Dear Goddess,
I can’t tell you the number of times I have been exhibiting at a Pregnancy Expo and a pregnant lady will walk past, take one quick glance at my stand and discard the whole thing with a throw off comment like, “Oh that’s not for me – I am having a caesarian!”
Meanwhile I am so dumbstruck I am searching my scrambled brain to find the right answers to this dilemma and FAST! But the woman runs off (or waddles off in that beautiful pregnancy swag lol) before I get a chance to say a word……..
OK, yes I do talk about natural a lot (which I know can be off-putting to some women) and that was certainly my focus to birth as nature intended and YES I will unashamedly admit that was very important to me and still is….BUT, please know that I am not here to tell you what you should be doing with your body and your baby and neither should anyone else …….
I just hope that I can impact on your decision in some positive way by giving you the knowledge you need to make fully informed choices that are right for YOU and your family.
These days my message has evolved from “natural is the only way” to embracing every woman and all births and now really revolves around one magical word and that is…. **EMPOWERING.**
Well guess what? Even if a birth needs to go a different way than planned due to medical reasons, it can still be empowering and leave the woman feeling good about it, no matter how it goes IF a woman is fully informed and prepared for the grand occasion.
This is especially important for the scenario of caesarian (c-section) births.
But you might be asking, is it really possible for a caesarian birth to be empowering? I have now heard from enough women around the world to say a big YES it can. And I am now collecting stories to prove it.
On that note, if you have a story to share please let me know here.
Here is a preview of one mother’s experience:
“As a first-time mum preparing for a natural birth, I did pre-natal yoga, I memorised birth affirmations, hired a TENS machine and prayed for the best. One thing I did not do, however, is read the ‘Caesarean Section’ of the birth books on my bedside table. When the midwives set up a faux Caesarean birth as an antenatal education activity, I daydreamed about better things – my active labour, my drug-free experience of pain and my baby coming out of my vagina.
It therefore comes as no surprise that, when my normal, low-risk pregnancy ended in an ‘emergency’ Caesarean, I was totally unprepared, shocked and – ultimately – traumatised. While time, hindsight and more robust knowledge has shown me that my surgical birth was at best a statistic and, at worst, a medically unnecessary event, our first-born’s arrival Earthside changed the course of my life, and for this I am thankful……”
Read the full article here: “What if I must have a caesarian birth? Making it as woman-centred and empowering as possible.”
Now what do you suggest I say to the next woman who buys into the myth that it is not relevant for her to get empowered for birth?
Given that I only have about 30 seconds to get her attention lol 😉
Would love to hear your thoughts……drop me a line here or leave me a note below. Oh and be sure to let me know if you enjoyed the article on the blog!
Yours in loving empowerment,
Katrina Zaslavsky
Birth Goddess: A Positive Birth Revolution
