Cesarean Birth or Cesarean Surgical Procedure?
At work the other day one of the birth assistants corrected a midwife when she said "c-section," she said we should call it a cesarean birth. I have in the past accepted this terminology, but now that I have contemplated it further I feel that calling it a "birth" does not express the seriousness of it. In school I attended this surgery and it did not look, or "feel" (in an energetic way), at all like a "birth" in the sense that I have felt births in the past. It was surgery and that's it.
Maybe down-playing the seriousness of a cesarean is not helping anyone. If women accept these too easily, even ask for it, and then call it a birth it is equating a cesarean to a vaginal birth, and they shouldn't at all be equated. They are not similar for mother or child. Risk of death with a c-section is 1 in 2,500; risk for death with a vaginal birth is 1 in 10,000. Those odds are not at all similar and should not be taken lightly.
As I shadowed the nurse assisting in the c-section I witnessed, she was explaining the procedure to the woman on the way to the OR room. It was very matter-of-fact and she explained that "the doctors and nurses would be chit-chatting and even if it feels like we forget that your there, don't worry we don't. We know that you are lying there and your welcome to talk and ask questions." They put up a barrier and strapped down her hands as she lay there shivering. And then the surgery began and a baby was removed. That was that, it was nothing even remotely like a birth. And everyone in the room did pretty much ignore the mother and the baby.
posted by Student at 18:42
4 Comments:
I had a primary c/s. I do not call it a birth, it was a surgery. In fact a year afterwards, still hurting and depressed... my physician said they surgically removed the baby, I'd never given birth and nor would I. Direct quote. No joke.
For myself it will never be a birth... I had two homebirths after that one warranted, yet very unwanted surgery. I laboured with my first child for 15 hours, and still it doesn't feel like a birth. Granted it wasn't a silly reason (baby turned breech, and was a single footling with a twist and cord issues) for the surgery, but still it was major abdominal surgery. No one cared that I was crying out of sadness, not joy.
I've attended a cbac with a client. We made it more of a birth by keeping the chatting to a minimum and keeping mum in the loop, the anaethetist even let mum hold baby immediately. It was much better than my own experience! MUCH.
End of novel. sorry... enjoy your writting.
I am sorry that you had to go through that and that you continue to suffer as a result. I am glad to hear about the cbac, those are good suggestions for the next c-section I attend.
Just found your through anotehr blog (Cooler Doula.)
I have called it Cesarean birth or surgical birth. In my classes I stress that when surgery is necessary medically because of risk to mother or baby that it's a Godsend and a miracle and not a failure.
Likewise, I don't use the term "natural childbirth." I generally refer to "medicated" vs. "unmedicated" birth. In a Cesarean there is no choice; and the woman who required surgery because of the decelerating baby's heartrate and wanted a "natural/unmedicated" birth often feels depressed, sad, cheated...you know all that.
I have even referred to "surgical vaginal birth" among doula friends when the mother's doc did a huge episiotomy against her wishes.
Terminology aside, I am still amazed each time I see a baby born. Fifteen years as a doula and nursing graduation imminent in June, I struggle (and have blogged about) the dichotomy for me with nursing in L&D versus my doula work all these years.
I feel your struggle.
Hh
Just wandered into your blog, and I feel pretty at home with your point of view.
Earlier today I was thinking about how c-sections are almost unneccessarily unfriendly to the mother-baby bond. I have never had a c-section, but I am thinking about how I would want it to go if it did, and it is really far-fetched compared to the reality. First, I would want to be inclined up at least slightly, so that I could see what was going on. Even just a big pillow under my head. And no curtain. I would want to watch everything (or at least have the option to) and be ready with arms open for the baby to be handed to me immediately after birth. I would pass on the suctioning, too.
The most heart-wrenching part of all the c-section videos I've watched in this mom buried in blue curtains, completely left out while her baby is passed around, screaming, being poked and rubbed, et al, by many different people, before the mother even SEES it.
It would be totally possible to make c-sections more like normal births. As it is, it's not just the method of exiting the womb that is different--EVERYTHING is different. And I think that is the real problem with cesarean sections (assuming it was done for an actual, factual, medical reason that is real, not imagined by impatient attendants, etc).
-Rebecca
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