My Caesarean Scar says...

[Just Me]

Mine says that I am a failure. That somehow I should have fought harder to birth my breech baby naturally. I was so close but it didn't happen. My second c/section scar says that I should have fought harder, stood up for myself and said no because I never believed he was too big to birth naturally.

My scar also reminds me that I was unable to hold or feed my babies properly for about the first day after their birth. They were in special care and I couldn't get out of bed to go and see them. I had to wait for them to be brought down to me. For this reason, I also missed the moment when they first met their siblings. Other people got to witness that moment and I missed out. I don't even have photos.

My scar is also a constant reminder to me of our very flawed health care system because no-one has been able to explain to me why either of my scars were necessary. The staff just weren't trained to do it any other way.

I don't like my scar. I don't believe it should be on my body or if it should be, I wish people would explain to me why it was so necessary.

[blessedatlast]

My scar says I am a Mum and reminds me of the day 2 little boys came into this world too soon, but they changed my life forever.

[jax]

"I am here to show you that I would do anything for you, because I love you"

[catetay]

My scar says "you had a decision to make and you had to be happy with it" and i am. It also says "you had fair warning this little miss was stubborn and will be doing things her way"!!!!!

[RhiChiChi]

Mine is mostly positive and pretty much that I was in control and made the decision jointly with my DH to bring DD into the world this way. Not my plan but I have no regrets.

The negative is whether or not this is the reason now my body fails to fall pg and stay pg

[nothing2lose]

Do you know one thing that really peeves me?? When words and statements like "failure", "unnatural" and "didn't give birth" find their way into discussions about caesarean births. I mean, in my opinion, having had a CS either by choice or unwanted intervention cannot in any way be related to those statements. We did give birth. Many of us are lucky enough to have healthy children as a result. It may have been exactly what we chose, or it may have been our worst nightmare but it doesn't take away the fact that WE BIRTHED. We conceived and grew a child. We endured what we had to to bring that child earthside. We should be proud. To be anything else is, in my opinion, doing all of us a disservice.

[Arimeh]

My first one says:

"You were too afraid to give it a go"

My second one says:

"You ate too much chocolate and made too good a home for her and she didn't want to leave it"

[RainbowBrite]

Do you know one thing that really peeves me?? When words and statements like "failure"

My feeling of failure was not the c/s it was that I could not give my babies my warm safe womb to grow big and strong...instead they had the harsh reality of being born to soon.

[Just Me]

My feeling of failure was not the c/s it was that I could not give my babies my warm safe womb to grow big and strong...instead they had the harsh reality of being born to soon.

Don't feel like you have to justify yourself or your feelings to anyone. How you feel is how you feel. Part of healing is being able to own those feelings and work through them

Everyone is on a different stage of their journey and it is great for people who feel have come to a place where they are happy and proud of what they have accomplished. For others of us, we are still at a place of disappointment. I am not going to apologise for saying that I feel like a failure. It is where I am at. I have learned through many lessons in life, nothing is achieved by pretending to feel otherwise. In time I may feel differently, in time I may not. My feelings are about my experience and my experience alone. They do not reflect anyone else's experience. They are about me and only me.

I shared something very personal and very painful in this thread - something I don't get the opportunity to talk about a whole lot. I was trying to be honest and say how I felt.

[forshelby]

Do you know one thing that really peeves me?? When words and statements like "failure", "unnatural" and "didn't give birth" find their way into discussions about caesarean births. We should be proud. To be anything else is, in my opinion, doing all of us a disservice.

So............... I should be proud that I was failed by my care providers? I should be proud that they were so eager to butcher me? I should be proud that I didn't stand up for myself? I'm sorry, but THAT statement irritates me. If I'm doing myself a disservice by feeling ripped off, then so be it. What about the coma? Should I be proud of that too? The fact that I was unable to care for my newborn son in any way for nearly a week after his birth? How about the fact that I was too drugged to even cry when I saw him for the first time?

The truth is, I do feel like a failure. I did not give birth. Yes my baby was birthed, but not by me. It IS unnatural to pump a woman full of drugs to get her uterus to contract, then to slice her open because she's taking too long to dialate. I can't think of anything more unnatural than that. In the cases where c/s is neccesary, then of course these women would be grateful, and at peace with their birth experience. I am not.

And you know what? I'll feel how I want!

[MummaSue]

I love my scar. It's actually healed so well that it's two tiny little lines now.

My scar doesn't say anything. But I say to my scar "thank goodness I live in a day and age where there is medical intervention otherwise neither me nor my baby would be here today".

[STARRYSKY]

Do you know one thing that really peeves me?? When words and statements like "failure", "unnatural" and "didn't give birth" find their way into discussions about caesarean births. I mean, in my opinion, having had a CS either by choice or unwanted intervention cannot in any way be related to those statements. We did give birth. Many of us are lucky enough to have healthy children as a result. It may have been exactly what we chose, or it may have been our worst nightmare but it doesn't take away the fact that WE BIRTHED. We conceived and grew a child. We endured what we had to to bring that child earthside. We should be proud. To be anything else is, in my opinion, doing all of us a disservice.

N2L ~ no disrespect meant but this kind of a blanket statement or generalisation can come across as quite insensitive. While I do absolutely understand where you are coming from, I feel that for me using those terms (and I have done one many occasions) within my "birthing" (see, even to me now, almost 3 years later, I can not think of my self as having "given birth ) experience, has in a way helped me confront those issues and though I am still in the process of coming to terms with it, its a happening thing.

MY scar says to me " you failed, you gave up, you gave away YOUR power" but it also serves as a reminder to me that next time, it will be different, now I know better.
My un necessarean caused me huge grief and dis appointment, all because I couldnt get the baby out in 10 hrs.

I like what Rouge said about the health care system being the one that failed, thats true for me.

I hope that one day I will feel happy about it, because for me it didnt save my babys life, there was NO reason for it.
I love that some of you can look at it and see a smile

[nothing2lose]

Starry, I am in no way offended or feel disrespected by your post - or by any others for that matter!
I reserve the right, though, not to change my words. I stand by them. That said, it is certainly not my intention to belittle people's experiences.
I don't like women being made to feel as they have failed or should somehow feel guilty for having a caesarean (whatever the reason). Not delivering your child vaginally is not a moral failing. It is not something to be ashamed of, nor does it make us less worthy as mothers. Sure, if you were aiming for a vaginal birth, feel disappointed, but a "failure"....????? I don't think so.

eta: it may help to look at it this way, would you call someone else a "failure" because they had a caesarean?