C-section, middle age play into 2nd child decision

Chongqing resident Su Shu, 35, went for a pre-pregnancy test in March when local media reported that the city was about to allow some couples to have a second child.

Her test results were fine except for a low blood sugar reading. But Su, the mother of an 8-year-old, is wavering over having another child.

"The doctor told me that women at my age should go for tests every two weeks after being pregnant for three months and should undergo an amniotic fluid test because the risk of a fetal anomaly is higher than for younger women," Su said.

"But I would like to have a second child as my son is too lonely."

Su, an only child herself, is one of the Chinese women who are finding it hard to decide if they want to make use of the new second-child policy being implemented by some provinces. Couples may have a second child if one partner is an only child.

For people like Su, the policy may have arrived a little late.

"Had it come out two years ago, I would have given birth to another child without any hesitation," she said.

Age is what bothers most women who come to the Women's Hospital of Zhejiang University's School of Medicine seeking advice, according to Shangguan Xuejun, a doctor there.

The hospital set up a clinic on Nov 27 last year to provide medical advice to women who want to have another child, soon after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to loosen up the family planning policy.

Most of the women who come to the clinic are 35 years old and above, Shangguan said.

"The risks of endocrine disorder, ovulation failure and pregnancy complications, such as diabetes, are higher at this age," he said.

Also, about 80 percent of those seeking advice had undergone a cesarean section, though not all of them actually needed one, Shangguan said.

"The risks of uterine rupture for women who got pregnant again after a C-section, though not very high, is very dangerous to both the mother and the baby," he said. "It's best for women who want to have a second child to go through their first childbirth on their own."

"If fertilized eggs lodge on the scar of the uterus caused by a C-section, one must undergo an abortion and try to get pregnant again," said Zhai Guirong, a retired obstetrician from the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital.

But others seem to be better prepared for the policy.

Yu Hui, 29, of Beijing, is pregnant with her second child. The mother of a 2-year-old, she is a single child herself and eligible to have a second child under Beijing's policy.

"I insisted on a natural birth for the first child, and the doctors believed that I could do this after an assessment," she said.

"I have been wanting to have a second child. The second-child policy had been discussed for quite some years before it took effect. I knew it would come, and that our generation would benefit from it."