April is Cesarean Awareness Month
April 29, 2008 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under breastfeeding, health of the mother, pregnancy
At 27 weeks of pregnancy, with a plan for a home birth, I am starting to hear other women’s horror stories about their birth experiences (please, people, I have my own leftover trauma from a fourth degree tear and an epidural that failed (that’s how I know I can labor and deliver without pain medication if given the opportunity!)) In the last two weeks, two women have mentioned how much the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) helped them recover emotionally from a cesarean. In addition to attending La Leche League meetings, the two women attended local ICAN support group meetings. ICAN is dedicated to cesarean prevention, c-section recovery, and advocacy for the rights of birthing women. It currently has chapters in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
A woman’s birth experience can have a tremendous impact on breastfeeding success. For information on breastfeeding after a cesarean, see AskDrSears.com and Kellymom.com.
ICAN was literally a sanity saver for me. I learned that I was not alone in thinking that my cesarean was not “normal birth” and that I did not have to feel guilty about wanting my own mental health in addition to having a healthy baby. I spent hours reading posts on the main list. If you are pregnant, thinking of becoming pregnant, or recovering from a not so good birth, you can learn a lot from the women of ICAN.
Hi Angela,
Congrats on your pregnancy thus far- you are rounding the bend toward the home stretch!!
Thank you for posting about beautiful ICAN. My local chapter has been a real blessing to me. What an outstanding group of compassionate, wise women.
My C-section (due to breech) caused horrible thrush and nipple yeast for me and my baby. I think because I missed out on “the romantic natural birth” I had planned, I went overboard with breastfeeding, making sure to do anything and everything to make it work- no matter what! I was determined (hell-bent actually) not to have my breastfeeding efforts thwarted. But I’m an only child and tend to be stubborn that way
Thanks for showcasing this book. I’d love to get my hands on a copy.
Be well!
Janya
p.s I wish you the best for your home birth (is it ok to ask what a 4th degree tear is?).
Justine and Janya, thank you for your comments! I am glad ICAN was so helpful for you both.
Janya, a fourth degree tear is a tear all the way from the rectum to the vagina (the doctors told me to “push like you’re having a bowel movement” so I did!) It took an hour for me to be stitched up properly, and it took a year for me to heal completely to the point that the scarring did not cause discomfort.
A friend recommended the book — just click on the image to go to the link on Amazon if you haven’t already.
Interesting what you said about the bad birth experience making you so determined to breastfeed. I think there’s a lot to that — that successful breastfeeding has the power to go along way in emotional healing. I know it helped me to breastfeed after having felt like my body failed me when I had trouble conceiving and had some scary bleeding during the pregnancy. Finally my body cooperated and I was blessed with the wonderful bonding experience of breastfeeding!
Thanks for your well wishes!