It has become normal for the medical profession to deliver breech, and multiple baby pregnancies (twins, triplets, etc) by Cesarean Section (CS). Medical doctors are no longer trained or skilled in delivering breech babies and twins, they have lost these skills by relying on surgical interventions. During 1976-96, CS for singleton breech babies increased from 30% to 86% and for twin pregnancies from 13% to 47%. In 2001, 16.7% of all CS performed in UK, were on women previously delivered by CS. Recurrent sections for three or four or more times are now frequently performed. Some home birth midwives still deliver twins and breech babies, and have retained their skills and experience in these matters. They may specify that the babies need to go to 36/37 weeks and that each baby must be a certain weight before they will deliver at home.

Cesarean-section surgery is also chosen by women as a birth choice because, for various reasons, they don’t want to give birth. Often these moms are too scared to go through the birthing experience for some reason. What they actually need is a lot of support from other women who can empower them. They also need to be supported to have a felt-sense in their own body that THEY CAN DO IT. They most certainly do not need major abdominal surgery. Some people are beginning to believe that CS is easier for the baby and this absolutely not true. It is also painful for the mom and introduces risks to both mom and baby that are not present in normal birthing. In a CS birth neither mom not baby will feel empowered by, or bonded in, the experience. CS also interrupts family bonding, and especially that between mom and baby, more than any other kind of birth in a hospital.
CS is major abdominal surgery in which your abdomen is cut open, your womb is cut open, and your baby removed. This is not natural, and it is not giving birth, it is surgery. Mom and baby miss out on so many important things by not birthing naturally through the birth canal.
Once you have delivered your baby by CS your doctor will not want you to have a vaginal birth, so all subsequent children will also be CS babies. Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC’s) are performed by willing and knowledgeable midwives successfully all the time, and the risks are much lower than medical doctors would have us believe. If you want to take this route, make sure you choose a midwife who is very experienced with VBAC’s, and has a good track record.

Why is it so important to come into the world through the birth canal?

Birth begins with a state of readiness being reached by both mom and baby, and then baby initiates the birthing process by releasing a chemical that starts the contractions. Baby is the one who has the impulse to begin the labor when she is ready to come. (See my article on Induction for further important reading on hospital birthing practices and the effects of these on our babies, and on family bonding).

After we have initiated our labor we have a blueprint inside of us, which equips us with a deep knowing about how to navigate our birth. We are ready to do it, we want to do it, and we are also having our own experience of our birth process. A child can have a completely different experience of their birth than the one that their mother had. E.g. the mom might say it was easy and normal, but the child may have had a traumatic experience. This is because they are each having their own experience, some of which, for the baby, is colored by what their womb life has been like, and how that has affected their perceptions and beliefs about life. I have witnessed many people raging and grieving because they felt their birth was stolen from them through the use of anesthesia, and other medical interventions that don’t support the baby and mom to have an empowering relational experience - together.

In elective CS the baby does not have the opportunity to feel her own impulse and readiness, and this can cause later problems with beginnings.
When we are birthed normally, through the birth canal, we have a felt-sense in our body of what it feels like to start something, and to go through it to the end and finish, and then to have a rest and integration period. This is a very important imprint for us to have because it affects the way we sequence through our life every day, and more importantly it affects our ability to begin, follow through, and finish. How many people do you know who can’t get started, follow through or finish projects??

Another important imprint that the CS child misses is that feeling that I CAN DO IT! - often CS kids are looking for someone else to do it for them, because they don’t have the imprint that says I can do it myself, I don’t need outside intervention. Transitions can also be traumatic or stressful for CS babies because birth is one of the most influential transitions we go through and the imprints laid down then deeply affect the way we transition from one thing to another on a daily basis, and during bigger transitions and changes.

CS people will often over react or get triggered in response to any perceived outside interventions or interruptions, or may have inappropriate or over sensitive responses to being told what to do, and when to do it. These outside directives can trigger the feelings of helplessness and impotence experienced during the birth/surgery. When we don’t have a felt sense in our body of what it means to begin something from the inside out, and follow through to the end - a very important imprint that we all get from vaginal birth - life can be very difficult, and truly felt motivation, impulse and potent energy may not be available to this person. Any interruption to our natural birthing process sets us up for sequencing issues. CS people can go through life feeling that ‘it’ will be done for them, that someone will come along and take it out of their hands.

A baby ‘born’ by CS is laying in the womb one moment and then is suddenly lifted out by unknown hands, into blinding lights, and separated from her mother fairly quickly. The only saving grace of the elective CS surgery is that it is usually planned in advance so baby knows that it is going to happen, unlike emergency CS. They have time to get ready for it and to be in alignment with mom’s intention to have this kind of birth, with a chosen birth day.

CS Surgery & Interrupted Bonding:
It is normal for CS babies to be removed from their mom and taken to the nursery for tests right after birth. Mom has to go to the ‘recovery room’ because she has had major abdominal surgery, which is no small thing. She might get a fleeting look at her baby, and then, if the parents are organized, dad can be the one to hold baby and take her to the nursery. He may even insist on holding her whilst tests are being carried out. It is great that dad’s can do this more and more because during this first hour after birth it is the most powerful time for bonding. It’s good that baby gets to bond with someone who loves him and is part of his family, rather than a nurse, or a plastic isolette. The downside to this is that baby is doing his primary bonding with dad, not mom, and this can cause problems for the whole family. Mom and baby need to be bonded, because this is the primary relationship. Mom will often get depressed because she is not feeling bonded with her baby, and if mom is depressed, baby is depressed. In these situations the dads need to understand this dynamic and to totally support mom and baby to bond, that is their most important task.

Ideally, babies would stay with their mom no matter what kind of birth they had, and no matter how many procedures needed to be performed.

Those of you considering elective CS, consider all your options carefully: find and talk to a good midwife; check out your local birthing center - they may deliver twins and breech; investigate your local resources outside of the medical options. Find a doula who can support you; do some somatic and/or healing work to connect with the power in your body as a birthing woman. Consider the sacred and ecstatic aspects of birth, and get the support you need in order to have an empowering pregnancy and birth, and optimal bonding in your family. One of the reasons some women choose elective CS is that they have suffered child sexual abuse and hold too many traumatic memories and imprints in their pelvic bowl area. This can be resolved enough before birth so that it doesn’t interfere with your birthing experience detrimentally.

There is a proposal by the American Medical Association to make elective CS a choice available to every birthing woman, as if major abdominal surgery is giving birth, and can be treated as just another birth option. This would be a great tragedy for the whole family, but especially for baby.

I am available for telephone consults, and 1on1 if you live in the North Bay Area, CA.
Karen Melton 707 829 7816
Prevention & Healing of Prenatal, Birth & Bonding Trauma for
Babies, Kids, Adults & Couples