BY: Victoria Barker

WHEN housewife Deborah Tan was expecting her first baby earlier this year, she wanted a natural delivery.

But due to complications, she had to undergo a caesarean operation to deliver a healthy baby girl in June. This is why the 25-year-old thinks it is "silly" that so many expectant mothers are willing to have caesarean sections just so that their children will be born on Aug 8.

"What difference does the date make? As long as the baby is healthy, I am happy," she told my paper.

Considered an auspicious date by the Chinese, Aug 8 this year, or 08.08.08, has seen a sharp increase in the number of scheduled caesarean births, compared to other days.

Among others, parents-to-be who have scheduled the operations say that the date is a breeze to remember, and marks the start of this year's Beijing Olympic Games, a recent media article reported.

At hospitals under the ParkwayHealth umbrella, 13 caesarean sections are scheduled to be performed tomorrow at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. At Gleneagles Hospital, 11 such operations will take place. Both hospitals typically perform five caesarean sections on other days.

A caesarean birth, where a surgical incision is made through a woman's abdomen and uterus to deliver a baby, usually takes place when there are complications that would put the health of the mother or the baby at risk.

Women who give birth by caesarean section also run a much higher risk of requiring hysterectomies, according to a major study by Oxford University last year. A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus.

Dr Peter Chew, a senior consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Gleneagles, said the advisability of opting for a caesarean birth on such auspicious dates varies on an individual basis. "It may be all right if the expected delivery date is only a few days before or after, but it's important to follow medical reasoning.

"There should be no cause for concern with regard to the health of either baby or mother," he said.

An alternative to undergoing a caesarean would be induction, said Thomson Medical Centre obstetrician and gynaecologist Lim Ah Leng. "If the patient is a good candidate for a natural delivery, then I wouldn't advise her to have a c-section.

"A more feasible option would be to induce labour instead," said Dr Lim. Induction is a method of artificially or prematurely stimulating labour.

ParkwayHealth's hospitals have a total of eight inductions scheduled for tomorrow. But the doctors my paper spoke to agreed that for health reasons, it is much better not to undergo an unnecessary caesarean or induction.

Said Dr Chew: "In the end, it's best to just leave these things to nature."

For more my paper stories click here.