C-Sections and How They May Affect Mothering

As I drove to teach my weekly prenatal breastfeeding class, I thought about all of the questions that may arise. All of the fears that I would hopefully alleviate. All of the important points that I wanted to make sure to inform my clients. I thought about my personal experiences with breastfeeding and how I would relay those stories to these women. All in hopes to help these women to breastfeed their babies.

Once I arrived, I grabbed my props, games, paperwork and walked into the room where my pregnant clients were waiting and proceeded to introduce myself. I talked about my personal experiences that I had practiced on the drive over. Explained my qualifications and what our agency provides for them in the area of breastfeeding support.

Once turning the time over to my clients and asking some information about them, their families, their pregnancies, and their impending births, I realized that I was sitting in front of a whole class of women with scheduled (repeat) cesareans!

All of the thoughts that I had spent so much time thinking about in my morning drive were now worthless! How do I even bring up my strong position about immediate skin to skin contact following birth? What about my strong position on nursing within the first hour following birth? What about my recommendations to avoid as many interventions during labor and delivery because studies have shown that these can sometimes hinder breastfeeding?

I had to gather my thoughts and reorganize my plan to include everything that I know about breastfeeding following c-section.

Now, this was not my first experience with a pregnant woman awaiting her scheduled c-section. Actually, it is so common, that my classes cover breastfeeding following both vaginal and cesarean births, but this was the first time that I had to solely focus on breastfeeding post cesarean.

Not to mention that I had just read a story from an OB (see here: http://www.drmomma.org/2010/06/dangerous-delivery-shows-peril-of.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PeacefulParenting+%28peaceful+parenting%29) about the risks of cesareans the night before and I couldn't help but be saddened by these women's experiences sitting before me and this got me thinking about my own births.

Yes, I have had all four of my children vaginally, but not without complications and not without interventions.

Only one of my four births was a spontaneous birth. The other three were induced for one "medical" reason or another. All four of my labors included artificial rupturing of my membranes (or the doctor breaking my bag of waters). Only one, my last (and while being induced with Pitocin), did I labor and give birth without an epidural. And following each of my three births that were assisted with Pitocin (an artificial hormone given to a pregnant woman to start or maintain labor), I experienced postpartum hemorrhage.

Why did I birth like this? Why did I go along with inductions? Why? Because I believed, just as the doctors believed for one reason or another, that it was medically necessary.

While I was told that induction was necessary, I was never told that having an induction dramatically increased my risks of a cesarean. I was never told that when I agreed to have my membranes artificially ruptured that there was no turning back and that I only had a window of time to "progress" before a c-section was required. In other words, I was never given sufficient information for me to make a true educated decision in the birth of my own child!

Then today, I stumbled upon a wonderful birth story (www.drpoppy.com/wordpress/) told by an obstetrician describing her own surprise VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) and about how, even she, was made to feel that her births were a medical problem and how interventions that are routinely done during pregnancy and labor to "help" women deliver "safer" are actually contributing to, or causing, complications.

I look back now and know that I narrowly escaped a c-section FOUR times without even realizing it and I can't help but to think about these mothers in my class recently. One of whom was actually told that her second c-section was going to be easier than the first. Knowing all that I know about repeat c-sections, and repeat surgeries in general, this couldn't be further from the truth.

So, here I am with so many thoughts swirling around in my head about these poor women: "Will breastfeeding be easily initiated?" "Will they have many opportunities in the early hours following birth to bond, share skin to skin contact, or breastfeed their baby, or will they be 'recovering'?" "Will their babies' first feeding experience be at their own mother's breasts or from a bottle of formula by the nurse in the nursery, while their mother is recovering?"...

One of the mothers talked about how jealous she was that other mothers have had the "joys" of experiencing "natural" childbirth and how sad she is to think back at all of her births. To remember that after the doctor delivered each baby from her abdomen, her baby was taken to the warmer, cleaned, swaddled and brought to her head for a split second "to meet Mommy" and then wheeled off to the nursery for the next four hours. Yes, four hours! She talked about how a family member described what her baby looked like for hours before finally getting the opportunity to hold her own baby that she had nurtured and carried for nine whole months.

Why does this happen to women? Why do many of the medical community feel that mothers do not get to be fully informed of their decisions during the birthing process? Why do many of the medical community feel that women, who have been birthing babies from the beginning of time, will not know what to do when the time is right?

Not to mention, that when a provider is wheeling a woman to the operating room, they are usually too wrapped up in telling her why she requires a c-section than to tell her that this surgery dramatically effects how many children she will be able to safely deliver for the rest of her life. I feel that withholding this very important piece of information is taking a woman's fertility out of her own hands.

I am not saying that we should all be birthing at home (that can be a whole different debate!), but why do we automatically think that our bodies, after already creating a miracle by growing life from a tiny egg and a tiny sperm into a perfectly, small human being, will not perform more natural miracles by birthing that small human and supplying the best food for it?????