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.
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.