"Cesarean mothers are BRAVE."

 

I wrote about Eli's birth story here. I shared about how our cesarean unfolded and how my heart hurt about the experience. I've had three children and three cesareans. I did not want the surgeries, but at the same time, I was willing to do anything to ensure that my babies arrived safely.

 

 A dear friend and I have often talked about how we are saddened that we both had cesareans rather than "normal" births. She understands without explanation the emotions and disappointments and guilt that I feel when I look back on the birth of my babies. Today she shared a blog post with me called Cesarean Courage.

 

"Because no matter what the culture is, it takes courage to give birth. A lot of courage. The courage to give birth is in every woman, whether she knows it before hand or not, and even if she thinks it isn't there, she finds it inside of herself.

 

And all those mothers having cesareans? They have courage. Courage that needs to be recognized."

 

  "In that moment, it doesn't matter how that woman got to the operating table. It doesn't matter if the surgery is necessary or unnecessary, what matters is that it takes extraordinary courage to say:

"Cut me open.

I love my baby so much, that I will do anything to get my baby out of my body alive.

Lay me out, cut me open

because I love my baby so much."

 

 

 

 (My beautiful midwife. She was a constant support throughout my pregnancy and delivery.)

"That is courage. That is bravery and sacrifice and mothering in its purest form. That is the willingness to lay down your body and risk your life that your child might be born, that your child might live."

"Cesarean mothers are BRAVE."

Courage.

It is a new way of thinking about my cesarean. I still feel disappointed that I will never get to experience a birth as it was intended. Reading this blog post made me shed a few tears and helped me take another couple of steps on my journey toward acceptance.