Cesarean Birth Support

I’m not about to debate why someone should or should not have a Cesarean (C-section) birth - that’s up to the pregnant person and their birth team. I’m here to talk about how we treat those who deliver by Cesarean, culturally and as a medical provider. 

First, let me make something ABUNDANTLY clear - having a cesarean birth is not “the easy way out”. There are 2 ways for someone to birth a child - one involves pushing an entire human being out through the vagina, the other involves a pretty significant abdominal surgery. Neither of those is “easy”. As someone who has never been pregnant let me just say this - given those 2 options, I’m sometimes surprised that anyone goes through it more than once! Whichever way you choose to bring those babies earth side you are fierce and amazing. 

Sometimes in our society’s quest to be more “natural” or “healthy” we place judgement on people who make different choices or have different experiences from ours. People who have cesarean deliveries may feel guilt or shame at not delivering “naturally” (what THE HELL does that even mean??). 

They may be disappointed that their birth experience didn’t go as they had hoped if they had planned for a vaginal delivery. And then there’s that whole “failure to progress” diagnosis for turning to a cesarean delivery - can we PLEASE make sure we’re not making our patients feel that somehow, a cesarean delivery is the result of a failure on their part?

We could do so much better at supporting patients who have cesarean births. 

Can you IMAGINE having abdominal surgery, and then being sent home to recover and also care for a tiny human who is completely dependent for all its needs? You might even have other tiny (or not so tiny) humans at home who ALSO depend on you! Can you just imagine?? 

Ok, I know lots of you out there can not only imagine it, you’ve done it. I’m just saying y'all are freaking superheroes and if I ever have to have any kind of abdominal surgery, you can be sure I’ll be in my bed thanking all my lucky stars that I have a wife who takes great care of me when I need it. I sure as heck won’t be tending to anyone else’s needs, you can bet on that. But many people do and you need support and care through those transitions. I try to provide support to my patients who have had or are planning a cesarean birth. 

I can show them how to get out of bed with the least amount of strain possible. We can problem solve carrying and holding the baby without stressing the incision. I can give them all the tips I have for avoiding constipation and having easy bowel movements, because nobody wants to deal with that with an abdominal incision! I can also ask how they’re feeling, sleeping, finding time for even a little bit of self care… all of that is so important for new parents. When the time is right in the healing process, we can talk about scar care and mobilization. 

And OF COURSE, we’ll talk about pelvic floor function, because a vaginal birth isn’t the only causative factor for pelvic floor issues (far from it). 

Pelvic floor physical therapy can be an important part of not only pregnancy care, but postpartum care as well. Know someone who could benefit? Point them in my direction!