Hey C-Section Mom, You're A Badass

Mom documents scar from c-section that saved her life

“A new day and a what seems to be another new post from someone insinuating that giving birth by cesarean means that you didn’t give birth,” writes new mom Jodie Shaw. She shared a photo of her c-section scar, to remind people who think women who’ve had a surgical birth haven’t truly experienced birth to shut the hell up.

“I had a fibroid the size of a melon sat on my cervix and a low lying placenta which meant that I’ve been left with no ordinary c-section scar. But whether you believe this or not. I gave birth to my baby,” Shaw explains. “So next time you judge someone for not doing what you consider to be ‘giving birth’ please take a minute to think about why they may have had to deliver that way. Think about the fact that given the choice they probably wouldn’t of chosen this but had no choice. Why would you choose a major operation and 6 weeks of recovery?”

Good question.

Have you been through a c-section? Guess what? You’re amazing.

You probably never thought of that, did you? Why should you? We mothers are taught that nothing we do is extraordinary — especially in regards to childbirth. If you are afraid of it, you need to get over yourself. If you’re traumatized by a birth that didn’t go as planned, you’re selfish. If you had a c-section, you took the easy way out. We’ve heard it all, because as mothers — if we complain — we’re instantly labeled “martyrs.”

Well, screw that.

You don’t have to have a scar that looks like this to realize that you’ve endured something unbelievably difficult. Here are all of the things you’ve done, if you need to be reminded.

You’ve sat still while a doctor was plunging a needle into your spine.

You’ve stared at a medical sheet, knowing that your organs were completely exposed on the other side — probably not thinking about yourself for one second, but instead holding your breath waiting to hear your baby cry.

You’ve laid on an OR table, shaking uncontrollably, but trying to focus on the new child that was just pulled from your body.

You’ve been wheeled back to a recovery room where you sat waiting to get feeling back in your legs — all the while having a new human being you just made to think about.

You’ve used muscles you have no business using — muscles that have been completely sliced through and have not fused together yet — to lift yourself from bed to hold and feed your child.

You’ve agonizingly risen from a bed with a fresh incision still healing, hours after you’ve been sliced practically in half — all so you can prove you can walk the steps necessary to get you sent home with your child.

You’ve managed the pain of an incision large enough for a new human to exit it with freaking Motrin alone.

You’ve gone home with your newborn and been at her beck-and-call, feeding her every three hours while the pain of simply getting out of bed is almost too much to bear.

You’ve cried tears because you didn’t know it would be that hard.

You’ve cried tears because you felt guilty for feeling so bad when you had a new baby to worry about.

You’ve downplayed the severity of a huge surgical experience to comfort your partner.

You’ve been terrified to even look at your scar.

You’ve been through a lot.

You’re a badass. It’s okay to realize that. It’s okay to be proud of yourself for getting through it. It’s okay to feel pain, and be sad, and wish you didn’t have to recover from major freaking surgery while you’re caring for a new child.

It’s okay.

C-section mom, in case no one has told you… you’re a badass.