.
After extensive research to defend her choice and her subsequent management of patients’ birth plans, she wrote Natural Labor and Birth, the first evidence-based book on the topic by an obstetrician. Aristizabal says all women can aspire to have a natural birth.
“While there are some circumstances where mothers and babies need medical intervention, these circumstances are fortunately rare, and the vast majority of women can safely deliver their children without medication or surgery,” she says.
She hopes her book will change hospital procedures and the attitudes of obstetricians in countries with high caesarean rates, such as the US and Australia.
“Unless obstetricians are willing to stand up and say, ‘This is good, this is reasonable, and this is safe’, natural birth will always be seen as defiant, absurd, or misguided, which is really sad,” she says.

Wombkeepers Obstetrics and Gynecology, Montclair, New Jersey: October 2018

Official Book Launch: Meet the author and book signing

Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey: October 5, 2018, 8AM

Obstetrics and Gynecology Grand Rounds: Ending the Birth Battles: Supporting Risk-Appropriate, Low-Intervention Models of Care for Hospital Birth