C- Section Awareness Month

[Anonymous]

if you have a healthy baby at the end of the day, why does it matter? i say that as someone who's had a c-section for a child who would have otherwise died. I just don't get it. stop making pregnancy and chilldbirth out to be some "heroic endeavor". plenty of women have gone through much worse---and don't get a baby at the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

I don’t really get a lot of judgment (to my face at least) about my c-sections, so I always think this is one of those “mommy wars,” that seem to be a much bigger deal on websites and blogs than in real life. But I had a complication that required 37-week delivery with my 1st, and my chances of a successful vbac were put at 23% with my second, so I knew fairly early both times I was likely getting one.

I don’t get my people get so bent out of shape over how other people have children. Do they realize how many women died in childbirth in preceding centuries? And how many still due in childbirth around the world today? Anything that helps a live baby make it into the world with a healthy, living mother should be acceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get a lot of judgment (to my face at least) about my c-sections, so I always think this is one of those “mommy wars,” that seem to be a much bigger deal on websites and blogs than in real life. But I had a complication that required 37-week delivery with my 1st, and my chances of a successful vbac were put at 23% with my second, so I knew fairly early both times I was likely getting one.

I don’t get my people get so bent out of shape over how other people have children. Do they realize how many women died in childbirth in preceding centuries? And how many still due in childbirth around the world today? Anything that helps a live baby make it into the world with a healthy, living mother should be acceptable.

+1000. The goal is a live mother and a healthy baby. Everything else is gravy...

[Anonymous]

PSA: It’s ”couldnt care less”- not ”could care less”. If you could care less than you already do, then you aren't making much of a point!

-mom with two kids born via c-section

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone judging a C section is rude AF and they deserve a rude AF answer. So give it hard.

Can I get an AMEN?!

I had a vaginal birth with my first, C section with the second b/c of medical issues and I wish I had had an elective C section with the first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PSA: It’s ”couldnt care less”- not ”could care less”. If you could care less than you already do, then you aren't making much of a point!

-mom with two kids born via c-section

This is the most important point of public awareness in this thread.

-2 C-sections

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In honor of all the moms who had their baby through Cesarean! Post your story!

Seriously? We need to “honor” moms who had c sections? This is beyond dumb.

[Anonymous]

As a mom of older kids, I can tell you that once your kids are out of diapers, no one gives a fig how they came out of your body!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In honor of all the moms who had their baby through Cesarean! Post your story!

Seriously? We need to “honor” moms who had c sections? This is beyond dumb.

No we need something to stop the insane amounts of judging that happen around birthing decisions. The day this thread started, two friends posted ways toa void having a C-Section on their facebook wall. They are not judging, they think that they are being helpful, but it is annoying to see so many "C-Sections suck" type articles when you had a C-Section.

I don't know anyone who had a C-section for convenience sake. I am told that they happen but I have yet to met someone who scheduled a C-Section to make their life easier. I do know women who scheduled induction in week 39 or 40 but that does not equate with a C Section and most of those women had vaginal births.

I think the focus should be on women giving birth in a manner which is best for the mother and the baby. I think people should stop making it sound like C Sections are awful and wrong. The articles that I see on the subject are judgemental and do nothing to help women make informed decisions regarding a healthy birth.

I think the idea is that by openly discussing C Sections and pointing to the valid reasons why women have them that we diminish the "C Sections are awful" trope and allow women to have C Sections to accept that they do happen for good reasons and that the health of the mom and baby is all that matters.

I think it is not that different then encouraging women to discuss miscarriages and menopause. It helps people understand that these are women's health issues that are important and that you are not alone. There are higher rates of depression among women who have given birth through a C Section, I can only guess that a part of that (and I am aware that there are going to be other variables) is that when people discuss birth they praise the vaginal birth and set it up on this high pedestal and then list why it is ok for those other people to have C Sections.

I am not saying that the C Section should be common place or that it is possible that there are too many being performed but that the way they are discussed, C Sections are treated as lesser and problematic and that causes people to view mothers who have had C Sections as having made a poor choice or being sorry that something went so wrong that the mother could not have a vaginal birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In honor of all the moms who had their baby through Cesarean! Post your story!

Seriously? We need to “honor” moms who had c sections? This is beyond dumb.

No we need something to stop the insane amounts of judging that happen around birthing decisions. The day this thread started, two friends posted ways toa void having a C-Section on their facebook wall. They are not judging, they think that they are being helpful, but it is annoying to see so many "C-Sections suck" type articles when you had a C-Section.

I don't know anyone who had a C-section for convenience sake. I am told that they happen but I have yet to met someone who scheduled a C-Section to make their life easier. I do know women who scheduled induction in week 39 or 40 but that does not equate with a C Section and most of those women had vaginal births.

I think the focus should be on women giving birth in a manner which is best for the mother and the baby. I think people should stop making it sound like C Sections are awful and wrong. The articles that I see on the subject are judgemental and do nothing to help women make informed decisions regarding a healthy birth.

I think the idea is that by openly discussing C Sections and pointing to the valid reasons why women have them that we diminish the "C Sections are awful" trope and allow women to have C Sections to accept that they do happen for good reasons and that the health of the mom and baby is all that matters.

I think it is not that different then encouraging women to discuss miscarriages and menopause. It helps people understand that these are women's health issues that are important and that you are not alone. There are higher rates of depression among women who have given birth through a C Section, I can only guess that a part of that (and I am aware that there are going to be other variables) is that when people discuss birth they praise the vaginal birth and set it up on this high pedestal and then list why it is ok for those other people to have C Sections.

I am not saying that the C Section should be common place or that it is possible that there are too many being performed but that the way they are discussed, C Sections are treated as lesser and problematic and that causes people to view mothers who have had C Sections as having made a poor choice or being sorry that something went so wrong that the mother could not have a vaginal birth.

You are just hyper sensitive. Some facts: c-sections serve an important purpose and can be life-saving. They also carry higher risk than a vaginal birth. Some doctors perform them unnecessarily. The lower the c-section rate the better, and it’s important for women to understand that certain things increase their risk of a c-section.

I was induced at 41 weeks with my first. Nothing happened all day. I am convinced and my nurses agreed that I would have ended up with a c-section had I had an OB. Instead I had a very calm, experienced, confident CNM. She turned off the pitocin, told me to eat dinner and have good nights sleep. We tried again the next day and it worked beautifully.

[Anonymous]

This is such a sad thread. Women need to wake up. This isn't about choice - we don't have good choices when we're giving birth. The awareness should be about questioning the status quo, questioning the medical establishment's assumption that c-section is always a safe alternative to vaginal birth when it's not, or that medical practitioners are doing everything they can to prevent them. Or the HUGE assumption that the way labor is managed is totally safe and effective, and which leaves women feeling like they had the power to prevent a c-section, because modern medicine couldn't possibly have been wrong. Stop blaming women! Stop perpetuating this misogyny and start questioning what you're being told.

[Anonymous]

In addition to this, how about a natural birth awareness month where we can talk about all the ways your vagina, bladder, rectum, and pelvis can be destroyed by vaginal birth. We can talk about chronic/permanent fissures, cystocele, rectocele, uterine prolapse, urinary incontinence, flatal incontinence, fecal incontinence, vaginal laxity, scar tissue, levator avulsion, broken tailbones, coccydynia, tears to the anal sphincter, hypertonic pelvic floors, etc.

What sort of misogynistic culture are we to think that somehow vaginal birth is somehow superior to c section? Human Birth is a crappy evolutionary compromise (the massive human head has to come out of a tiny opening on the bottom of the female torso, from the same part that is also tasked with holding our inside pelvic organs up, maintaining our continence and sexual function, absorbing impact, etc.) that women can pay dearly for. The idea of natural being “better” when it results in so much damage to women is insulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In addition to this, how about a natural birth awareness month where we can talk about all the ways your vagina, bladder, rectum, and pelvis can be destroyed by vaginal birth. We can talk about chronic/permanent fissures, cystocele, rectocele, uterine prolapse, urinary incontinence, flatal incontinence, fecal incontinence, vaginal laxity, scar tissue, levator avulsion, broken tailbones, coccydynia, tears to the anal sphincter, hypertonic pelvic floors, etc.

What sort of misogynistic culture are we to think that somehow vaginal birth is somehow superior to c section? Human Birth is a crappy evolutionary compromise (the massive human head has to come out of a tiny opening on the bottom of the female torso, from the same part that is also tasked with holding our inside pelvic organs up, maintaining our continence and sexual function, absorbing impact, etc.) that women can pay dearly for. The idea of natural being “better” when it results in so much damage to women is insulting.

Well vaginal birth doesn't come with its own set of potentially life-threatening risks, except infection if you have a severe tear (which the majority of women do not). So there's that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to this, how about a natural birth awareness month where we can talk about all the ways your vagina, bladder, rectum, and pelvis can be destroyed by vaginal birth. We can talk about chronic/permanent fissures, cystocele, rectocele, uterine prolapse, urinary incontinence, flatal incontinence, fecal incontinence, vaginal laxity, scar tissue, levator avulsion, broken tailbones, coccydynia, tears to the anal sphincter, hypertonic pelvic floors, etc.

What sort of misogynistic culture are we to think that somehow vaginal birth is somehow superior to c section? Human Birth is a crappy evolutionary compromise (the massive human head has to come out of a tiny opening on the bottom of the female torso, from the same part that is also tasked with holding our inside pelvic organs up, maintaining our continence and sexual function, absorbing impact, etc.) that women can pay dearly for. The idea of natural being “better” when it results in so much damage to women is insulting.

Well vaginal birth doesn't come with its own set of potentially life-threatening risks, except infection if you have a severe tear (which the majority of women do not). So there's that.

Uh, preeclampsia? Placental abruption? Shoulder dystocia? Postpartum hemorrhage? Placenta previa? Pretty sure those are life threatening. Also—a lot of the aforementioned conditions caused by vaginal birth result in surgery to fix the issue (ie hysterectomy, mesh repairs, sacrocolpopexy, mesh bladder slings, sacral nerve stimulators, etc) which are a whole hell of a lot riskier than a planned c section and fail pretty often. There is a cost to all forms of birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In addition to this, how about a natural birth awareness month where we can talk about all the ways your vagina, bladder, rectum, and pelvis can be destroyed by vaginal birth. We can talk about chronic/permanent fissures, cystocele, rectocele, uterine prolapse, urinary incontinence, flatal incontinence, fecal incontinence, vaginal laxity, scar tissue, levator avulsion, broken tailbones, coccydynia, tears to the anal sphincter, hypertonic pelvic floors, etc.

What sort of misogynistic culture are we to think that somehow vaginal birth is somehow superior to c section? Human Birth is a crappy evolutionary compromise (the massive human head has to come out of a tiny opening on the bottom of the female torso, from the same part that is also tasked with holding our inside pelvic organs up, maintaining our continence and sexual function, absorbing impact, etc.) that women can pay dearly for. The idea of natural being “better” when it results in so much damage to women is insulting.

You realize that a lot of these things are from pregnancy, and not necessarily birth itself?

But yes, we need to talk about how birth isn’t always “pretty”.