A Scarred Generation
By Danell Swim
February 22, 2008
By Danell Swim
It seems that every generation of child bearing women has a cross to bear.
For our grandmothers, it was twilight sleep. This was widely practiced mid-century to remove the mother from the pain of childbirth; unfortunately, it also removed her from the entire experience as well. The combination of morphine and scopolamine effectively “drugged” the mother during labor, and made her forget about it afterwards. It also created a generation of drugged babies who were born non-responsive.
For our mothers, it was episiotomies. I grew up to stories of my mother having her perineum cut during childbirth because “cuts heal better than tears.”
Several decades of medical studies disproving that theory, and the medical community is largely in agreement that tears actually heal better than cuts, and episiotomies should only be done in an absolute emergency.
And now, we’ve learned that episiotomies are bad, that twilight sleep is for the dark ages. We know that childbirth can be a joyous event that should be remembered and savored. We know that the act of pushing a baby out of the vagina is empowering to a woman’s self confidence and self worth. We know that birth, in the true sense of the word, is often the highlight of a woman’s life.
So why is it that 1 in 3 babies never experience true birth?
Instead, they are cut from the womb.
Cesarean section surgery (notice I do not call it “birth”) is the number one surgery performed in the
I’m sure that twilight sleep was more convenient and less painful than unmedicated birth.
I’m also equally sure that episiotomies were more convenient for doctors because they didn’t have to wait for the perineum to stretch.
And easier? Well, hours of surgery, weeks of recovery and a permanent scar on your stomach is hardly what I would call easier.
Yet these myths persist. And they are so persistent and invasive to our every thought, these mothers are lining up outside hospital doors to schedule their elective cesareans. Doctors are booking mothers weeks in advance for reasons like prior cesarean section, large baby, small baby and even posterior presentation.
We are a generation of scarred women.
In my own family, there are 5 daughters. Two had cesareans followed by VBAC, two had all their children by cesarean, and one had all vaginal births. All told, 8 babies by cesarean, and only 4 were born vaginally. And four scarred women, to one unscarred.
This is just one example of a nation comprised of scarred women.
When do we wake up and begin to question the ludicrously?
For our mothers and grandmothers, it began with medical studies showing the dangers of these procedures. Then a natural birth movement swept in, led by midwives, who showed us a better way. And women began demanding better treatment for their labors; they demanded safety and honesty.
The medical studies are in, folks, and it doesn’t look good for cesareans. Despite that, the rates keep climbing, and the natural birth movement is trivialized as ‘whacky,’ ‘crunchy’ and ‘hippy.’ And, worse yet, the movement is called unsafe and reckless.
As a society, we should question anything that is put into, pulled out of or performed on our bodies. It doesn’t mean that we need to do the opposite, but we do need to look at things with perspective and ask “is this better for my health, and the health of my baby?”
If we look at things as a whole, we should be critical of the procedures done to us these days. Our maternal, perinatal and neonatal mortality rates are all higher than what would be expected of the most medically advanced nation in the world. Our hospitals are equipped with the best equipment and the best doctors, and yet we’re falling behind in our goals.
And we won’t know the full repercussions of these practices to cut first and ask questions later, until it is too late for an entire generation of mothers.
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11 Responses to “A Scarred Generation”
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In my family, my mom had nine at home.
Of the nine there are seven girls.
Three never had children.
The four who became mothers, three had caesareans, seven babies.
One, me, I had four homebirths.
My brothers’ wives have had a total of three vaginal births, two of them at home.
So of fourteen grandchildren, there are seven born by caesarean section and seven born naturally.
Of the seven natural births, six were born at home!
That means that of just one family, there are only half were born naturally. That is sad. A 50% caesarean rate!
These births took place between 1980 and 2007.
I have to have c-sections because I have a heart shaped uterus. I remember giving BIRTH to my daughter just as much as my mother remembers giving BIRTH to me (naturally, at home) It is safer in most cases that the surgery is performed. Oh, and it is not HOURS of surgery, it was 25 minutes.
I just had my first VBAC two and a half months ago. I am not the typical VBAC experience; labor and delivery took longer (yes, c/s in my case only took 15 minutes to extract and 30 min to sew up), and recovery from the vaginal birth took much, much longer with much more pain from 3rd degree tearing (still recovering). For me, the c-section was easier, and yes, it was a birth because I was aware of my son being brought into this world, even though it was through a man-made orifice due to his head being jammed so firmly into my ribs that the doctor had to push his head out with several firm jabs and to this day, his head is somewhat elongated. I can only imagine how awful it could have been if he had been allowed to hang from my ribs in this way, and I do not want his birth to seem less special to me.
I am so glad it was my choice, though. I’m glad I had a VBAC. I’m glad I wasn’t forced to have another scar on my uterus. It’s not about the childbirth experience for me; it’s about the risks involved with cesarean section. The risks of placental adhesions in subsequent pregnancies. The problems that arise from excess scar tissue in the uterus. The risk of infection. How awful would it be to damage my uterus so much, even though the odds are against it, to the point that I would need a hysterectomy at a very young age? I need my uterus to be as intact as possible for as long as possible; it’s about preserving one of the precious organs of my body. I will not damage it again without absolute medical necessity.
I am glad we have C-sections for the situations that truly need them. But I feel that the majority of them are done to too many interventions and impatience.
I had a c-section last year and I will never fully heal emotionally. I was pushed into it due to it for failure to porgress (doctor impatience) and had nobody to support me into waiting longer. My daughter’s heart rate was perfectly fine and I was progressing…just at a slower rate that “normal”. During my c-section anesthesia failed. I felt EVERYTHING until they pulled her out. On top of that the medial staff did not measure my fluid out/in put correctly and I was drowning. My lungs and intestines shut down and I was in a coma for 3 days. Our breastfeeding relationship was almost jeopardized.
I recomend all women educate themselves on labor and delivery. Know that a c-section is major surgery and should only be used in life saving situations. Do not let a doctor bully you if your instincts are telling you no. They cannot force you to have a c-section (like I mistakenly thought). It’s your body, your choice!
In 1964 I gave birth to a my first baby at 16 years of age. Needless to say the doctor and my mother were in charge and I had no input before, during or after. Until I read this editorial I never knew why I couldn’t remember giving birth. It was all a fog. I gave birth using a twilight sleep method. What a bizarre way of doing things. My mother took over the raising of my daughter for the next 18 months because having a baby was so unreal to me. I couldn’t make the connection to this new person. My next three births were all done naturally and because I was pretty much in charge, I felt like I really accomplished something that no one else could do for me or to me. My babies and I had done it together.
I completely agree with you on unnecessary c sections running rampant. I think where I part ways with you is that I don’t see my very small scar from my c section as making me a scarred woman. When I look at my scar I am grateful. Grateful that my doctor was there to perform my c section. If not, my baby and I would both have died. (I had HELLP syndrome)
In a world where women are constantly marginalized and minimized, I think using language like “Cesarean section surgery (notice I do not call it “birth”) ” is a very hurtful way to categorize our births. Some of us, like me, literally had no choice but a c section. Do I not deserve to tell my son of his BIRTH? I took immaculate care of my body and my pregnancy. I planned a joyful natural childbirth. Nature had other plans for me. I had an undiagnosed clotting disorder that led to HELLP syndrome.
Simply suggesting you think about how your choice of words makes women in my situation feel.
Regards,
Lori
I agree with the message overall, but I have a problem with the facts presented here. Cesareans DO take longer to heal from, in general, but on the other hand, they don’t take hours (unless there’s a complication), and most women are NOT electing for first time cesareans. It seems like there’s a trend in that direction, but Hollywood doesn’t really define what the rest of us do, even when many women in Hollywood are electing first time cesareans, the rate among the rest is still quite low, and doesn’t account for much of the 33%.
The problem these days is that the more women who become informed about the risks of cesarean and repeat cesarean, the harder it is going to be to find a doctor. The rates of malpractice insurance cause most docs not to cover a vbac, even if it’s a safer option. It’s not all their fault, even if we want to place the blame somewhere. In fact, it’s probably the fault of consumer-oriented society that thinks they have a right to sue a doctor for something that even the best doctor may not have been able to prevent. And greedy malpractice lawyers. I’m not saying ALL lawyers, but there are some very bad people out there making the rest of them look bad, lawyers, doctors, and the rest of us.
I had a probably unnecessary c-section with my first child, and I’m planning for a vbac. I have a great doctor who knows what he’s doing. He made every effort to give me a chance at vbac if I wanted it, knowing that it is often safer than rcs. And I don’t feel that my “scar” is really that big a deal. I’m more concerned with the major surgery than how I look because of it. Scars aren’t a big deal, because sometimes they represent something positive–the birth of a child is a positive thing, and if a c-section is the only way for that child to come out safely, then a mom should be proud of her scar and not disappointed, because she and her baby are both alive. Scars from other surgeries are just as much a positive thing, like a knee replacement or other surgery, and seeing the scar is a reminder not of the negative, but the fact that someone was able to fix the problem.
I’m not saying there won’t be repercussions, but I don’t like thinking of myself as being “scarred” and certainly not in a negative way.
I also would NOT categorize my “surgical removal of baby” as a “birth.” I did NOT give birth, anymore than a person who has an appendectomy gave “birth” to their appendix.
No, my child was cut from my womb, and I was robbed. So many women think they need these cesearans because their child’s life was in danger. Wake Up ladies…. truly emergent births are such a tiny number. These doctors are trying to SCARE us and GUILT us into believing that our bodies aren’t cut out for birth, but the unnecessary interventions are what is CAUSING the fetal distress. NOT US.
TFB:
I think you are comparing apples to oranges. You wouldn’t normally give birth to your appendix though, would you? If an appendix comes out of our body it is *always* surgically removed, no? Birth is not the same. There are circumstances that necessitate cesareans. In the process you try to minimalize a cesarean birth for all of us. If you feel robbed, that is surely your right. But I most certainly did give birth to my son. Even if it was through a cesarean section.
I don’t feel robbed at all. I had a truly emergent birth. My premature baby and I would have died if not for that cesarean. Don’t believe me? Read the story on my webpage linked to my name. My doctors didn’t try to scare me in the slightest. They did everything possible to ensure a safe arrival for my baby and to ensure I didn’t die from liver failure or DIC during the onset of HELLP syndrome.
So Lori - do you believe that your “truly emergent birth” is as common as the doctors are making them out to be? Do you believe that the FORTY percent c/s rate in some areas is actually necessitated every single time by emergent situations?
Well, they are not. In fact, MOST c/s being performed today are either unnecessary to start, or a result of too many interventions that caused the necessity.
If you feel like you gave birth, then good for you, but I don’t understand how the surgical removal of something from your body can constitute “birth” by any stretch of the imagination. You were a bystander, and so was I, and so was every other woman. We had nothing to do with our child’s entry into the world.
TFB:
The fact that you felt the need to use quotations when referring to my emergent birth speaks for itself. Why the need to minimalize what I went through by using quotations. I flat out almost died from impending liver rupture and DIC from HELLP. Why do you feel the need to challenge me on whether or not my birth was emergent? And no, I don’t believe it justifies a c section rate as high as it is. But there are emergent births. There are cases where the mom/baby’s life is truly in jeopardy. My doctors didn’t lie to me. Not all doctors are out to “ruin your birth.”
I was by no means a bystander in my care. The only reason my son reached viability was because I took an active role in my care. The night of my cesarean it was initially my own intuition and knowledge from what I had read about pre-e progressing and HELLP that led me to have further labs run and the doctor called.
I had everything to do with it. It is your right to feel how you want to about your birth, but don’t project your feelings about your birth onto mine. I gave birth to my son. Period.