It is not often I rant on this blog. I deliberately try to steer clear of controversy because I hate online arguments. But honestly...natural caesarean section...what a load of *****!!
How can there be such a thing as a "natural" caesarean section? It is a serious surgical operation, for goodness sake.
What has set me off is this video that I was introduced to the other day. Have a watch...it explains what a natural caesarean section is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5RIcaK98Yg&feature=player_embedded
What has really annoyed me is the obstetrician talking about siting intravenous infusions in the non-dominant arm and keeping the blood pressure cuff clean. Am I missing something?! Surely this is common sense and has been routine practice for years. Keeping the blood pressure cuff clean is not a natural caesarean section!!!!
I am 1000% behind making caesarean section as family-friendly as possible and I totally applaud obstetricians and midwives who encourage things such as immediate mother-to-baby skin-to-skin contact. But please don't try to sell caesarean section to mothers or midwives as being "natural"...it isn't and never will be!!!
17 comments:
I think a better term would be "family-centered surgical birth". Let's hope that families don't view this as an option to natural birth like bottle-feeding is to breastfeeding!
Uh oh... some do already? Oh no :(
PS: I have had a caesarean birth and an induction so I am knowledgeable about 2 forms of medical birthing intervention from a patient's perspective. I recognize the need for it, I just think we shouldn't give it false names :)
I have been trying to articulate how I feel in a discussion about this on Facebook but I haven't...but you have, Anita. It is not C/S I object to...I acknowledge the place it has in modern maternity care...I have seen C/S save women and babies. It's the terminology I object to which has the potential to seduce us into thinking C/S is an acceptable "routine" alternative to vaginal birth because it is natural. The breastfeeding/artificial feeding comparison is a good one.
I recently had a similar rant on my blog, and I've been screaming about this video from the hill tops because IT'S NOT NATURAL!
http://usinantarctica.blogspot.com/2011/01/spade-spade-csec-is-not-birth.html
I call it GENTLE caesarean, and I believe ALL surgery should be gentle, but seriously .... it's freaking surgery, it's not natural.
*stepping off soap box*
What a relief I am not the only one who thinks this, Alice and Mother :)
Gentle is a great word for what they were trying to convey. Trying not to cause trauma to the mother, baby and even the father looking over the draped sheet is a wonderful objective when natural birth is not the best route. I'm all for gentle :)
The other thing to consider is this is really in the event of an elective C/S. When it is an emergency, there may not be the time to be "gentle" so we need to consider how to be be mother-friendly in that context.
I had to have caesa with both my babies and I was made feel that I some how missed out on the BIRTH experience, it took me a long time to deal with the feeling of not having my baby naturally as this was so hard I think we need to lay off the natural/ caesa it was a hard time for me we need to support all Mums...
Thank you for your comment anonymous - I am sorry you had a such a horrible time. I totally agree that we must do all we can to support mums and their families. What I object to is not making the c/section mother-friendly. What I object to is using terminology that has the potential to normalise what is actually major surgery. If we normalise C/section, we run the risk of being brain washed into accepting that c/section is normal birth. As I have always said, it isn't normal birth and never will be. We have to accept this and support women within that context.
It's too bad the term "natural cesarean" is so hated by many birth advocates as it's a really good idea to try to humanize cesarean births.
I think it is also important to acknowledge the origin of this term that I believe is from a 2008 article found here
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2613254/
This article is called "the natural cesarean, a woman centred technique" and I believe it's what the video is named after. If only Dr. Frisk had called it something else there wouldn't be so much arguing and such.
It makes me wonder what is a "natural" birth? Do only vaginal no meds births count?
Some good questions, mjb...and good points that I'd like to consider more - I feel a blog post coming on but it will have to wait until I've finished writing an essay about reflective practice.
In the meantime, please can I leave you all with a great article questioning the whole concept of "natural" with regards to birth:
What is natural? Deciding what to do and not to do in medicine and health care. Steen Wackerhausen
Department of Philosophy, Aarhus University, Denmark.
British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. November 1999, Vol 106, pp. 1109-1112
Dr Fisk should be applauded for what he is doing. And yes it's not 'natural' but to get hung up on the use of that word and not consider what a positive effect on the lives of thousands of women and children Dr Fisk's "skin to skin cesarean" would have, is a great disservice to women who find themselves in the OR - for whatever reason!
Hi After-C-Section
I totally agree that we must support anything that enhances mother and baby's experience. But I do think that use of language does make a difference...there's heaps of research to support that...so I do think we need to pay attention to the terminology we use :)
I am heading for my third and final caesarean and this is going to be as 'natural' as it gets for me! Having had two emergency caesareans I am hoping for the kind of birth shown in this video. A very big thank you to Dr. Fisk and co for making an experience like this possible for women like myself who are unable to birth 'naturally'.
Hope everything goes well for you, anonymous :)
I just saw this video and feel uplifted. I will be having my 3rd caesarean, this time scheduled. I planned a homebirth the first time, a VBAC the second. I get your point about semantics, however, I am so excited about the possibility of this birth experience. Some of us need the hope. I can't even imagine the skin to skin contact right after! I always fell asleep.
I did it. It was amazing. My 5th (and last, haha) child. Tried for 3 days with first to deliver vag. Second, tried for vback for 18 hours. All their heads so big (and 9lb 11oz babies) it just didnt happen for us. I was SO GLAD to have the opportunity to experience a csection delivery that was closer to the "experience" of a vaginal delivery. I got to watch the whole thing and hold the little man right away. What a gift!
Check it out!
http://youtu.be/4YsTHlCg0AA
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