A C-Section is Not the Easy Way Out

April is National Cesarean Awareness Month.  When I learned this, I wanted to share something that’s been on my mind for a while now.

There are people out there who think c-sections are the easy way out (I’ve seen plenty of disgusting comments/headlines about this topic).  A lazy mom’s journey to delivery, if you will.  Having gone through it myself, I’m here to tell you it’s not easy.  Not by a long shot.

I honestly no longer think too much about my emergency C-section.  It happened.  At the end of it, I got my beautiful, healthy baby boy.  My experience, while scary, turned out ok.  Thank goodness.

Now, before I share more of my thoughts, I have to state that I’m not pitting c-section moms against vaginal delivery moms.  Or saying one way is harder than the other.  Not by any means.

It’s all hard!  I have yet to meet a mom who truly thinks her delivery was easy.  The process of bringing a baby into the world is hard work.  Period.

I envisioned a vaginal delivery up until the very end.  Having to come to terms with the fact that we were now facing a situation I never thought about or planned for was not easy.  And honestly, I dealt with those emotions for weeks after Kaiden’s birth.  That wasn’t easy either.

The operating room felt like it was 30 degrees.  I don’t think I’ve ever shivered that much or that hard.  I couldn’t focus and wanted to cry the whole time.  Not easy.

Because of the infection running through my body and the fact that the doctor had to cut through my belly into my uterus to get my baby out, I couldn’t hold Kaiden right away.  They had to administer a number of tests first.  Not the end of the world but not easy.

A picture I’ve shared on the blog before and likely will for years to come!  Our first mama + K pic!

I couldn’t get out of my hospital bed for over two days, and when I tried, I fell right back down.  That 10 inch incision in my belly was painful and not easy to deal with.

The pain didn’t stop at the hospital.  I continued to roll out of bed (like I did during pregnancy) for weeks because any other position hurt like hell.  Not easy.

Oh and that scar?  It still itches from time to time.  And yes, sometimes I feel a strange sensation too.  Eh, not too bad!

The point of this post is not to claim all the ways ‘woe is me.’  Like I said right up front, we have Kaiden now and that’s all that matters.  He met us via a different ‘door’ if you will, but he’s here nonetheless.  And for that I will be forever thankful!

Something else to understand about c-sections is that most women don’t plan to have one.  Some do, I know, but all of the women I know who ended up having one didn’t plan on it (it’s actually very risky).  A long labor process, an infection, the baby’s positioning, or some other circumstance took them down a different path.  An unplanned path I know they were all ultimately thankful for.

So while it may seem like major abdominal surgery is the easier way to deliver a baby, trust me, it’s not.

There is no easy way out regardless of what path you end up going down!