Medical Intervention During Labor

Taking the (other) F-word out of the conversation

Whether you’re planning to have a baby one day, you’re expecting a little bundle of joy in the near future, or you’ve already had a baby, you probably have an opinion on certain kinds of medical intervention during labor. Specifically, the epidural and the C-section. According to the CDC, three out of five women receive an epidural during labor, and one in three women deliver by C-section. While these kinds of interventions are quite common, somewhere along the way for many people, they have come to represent that dirty f-word: failure.

Part of the reason there are so many negative connotations surrounding epidurals and C-sections, is the conversation we’re having about them. Here, Rosie shares her own experience with the epidural and the C-section, and why we need to ban the (other) f-word from the conversation.

From Rosie:

I haven’t had a C-section myself, but I meet so many people who have had one, and who apologize for it, like it’s a bad thing.

Before I gave birth to my first, I took a class. The nurse gave me the impression that if you were tough you didn’t need an epidural, and you should be able to squeeze that baby out. It was very much implied that an epidural, and other types of medical intervention during labor, means you aren’t tough, and it was somehow better, or you were better, if you didn’t have one. The C-section part of the class was only talked about in terms of an emergency. You’d need a C-section if you can’t get the baby out, or the baby was in some way distressed.

I was doing pilates and thinking I was very young and fit, and obviously I had a very high pain threshold (Ha!) so I was going to be fine during labor and delivery and definitely going to be able to ‘push’ my baby out. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was thinking that made me a better mom if I could do those things. When I ended up going into labor, it was so painful. I was at the hospital for about ten hours, and I just wanted to ask for the epidural, but I felt like asking would make me some kind of failure, that I was letting everyone down. Then, in a totally rational moment, I thought, ‘Why on earth am I doing this to myself?’ I realized that for me this experience didn’t need to be painful to feel valuable and that epidural or not, what was going to make me a great mom was definitely not this choice.

I got the epidural and it would take another 16 hours, but at least I got to sleep and wasn’t in pain. After a lot of pushing, I just couldn’t get my baby out. My doctor said that I’d need a C-section. I remember feeling terrible that I couldn’t do it myself. I started crying hysterically, wondering what was wrong with me and whether I wasn’t strong enough. This nurse looked at me and asked, ‘Why are you crying? Everything’s going to be OK.’ It was then that I realized the specifics of my “Queen Victoria”, my pelvic shape and size; my anatomy again did not make me a better or worse mother.

In the end, I was able to deliver my baby vaginally with the help of a vacuum. Looking back, it was terrible that I was made to feel like any of the choices I made or what I had to go through to deliver a healthy baby would not have been OK.  Of course, we should question medicine, we should strive for improvement and for choices when safe, but we shouldn’t villainize it. There is good and bad in every industry, and thankfully we have a lot of very very good doctors in this country, that only perform C-sections when medically necessary. It is something no mother should ever be made to feel badly about.

The thing about having to get a C-section is: if the doctor, an expert that you should trust, makes this decision, it’s for the good of your baby. If you don’t trust them then they shouldn’t be your doctor. You need to have faith in your health care professional such that they will make the best choices for you in an emergency situation.   Giving epidurals for many makes the experience better and more manageable, and for others it doesn’t. It’s a personal choice not a test of motherhood ability. C-sections should never be given out of convenience, and no reputable doctor would actually do so. So the thing is, it makes you the best type of mom to do what is best for you and your baby. There is so much talk about the “right” kinds of birth experience, like if you experience it in a different way that someone else, such as having a C-section, your experience is somehow lessened. That just isn’t the case. If you know you have to have a C-section or think this might be the case, you too can make the experience an amazing one. Talk to your doctor about what options you may have such as listening to music during the labor to even having a Doula present. Medical intervention during labor does not equal failure.

So, mamas and mamas-to-be, let’s change the conversation about medical intervention during labor. Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Tags: c-section, childbirth, delivery, epidural, labor, medical intervention, medical intervention during labor, natural childbirth, Pitocin