Day 2 of New Year Cesarean Watch

The first birth of the year announcements keep coming in.  Here are the births that came up in my cesarean news alert today:

New Year’s Baby
Wayne Independent – Honesdale,PA,USA
Dr. Hoon Yoo performed an emergency cesarean section, and Ruby arrived in the world at 8:47 am The 7 pound, 14 ounce infant is Wayne Memorial’s very first …

Sixteen babies born at Tema Hospital on New Year’s day
Joy Online – Accra,Ghana
She said with the exception of those delivered through cesarean sections, the rest had been discharged at the time of the visit.

NEW YEAR, 2 NEW BABIES – part 1
Brainerd Daily Dispatch – MN, United States
He was born via Cesarean section more than two weeks after his due date of Dec. 18 after more than 17 hours of labor – including more than two hours of …

Family welcomes first baby of 2008
Providence Journal – Providence,RI,USA
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s first baby of 2008 came six days before she was due, and by way of cesarean section, at 2:06 am yesterday at Women & Infants …

Gwendalyne can’t wait, becomes 1st New Year’s baby
Herald Times Reporter – Manitowoc,WI,USA
MANITOWOC — Lisa Wellner’s baby wasn’t due until the first part of February, and she had a cesarean section scheduled for more than three weeks from now. …

And one unknown due to subscription restriction:

Welcome, Samuel! Area’s first baby of ’08 checks in
Daily Hampshire Gazette (subscription) – Northhampton,MA,USA
Surrounded by friends at the Cooley Dickinson Childbirth Center, Samuel’s proud parents, Maria Lozano and her husband, Juan Jimenez, were all smiles after …

So, 5 reported cesarean births and 1 unknown (though likely a vaginal birth due to implied location) in today’s news.  The working total* then is:
10 “First Babies” born by cesarean surgery
2 “First Baby” born vaginally
*  See my post from yesterday for those news stories

So, based on news reporting, the emerging cesarean rate as of January 2, 2008 is 80%.  Do people just somehow get caught up in the mystique of January 1 birthdays?  How many of these cesareans were needed?  How many became emergent due to complications related to position, progressing on a timeline, augmentation, induction, and the like?

This is intensely distressing!