Not more than 1% women face serious complications during child birth but the rate of these complications has gone up during 1998 -
2005. These problems include blood clots, severe breathing problems, shock, kidney failure, respiratory distress syndrome, ventilator use with childbirth, pulmonary embolism and blood transfusions.

On one hand the trend for Caesarean sections is on the increase and at the same time the rates of serious complication is also increasing.

Dr. Xavier Pombar, director of obstetrics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said that the increase could be attributed to both the patients and the doctors. Some women opted for a Caesarean delivery as they consider it easier to schedule and less likely to cause complications such as urinary incontinence. The physicians prefer C-sections because they fear being sued if problems arise during a vaginal delivery.

Another study findings show that elective repeat C-sections performed at 37 and 38 weeks of gestation can at least double the health risks for newborns.

Yet another study suggests that additional weight can create more problems during delivery. More than 10,000 teen births were investigated during the study. It was found that obese teens had more than a fourfold increased risk of delivering by C-section compared to their normal-weight peers. Obese teens also had four times the risk of developing gestational diabetes. (Harkiran contributed to this report)