The C Word :: Let’s Not Judge Women For Their Birth Choices

Let’s talk about Cesarean birth for a minute. Seems that the hype is all about giving birth vaginally and unmedicated, and for some reason, Cesarean birth is shamed or simply misunderstood. Like all births, Cesarean is beautiful. I personally was lucky to have experienced two different births, one of them being a Cesarean.

Two Different Birth Experiences

My firstborn didn’t come on his own, so I was induced at 39 weeks due to high blood pressure and severe edema. I was huge. Obviously being induced, I had no choice but to be medicated. I spend 27 grueling hours, and I will forever remember the euphoria I felt when my son came out. I swore at that moment he would be my only child because there was no way I would go through that again. And yet here I was 19 months later, being asked what I wanted to do after 13 hours of unmedicated labor in L&D. See I was able to chose at that moment because I was having twins. Baby A was in position and in twin pregnancies baby A is the only one whose position is important since he is the first baby to come out. So my OB looked at me and asked “what do you want to do?” I asked her how many centimeters I was. Thirteen hours had past and I was only 3 centimeters, so I looked at her and said “cut them out.” An hour later they were out and this is how my Cesarean birth journey started.

Feeling Judged & Misunderstood

People always feel the need to assume I’ve had my twins via Cesarean because apparently that’s the norm. Well no, it isn’t. Twins can come vaginally too. When I say I chose to have a Cesarean, people always want to judge and ask why would I chose that?! Well because I wanted to!! I think Cesareans are highly misunderstood. I am no less of a mother for not choosing to have pushed my babies out of this world. I didn’t take the easy way out, mind you, because 7 layers of skin, fat, fascia, abdominal muscles, peritoneum, uterus and ammoniac sac were cut, so please do not believe it’s a decision you make lightly if you’re able to chose.

Birthing Warriors

I am a birthing warrior like any other mother. I birthed all three of my children and I am proud of the scar I see everyday looking in the mirror. I embrace it just as much as the internal scar I was left from ripping.

So here is my message to anyone out there judging any women for their birth choice. Don’t. Simply don’t. If a woman decides to have a Cesarean, support her and don’t ask why. If a woman decides to have an unmedicated birth, support her too because that’s pretty amazing. If a woman decides to have a medicated birth, support her and don’t think she is weak, because at the end of the day, we are all birthing warriors. You hear me? Let me say it again.

WE ARE ALL BIRTHING WARRIORS!

We all had babies who have heard our hearts beating from the inside, and we have all bled for 6+ weeks from it. We are amazing, our body is amazing and no judgement should ever be made on our choices, and no questions should ever be asked as to why we went that route.

Because birthing is beautiful, it’s empowering, it’s scary, it emotional and NATURAL no matter what route we chose.

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