An empowering c-section

It almost seems like an oxymoron to say a c-section is empowering, but check out this lady's birth story. That's how she described her attempt to VBAC. Unfortunately, she had a cord pro-lapse, but she also had some very good midwifes that helped her out. http://blog.ican-online.org/2011/04/28/cam-birth-stories-from-cesarean-to-empowering-cbac/

"I don’t feel traumatized from this birth. I got to go into labor on my own, I labored through strong contractions and felt amazing. I feel incredibly empowered by the fact that when ** hit the fan, I stayed calm. If I can focus on my breath through this, I can endure anything. And I know if you can fight back like you did, you most certainly can endure anything, too."

The elements of feeling empowered have to do with control. Here, this woman felt empowered because she was able to labor and work through contractions even though things were chaotic. I'm sure this also helped her baby get what oxygen it could because she was able to keep calm.

So how do we help women feel empowered? By allowing them to make choices and helping them to realize their own strengths no matter what the situation.

VBAC

So I'm getting ready to talk to a lady about VBAC options and I came across this video. I thought it was an interesting look at one families perceptions of their two births, as well as pain felt and healing achieved.

Empowerment-what it means and why it's important

I've been thinking a lot about this topic as I have witnessed several different births. This is usually a term that women in the birthing circle use to describe how they feel after a natural birth, but it goes beyond this. To be empowered involves being able to access information and then make decisions based on that for yourself. But the real clincher to this concept, is that a women comes away from an experience, having confidence in herself, whether or not she chooses to give birth naturally.

Often this is expressed as having confidence in her bodies abilities to birth, but again, I think it goes beyond this. Going through the process of birth is much more than just believing that your body works. It is reaching out, struggling, overcoming, leaning on others, working through something hard, and coming out on the other side a stronger person than you were.

Imagine how important that is for a new mom to work through something like this as she begins her life as a mother. How many times do we as mothers, face seemingly impossible tasks? How many times do we face the pain and struggle of defeat? How many times are our pillows soaked with tears? And yet, we learn something in this birthing process that prepares us for this. We learn to find, explore, and stretch ourselves beyond what we thought possible. And at the end, we learn the sweet joy that a new life can bring. What better way to prepare us for motherhood?

Empowering home birth

"Home birth is very empowering. I did something joyfully that most women dread. They don't believe me when I say I'd rather give birth than see the dentist. With each birth, as I took more control and made the decisions, I grew up. I can make hard decisions and I can do hard things. It's probably the best therapy I ever had because it came from within and helped me realize who I am"

This was from a woman who wrote her experience to a group I am a part of.

Stories of Empowerment-necessary c-section

I wanted to do a series of stories on empowerment. I specifically wanted to include stories from all sorts of births. This first one is from a woman who eventually had a c-section, but found empowerment in what happened.

"I listened to a story from a woman who had a baby a few weeks past her due date. She had been having contractions for weeks, but no baby to show for it. On the day of her labor induction, she put all of her trust and faith into her body and her midwife. And on the next day, and the next day, and the next day… She labored for days, but was never afraid, never lost faith, and never feared what her body was preparing her for because a midwife was by her side the entire time. When she was wheeled into the operating room for a c-section, she felt empowered, because she had done everything she could to give her body a chance to give birth, and this was the logical next step. She was so grateful to her midwife for advocating for her and helping to make sure she and her baby stayed healthy"*.

*http://mybestbirth.ning.com/profiles/blogs/wheres-my-midwife-week-2