I was with a friend some weeks ago in the hospital, she was heavily pregnant but not due for delivery yet. However, she needed to be admitted into the hospital at some points because her blood pressure had elevated terribly, her face and feet were swollen and nothing was working. When her eyes started to go bad, it became obvious that she would be needing an emergency procedure to save her life and that of the baby who was just about 33 weeks old. As I looked at her on the hospital bed, I knew it broke her heart that a C-section was her only option. Just like it broke my heart some years earlier when I was informed that I will be going into the theater. In that moment it felt like God had failed me and that all that I had done to ensure a safe and vaginal delivery had been in vain. We're not the only ones that have felt this way, a lot of African women especially have been relegated to feeling less about themselves after having had a C-section instead of a vaginal delivery. African women have been built and moulded by the society to believe that having a C-section was a curse and an unfortunate thing. Many prayer oints are usually against this. Not just this, many go to the extent but eating several concotions, and taking several herbs to ensure that they have a vaginal delivery at all costs. Many go the extra mile by registering at TBAs believing that what couldn't be done in the hospital is possible in an herbalist's shed. For a significant number of women, undergoing a C-section causes feelings of disappointment and shame. The reasons are complicated, but a lot of women testify to feeling less and feeling like a failure after a C-section. Some women complain about being stigmatized in the society or being treated by their mother in laws and relatives as a failure. Most of these women go on to fall into depression. Feeling sad, unlucky, less and unfortunate. Post partum depression is often caused by a lot of things, ranging from having an unwanted pregnacy to lack of funds, lack of a good support system and sleepless nights. Many women who have had to have an unplanned or emergency C-section have ended suffering from post partum depression especially if they have a very weak support system.
Image source: Beverly care
Why do women have to go through unplanned C-sections?
Most planned and even unplanned C-sections are as a result of various factors some of which include:
**Pre-eclampsia /high blood pressure in pregnacy
** A closed cervix
** A labour that isn't progressing
**Having a male narrow pelvic instead of a females'
**Having a very big baby
**Having a breech baby
**Being a sickle cell anaemia patient
**Having multiple babies
**Having a premature baby
Women generally need to do away with the belief and thoughts that only delivering through the vagina is normal. Every time a live baby comes forth from a woman's womb, it's a normal delivery, worthy of celebration and acknowledgement. Women need to be encouraged Everytime the undergo a life changing and psychological ordeal such as childbirth. No woman should be made to feel less capable or like less of a woman for having an assisted birth. When a woman is depressed or feeling terrible about having a C-section she should be encouraged by a good support system until she gets over it. C-section delivery isn't a curse, it isn't an escaped route for lazy women either for those who decided in their own to have a surgical procedure to deliver their baby, it's a matter of choice while for those who had to have an emergency C-section done it is a matter of saving their lives and that of the baby.
Action point : Regardless of if you are aware of her method of delivery or not, encourage a mother out there today.
Well thought post here.
The fact about Africa and it's people is that we are slow to adopting technological breakthrough, in medicine especially. I have heard of people who disagree to surgery, and thereby lost the opportunity to live.
When my first born was to be delivered, the last two scans that my wife did showed that the baby was about 4.1kg, when it was still a week before the EDD. This was too big to be delivered through the vagina, especially for a first delivery. I was there at her clinical appointment when she was told that she would have to undergo a planned C-section. She just started crying.
She was immediately admitted into the antenatal ward, scheduled for CS the next morning. It took the intervention and the encouragement from the nurses to calm her down. At the end, she preferred the C-section.
It is a continuous enlightenment that Africans need, both men and women. Science makes life easier for us. We should not see these scientific breakthroughs as unnatural. The lives it saves is more important than the pride you may seem to get from vaginal delivery.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience sir... Honestly I agree we need to start seeing this breakthroughs as a gift and not a curse or stain.
Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
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Wow...thank you so much