When I posted this picture last week, I had no idea that it would have had the impact it has. I never thought I would share the picture but something made me post it. Little did I know that one picture on my Instagram (with only 200 or so followers may I add) would have been liked and shared thousands of times through various channels. Thank you Birth Without Fear.
Original post…
The vast majority of the comments have been absolutely amazing, however in hindsight I do have one regret. I wish I had gone into a little more detail. My case wasn’t an ordinary one and there are reasons behind it. So for anyone who is pregnant and potentially facing a cesarean birth, please read!
First off, this was my second child. My first was also born via cesarean and I have the more familiar “bikini” line incision that people are referring to.
However due to the fibroid and my placenta, the doctors were unable to reopen the old scar as they simply would not have been able to get the baby out. So the decision was made to perform what’s known as a “classical cesarean” which involves a vertical incision. It’s not a common method anymore due to the risks involved with blood loss and prolonged recovery but it was the only option. So for anyone who has questioned why I “allowed” doctors to do this (or in some people words “butcher” me), this is why.
I had no choice. It was the best decision for me and the baby.
Secondly, The incision wasn’t because I had the fibroid removed. It is still there. The fibroid was only detected at the 12 week scan and it gradually got bigger and bigger but the hope was that it would just shrink after pregnancy. I have since had follow up appointments and due to the position of the fibroid, if I was to have it removed then this would involve a full hysterectomy. So for as long as I have no pain or discomfort then it will stay where it is.
And lastly, this picture was taken one day after surgery. It certainly does not look like that now. The staples and sutures were removed 10 days later and I now have a “normal” looking scar.
I’d also like to add that I personally have never been told that I didn’t give birth. My post was based on the continuous amounts of rubbish I see about cesarean births being the “easy option” or because “if you didn’t push, you didn’t give birth.”
I could go on but I won’t. A birth is a birth. End of story.
Submitted by Jodie S.
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8 Comments
Leah hogbin
Your story is inspiring. I too had a Caesarian and often get told I took the easy option even though it wasn’t by choice. I hate hearing it! Thank you for sharing your story x
Melissa
You are beautiful and thank you for your update and I am happy ypu are doing well. You are right a birth is a birth that baby birth out of your body no mater what hole it was from. So it not called a birthday. Has your fidroid stopped growing? I just wanted to tell you
That was such a powerful photo.
Genevieve
Hi! I’m trying to reach the mom who wrote this to speak to her for ABC News. Will you please email me? thanks!
Anna
I was born via Cesarean, it was that or I didn’t come out. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for my mother, a midwife, but I, for one, am thankful that a Cesarean is an option she had!
When I have my babies, I plan to choose whatever is the best option for them, I’m sure the “joy of childbirth” is nothing compared to the joy of having a healthy baby lying in your arms!
Regina
I went through 2 C-sections for my daughters but it doesn’t mean my love for them was less. I had a dry labor with my eldest as my water bag broke without me noticing it (first timer!) and its just 3 weeks early than the due date so she had to be removed inside me immediately or else something bad might happen to her. After 4 yrs. my OB-Gyne said I can already try the natural birth way but 2 months before my due date I was detected with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, and need to take insulin shots to lower my sugar to normal level. So she said I need to have the C-section since my Diabetes needs to be monitored. Many people are always saying to me that I didn’t feel how to be a “real mother” since I didn’t experienced how to shout and push during the normal birth delivery, but when I share my stories to them they now understand that I experienced hardships as well. Also just like to share my Mom’s pregnancy, she had 3 natural births for me and my 2 sisters in 3 consecutive years. After 11 years she needed to be on C-section bec aside from it’s a risky pregnancy she will be having twins and we saw in her that she was in bed rest literally 2 months before due. I said literally because she just stay in the room, eat there, take a bath, accepting visitors everything. She only leave the room on her due date and she didn’t walk from the bed, she needs to be carried out by 4 men to the ambulance. Now, 21 yrs later I had my brother and sister, already both graduated in college and my mom said she both experienced natural and C-section births but the last really was the harder for her. See, it doesn’t matter which way and Jodie was correct birth is a birth. Period.
Jessica
I’ve never had a cesarean but my SIL did. She showed me her scar and the pouch of anesthetic attached through a tube in her abdomen. I have never thought cesarean sounded like the easy way. Is there even an easy way to birth or be born??!
Kati
I will never understand how anyone can even THINK of a mother who gave birth via c-section not having given birth, not loving her baby, not being a “real” mother. If THEY had been born via c-section, would they consider their mother-child relationship bad or not existing, would they consider themselves not having entered this world or not being born? It just doesn’t make any sense to me!
I would have had two dead babies if I had not had c-sections (emergency c-section and secondary c-section after induction). It wasn’t what I had planned and I was disappointed at first, of course, but now I am glad they are alive and healthy. And: Being a mother, a REAL mother is just so much more than just giving birth or pointing at others, saying: You didn’t give birth because you had a c-section!
Giving birth (the natural way or via c-section) is just the beginning of one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever had in life. What about those mothers who fail to support their children in life or who fail to build up a trustful relationship to their child – did they all give birth via c-section? Of course not. It’s got nothing to do with it…!!!
Eva
Dear Jodie,
nearly 24 years ago, on the 5th of February a little baby girl was born. Not on the “normal” way but by Caesarian. The reason: Her umbilical cord was around her neck and she was not upside down with the head first. Same as her big sister just a few years earlier. Today this Baby is a healthy woman, already traveled the world and got a chance to live a wonderful life full of love and adventure. I am that baby from 24 years ago and if my mother would not have done the C-section…I could not write this comment to you today. I am grateful that all mothers, you and all the women here in the comments, did what they did. Because you give children like me the chance to live. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Best whishes,
Eva