C- Section Awareness Month

[Anonymous]

My friend the other day and I were talking about another friend who is pregnant. We weren't even discussing birthing options. All of sudden, she's like, "You are SUCH a warrior for getting through Larla's birth and having a C-section."

OK? I don't need that. I don't ask for that, didn't want it. Was I supposed to say she was a MamaBearWarriorUnstoppableWomanZOMG for having two vaginal births? I honestly didn't know what was happening.

[Anonymous]

There is a ton of judgement around having a c section. And I agree with the PP- when I had to have one I was so nervous, and it wasn’t a big deal. It was a great experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what I’m tired of hearing about? VBAC Heroes.

Amen!!

Yessss!!!!

Have to agree. When I was trying to decide whether to try vbac the doc told me “ you don’t get a medal for doing a vbac.” Thought about it for a min and realized damn, so true. Why make things more complicated?

Yes! I have a friend who recently had one, and she constantly kept posting about it with comments like, “Feeling pretty freaking powerful right now #vbac”

I want to be like, yeah, because your freaking uterus didn’t split open! You got lucky!

[Anonymous]

People need to stop acting like their personal journey through feelings of loss, guilt, grief and self-doubt is social stigma. It's not. It's about your feelings about you, not about society's feelings about every woman.

-Finally learned that no one was actually judging me for having a C-section

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People need to stop acting like their personal journey through feelings of loss, guilt, grief and self-doubt is social stigma. It's not. It's about your feelings about you, not about society's feelings about every woman.

-Finally learned that no one was actually judging me for having a C-section

Glad that you finally learns. How about helping others get through their journey. Not everyone has the support, resources, or starting point that you do.


- always ot everyone else is me.

[Anonymous]

I am confused about the point of C-section awareness month. Normally there is a point to raising "awareness" on something, like with certain cancers trying to raise money or urging people to do self exams. So what's the angle here? Reducing stigma? Reducing C-sections? Letting people know they aren't the worst thing ever, despite what some ninnies who lead those labor and delivery classes would have you believe?

Weirdly, I know there is some stigma, but when I say I had a c-section most people seem relieved lol. I am very petite and I had a large baby.

[Anonymous]

Some of the posts on this thread make me want to walk around with my middle finger permanently up in the air...

It's none of your business whether I had a c-section or not, unless perhaps you're a close friend, anxious about an impending birth, and would like to talk about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the posts on this thread make me want to walk around with my middle finger permanently up in the air...

It's none of your business whether I had a c-section or not, unless perhaps you're a close friend, anxious about an impending birth, and would like to talk about it.

I don't understand; which is it? You want people to be "aware" and to "share your story," or it's none of their business?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the posts on this thread make me want to walk around with my middle finger permanently up in the air...

It's none of your business whether I had a c-section or not, unless perhaps you're a close friend, anxious about an impending birth, and would like to talk about it.

Why are you so defensive? I agree that you shouldn't have to tell people about your labor. So you don't. Some people have experienced traumatic labors and would like to talk about it. So they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAHM here. I can't tell you how often the subject of natural birth versus vaginal birth with epidural versus c-section comes up when I'm around other moms during the week. People want a medal if they had a natural child birth and they want everyone to know. I've also heard a number of moms tell me to watch the video "The Business of Being Born" because I've been told that doctors push c-sections to drive up cost. Huge damn eye roll. Give birth to your baby in any method SO IT LIVES. End of story.

That is so annoying. I know two people who’ve had unmediated births. Neither of them is a model of health, physical or mental. They are just lucky. And actually, they aren’t that lucky, bc one of them had about 5 miscarriages and the other can’t breastfeed, so I’m not sure why I’m supposed to consider them some kind of birth goddess. They are just lucky that their babies came out fast, on time, without much pain. It’s nothing worthy of a medal.

Do you honestly think birthing a child unmedicated means that your delivery wasn't very painful? Like, "nah I'll just go without the pain relief, this isn't so bad."

[Anonymous]

Actually C-sections are dangerous. They are not good for the babies and the US C-Section rate is terrible. It should be discouraged not normalized. It should only be done when absolutely medically necessary. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/10/12/656198429/rate-of-c-sections-is-rising-at-an-alarming-rate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually C-sections are dangerous. They are not good for the babies and the US C-Section rate is terrible. It should be discouraged not normalized. It should only be done when absolutely medically necessary. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/10/12/656198429/rate-of-c-sections-is-rising-at-an-alarming-rate

There's the awareness and attention you asked for, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused about the point of C-section awareness month. Normally there is a point to raising "awareness" on something, like with certain cancers trying to raise money or urging people to do self exams. So what's the angle here? Reducing stigma? Reducing C-sections? Letting people know they aren't the worst thing ever, despite what some ninnies who lead those labor and delivery classes would have you believe?

Weirdly, I know there is some stigma, but when I say I had a c-section most people seem relieved lol. I am very petite and I had a large baby.

I read up on C-Sections when I was pregnant because I was concerned I might need one. I ws born with hip dysplasia and wasn’t sure how that might influene the birth. My Doctors, OBGY and regular, told me they thought that I would be fine. I worked with a chiropractor to help with keeping the hip in its proper allignment and to help with some pain from the hip. Then he was breech, then the placenta was low. Essentially, there always seemed to be something pointing to a C-Section.

One of the repeating themes in my research was the number of women who felt like they did not have a complete birthing experience or they had failed because they had a C-Section. There was a higher risk of depression for women who gave birth by C-Section. It also seemed like these feelings were higher in women who had an emergency procedure or did not have time to contemplate having a C-Section in advance.

I ended up having a C-Section and could care less if people know that I had a C-Section but it does not escape my attention the nuber of people who post articles about how to avoid C-sections and why C-Sections are bad and the like. It is almost as bad as the pro breast feeding/anti bottle feeding debate. I can see why women are worried about C-Sections and look to VBACs for another child.

Personally, I think that however you had your child all that matters is that the baby and mother are healthy. I do wish that more women would mentaly prepare themselves that a C-ASection is a possibility, not what they want but it could happen to reduce the potential negative affects associated with C-Sections. And I wish people would back off the criticism. I don’t know anyone who thought a C-Section was ideal and wanted to have one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused about the point of C-section awareness month. Normally there is a point to raising "awareness" on something, like with certain cancers trying to raise money or urging people to do self exams. So what's the angle here? Reducing stigma? Reducing C-sections? Letting people know they aren't the worst thing ever, despite what some ninnies who lead those labor and delivery classes would have you believe?

Weirdly, I know there is some stigma, but when I say I had a c-section most people seem relieved lol. I am very petite and I had a large baby.

I read up on C-Sections when I was pregnant because I was concerned I might need one. I ws born with hip dysplasia and wasn’t sure how that might influene the birth. My Doctors, OBGY and regular, told me they thought that I would be fine. I worked with a chiropractor to help with keeping the hip in its proper allignment and to help with some pain from the hip. Then he was breech, then the placenta was low. Essentially, there always seemed to be something pointing to a C-Section.

One of the repeating themes in my research was the number of women who felt like they did not have a complete birthing experience or they had failed because they had a C-Section. There was a higher risk of depression for women who gave birth by C-Section. It also seemed like these feelings were higher in women who had an emergency procedure or did not have time to contemplate having a C-Section in advance.

I ended up having a C-Section and could care less if people know that I had a C-Section but it does not escape my attention the nuber of people who post articles about how to avoid C-sections and why C-Sections are bad and the like. It is almost as bad as the pro breast feeding/anti bottle feeding debate. I can see why women are worried about C-Sections and look to VBACs for another child.

Personally, I think that however you had your child all that matters is that the baby and mother are healthy. I do wish that more women would mentaly prepare themselves that a C-ASection is a possibility, not what they want but it could happen to reduce the potential negative affects associated with C-Sections. And I wish people would back off the criticism. I don’t know anyone who thought a C-Section was ideal and wanted to have one.

I had a C-section, and felt like it was pretty well-covered in the books and the classes I took that it was a possibility, and a good option when needed. But not sold as an ideal option, statistically speaking, and that's fine. I did indeed get a raging infection requiring rehospitalization with my first C-section; it is a major surgery, there are risks, it is, actually, a big deal.

I remember vividly watching the release video, which covered "you may have feelings of loss, guilt or incompletion following your C-section" and I was like...well, that's not right! And then two days later, I was indeed starting a long road of processing those exact feelilngs. So I was aware that they were possible, from reading/classes/watching the video you have to watch before going home. But objectively knowing it and actually LIVING it are two very different things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually C-sections are dangerous. They are not good for the babies and the US C-Section rate is terrible. It should be discouraged not normalized. It should only be done when absolutely medically necessary. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/10/12/656198429/rate-of-c-sections-is-rising-at-an-alarming-rate

Yes, but I think there’s little that individual women can do about this besides having home births. I had midwives, took hypnobirthing, ate well and exercised all through pregnancy, and read all the natural birth books, and I still had a c section. And my c section was actually a really positive experience, and my feeling after all that is that it doesn’t matter to me how my baby comes out. I think we should take the emotion and judgment out of it and leave it up to drs to lower the c section rate.