April is National Caesarean Awareness month, a wonderful opportunity to talk openly about caesarean birth to help mothers to know and understand topics surrounding caesarean birth, raise awareness, reduce fear and help women who have had or are due to have a caesarean birth to feel empowered.
Both of my births were caesarean births. I am very proud of what my body achieved and my babies that I grew, nurtured and kept safe inside of my womb. To me it didn’t matter how my babies were born just as long as we were all safe and well. In my mind no one way of birthing was ‘better’ or more ‘real’ than another, birth is birth. It is amazing, special and powerful regardless of which way the baby makes its way into our world.
There is a lot of negativity and often a negative use of language around caesarean birth which often leaves mamas who have experienced a caesarean birth feeling like they ‘failed at birth’, that their body ‘failed them’, or that that they didn’t give birth. Others feel that they had no control over what was occurring withing their birthing process and were also fearful of what is to come or has occurred. Many also feel the need to explain why they had a caesarean birth or to justify their reasons and I think it’s about time we were proud of what we have achieved and of own our own unique birthing experiences.
Words are powerful and can affect, influence and impact us as humans. Words can wound, empower, divide and unite us and the words used around pregnancy, labour and birth within the maternity system can be, at times particularly negative (geriatric mother, failure to progress, incompetent cervix…GAH! See what I mean?!)
The language used during pregnancy, labour and birth can have a huge impact on a pregnant or new mother for many years. It can affect the way they view their body, their birth, their baby and themselves. It can stick with them for years post birth and impact on numerous areas of their life.
I recently heard a midwife discuss ‘caesarean birth’….it was such a simple adaptation of the normally used term ‘caesarean section’ but do you know what, it just felt right. I had never thought about referring to the process as a ‘caesarean birth’ and it made me question myself as to WHY?
Firstly, it had never crossed my mind to refer to my caesarean section as a caesarean birth. Up until that point I had only heard of it being called a ‘caesarean section’ but It is birth! It brought my babies into this world and it is an amazing process. I suppose the language that surrounds the term ‘caesarean’ includes language like ‘procedure, surgery, clinical, medicalised’ and has over time made it feel like it wasn’t birth as there was no mention of the B word anywhere! This simple adaptation within the phrase and changing one simple word brought everything into perspective for me and made it feel ‘right’ after a long period of time feeling not quite right in using my original term ‘caesarean section’. It made it very clear to me that caesarean birth mattered and most importantly that it was still BIRTH. It felt empowering, gentle yet strong and less clinical and I think in using more positive wording such as this could make a huge difference to how women feel before, during and after such experiences.
Other negative phrases related to caesarean birth that I have heard include ‘to posh to push,’ ‘the easy option’ and ‘not real birth’. These negative phrases are all incredibly damaging and hurtful for so many women and they need to stop.
There are many reasons a caesarean birth may be needed. It may be elected, opted for by the mother for a huge variety of reasons, none of which need justifying to anybody and are between the mother, her partner and the maternity care team, or it may be required in a medical emergency. Whatever the reason it is so very rarely because a women is ‘too posh to push’ I mean this idea is simply ludicrous and comes from the media who are trying to spark debate, be controversial to get people talking about their headlines and such like. The term was coined around 14 years ago due to the considerable rise in caesarean birth due to changes in the system over the years which results in many more women being recommended that they consider a caesarean birth, due to the increase in previous medical intervention or past birthing experiences, health issues and such like.
For anybody under the delusion that a caesarean birth is ‘the easy option’ perhaps needs to spend a little time learning about the process, the recovery and potential issues with scar tissue and the general impact it can have on the body and mind as a whole once the baby has been born.
And as for not real birth…well the definition of birth given by The Oxford Online Dictionary is:
‘‘the emergence of a baby or other young from the body of its mother; the start of life as a physically separate being’’.
No mention of birth being ‘correct’ or ‘real’ depending on if the baby comes out of the vagina or out of the abdomen. In this sense we can be united regardless of how our babies have been born. There is no right or wrong way to ‘do birth’. Every body, every woman, every baby and every birth is unique and special and should be celebrated.
So mama lets start by changing our own perspectives on caesarean birth. You birthed your baby. You do not need to justify your birth, your choices or your reasons at all, to anybody. Be proud of your achievements and cut yourself some slack. You did amazing.
If you have experienced a caesarean birth and are struggling with the physical or emotional challenges with your scar such as pulling, tightness, pain, discomfort, aches, pain, numbness, over sensitivity, anxiety etc then please book in for a scar tissue release session HERE or drop us an email to see if it could help you with your recovery.
