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C-sections: the grim truth

It’s an ongoing debate – Caesarean section versus natural birth delivery – one which often presents both options as a choice for expectant mums. But sometimes, there’s no choice, other than the only one which will save lives.

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The issue is in the spotlight again this week, after a US woman published a Facebook post, hitting out at those who believed her emergency C-section didn’t count as “actually giving birth”.

New mum, Raye Lee, described being in labour for 38 hours before her unborn child went into distress, causing every contraction to harm his heartbeat.

Miracle baby wrapped in sandwich bag to survive

She wrote: “Ah, yes. My emergency c-section was absolutely a matter of convenience. It was really convenient to be in labor for 38 hours before my baby went into distress and then every contraction was literally STOPPING his HEART… Oh, and that surgery is super easy peasy to recover from.”

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Admitting her earlier words were “all sarcasm”, she emphasied the fact that the emergency procedure was “the most painful thing I have experienced in my life.”

“Having a shrieking infant pulled out of an incision that is only 5 inches long, but is cut and shredded and pulled until it rips apart through all of your layers of fat, muscle, and organs (which they lay on the table next to your body, in order to continue to cut until they reach your child) is a completely different experience than I had imagined my sons birth to be.

“This was not pleasant. It still isn’t.”

Raye Lee’s post on Facebook recounting her experience of her baby’s birth.

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Lee’s story struck a chord on the social media site, as it was shared nearly 30,000 times after it was posted. Hundreds left supportive comments, and others also posted photos of their own scars, in solidarity.

Birthing figures in New Zealand show that around one in every four births is by C-section.

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