SECTION: ANN PEACOCK: TALES OF A MODERN WOMAN; Pg. 118
HEADLINE: Not the unkindest cut
BYLINE: Ann Peacock
BODY:
FULL credit to 60 Minutes last week for highlighting the growing debate about caesarean section births.
The issue was recently stirred up after I read comments by UK actor Kate Winslet, who admitted she had originally lied about having a natural birth.
Her daughter, 4, with her first husband, was born by emergency c-section, though she said at the time that Mia's birth was an "uncomplicated natural birth".
But she recently told a magazine: "I've gone to great pains to cover it up. But Mia was an emergency c-section. I just said I had a natural birth because I was so completely traumatised by the fact that I hadn't given birth. I felt like a complete failure."
I was again dismayed when, talking about the issue with a few colleagues, one girl felt the same way as Winslet: as though a caesarean made you less of a woman and, for some, less of a mother.
How such a horrible thought could enter the minds of these mums astounds me.
Having a caesar -- for whatever reason, be it preventative medical or merely convenience -- is a personal choice that should never become a rule for advocates of one or another view.
That some advocates assume those who have chosen a caesarean are any less of a mother is shocking.
Perhaps my opinion is coloured by my experience. My first birth had to be an emergency c-section when, after 16 hours of labour, my baby was becoming distressed without making any sort of entrance.
As a result, and with the safety of baby No. 2 in mind, I booked for a caesar next time around.
Not once have I felt less of a mother as a result. Mothering happens after the birth, in case no one has noticed.
Perhaps the tainted image of the c-section has developed through nonsense about women who have chosen the procedure instead of natural births -- the high and mighty who have been dubbed "too posh to push".
In the 60 Minutes story by Liz Hayes, we met a woman who tried to give birth "naturally" and endured 20 hours of labour -- only to end up with the baby severely distressed. An emergency caesar was performed, but the baby sadly died.
This woman went on to have a divine child, now aged 4, by caesarean.
Some may argue women can feel failures after caesareans. But judging a woman's worth as a mother based on her experience with birth is not wise.
Newsreader Tracey Curro appeared on the program. She has had both her children by caesarean and made the most sensible observation.
"I don't subscribe to the notion that a vaginal birth is some kind of rite of passage to complete womanhood or to be being a real mother," she said.
"Everything that makes having children a priceless experience begins after they're born."
LOAD-DATE: June 5, 2004
At 01:12 PM 6/06/2004, you wrote:
Reading my paper over breakfast, we find a half page spread from Ann Peacock (Herald Sun - Melbourne, p 118) giving full credit to 60 mins and co. And from her personal experience having had a emergency LUSCS for her first child, naturally with the safety of No 2 baby in mind, booked straight in for another LUSCS! Her quote "Mothering happens after the birth, in case no one has noticed."
You can contact her on
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cheryl
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