Vaginal Delivery Vs the C-Section - What's best for baby and you?
Oooh.. there's something so 'ick' about the term vaginal delivery, isn't there? We all know that babies come from 'down there', but it's so much more civilised when we refer to pushing a person out of your nether regions as being a 'natural birth', so I'll try to use that term to spare the more squeamish among you.
I'm so sick of listening to those 'hollier-than-thou' women preach the evils of the caesarean section. Why do some women think that it makes you more feminine/maternal if you successfully birth a child 'naturally'.
God forbid if you opted for a c-sec. The term 'too posh to push' is flung around by those who think it's a crime against womankind to choose to bring your child into the world in way that doesn't involve your vagina (sorry, birth canal).
You're almost let off the hook if you had to have an emergency section, but you are still pitied because it is considered the poor relative of the natural delivery.
They're usually the same women who rate others by what pain relief they had. Is this the measure of a woman now? Does delivering sans epidural mean you've got a pair of ovaries the size of Chuck Norris's nuts?
"But that's childbirth!" I hear you cry. Childbirth is pain, and if you really don't want to go through it then you shouldn't have gotten yourself knocked up in the first place, right?
Wrong - C-sections are major surgery, but if a woman is adamant she does not want to go through the pain of a natural birth, shouldn't they be considered as a realistic option? Fear of labour should not preclude a woman from propagating her end of the gene pool.
During my second pregnancy, my midwife told me that it didn't matter how bad my first labour was, a c-sec would be worse. I beg to differ; I've known lots of women to have c-sections. They may not have said they were the best fun since Sonic the Hedgehog, but they also didn't beg for death for 17 hours because of the pain. In some instances, it really is preferable to a long, drawn out natural birth.
That said, My Brummie Mum Friend Freda had a natural birth, and c-sec all in one labour! She had no pain relief for the delivery of the first of her twins. Then there were complications which resulted in the other being delivered by emergency section. She really feels that the natural birth was the better experience. If she were to get pregnant again, she would definitely want to have a natural delivery.
I have to admit, there is a tiny part of me that does enjoy telling people I popped The Kid out in one go, with little more than two paracetomal and pethadine given so close to the birth it didn't have time to work anyway (very important to get that bit in). Why? Perhaps I feel that people will think that little bit more of me, which is weird because I'm sure they wouldn't think any less of me if I'd said I plugged myself into an epidural when I hit 40 weeks and waited patiently for a child to appear.
Every woman should be able to make informed decisions about what she feels is right for her and her baby without being judged. It is essential to make yourself aware of the reality of the decision you make, because it will be you and your child that will have to live with it afterwards.
Daniel posted a comment on a previous blog saying a passing midwife said, "oh, that's a shame" when she heard he and his wife were waiting to go into theatre for a c-section, I was incensed. How did she think that one comment would make them feel, in an already less than perfect situtation.
I don't mean to sound blasé about what can essentially be a life or death procedure, but I can't stand the way women are demonised for considering it. The kind of delivery you have doesn't make you more or less of a woman.
We should be informed and supported throughout pregnancy and birth, not lectured and judged.
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Laura Yates - Brummie mum Laura Yates is a 27 year old mother of two from Kings Heath. She gives her take on family life in the city.
This reminds me of where I used to work. Two women had delivered vaginally and one had a C-section for both kids. When they talked about childbirth one fo the women who had the 'natural birth' made a comment like "yes well you've never REALLY given birth" to the woman who had the C-section and she just looked down and went "well no, not in the way you have." It was so judgemental I was shocked.
I am really glad that I experienced both a vaginal and c-section birth, but yes given the choice again I would opt for a vaginal because for me, it is a process that you go through, so the labour and the vaginal birth is just part of the journey. However, I recognise that it isn't always an option for everyone(mother/child) so ones decision should be respected.
I had a C-section with the birth of my twins and I did not breast feed either, much to the dismay of my health visitors and midwives. Being a mum is so much more than birth canals and breasts! I'm sure the millions of foster and adoptive parents would agree. Each to their own circumstances. Preachers beware!