C-Section Birth Stories: Kelsey Baldwin

1. Briefly, please share the circumstances that led to your c-section birth(s):

My birth was pretty much the polar opposite of what I had planned for. I wanted an unmedicated water birth in a birth center. However, after 2 days of contractions between 10 and 2 minutes apart, I stalled at 6 centimeters dilated. The call was made to start me on Pitocin and manually rupture my membranes. My daughter was posterior, so this became really painful really quickly. After a few hours of this, I still hadn’t dilated any further and my baby was showing signs of distress. My daughter was delivered by emergency c-section 11 days after her due date.

2. What surprised you the most about having a c-section?:

The physical sensation is really bizarre - I didn’t feel any pain but I was also somehow not COMPLETELY numb either. I also started shaking to the point where I couldn’t safely hold my daughter for some time after the delivery - everyone told me this was pretty common but I had no idea that could happen!

3. What kind of support do you feel you received (from friends, family, healthcare team) after your c-section(s)?:

I’m quite lucky that I had a close friend who had a cesarean delivery a month prior, who knew exactly what to say and do. I’ll be forever grateful for her. Honestly, the midwives I dealt with during my delivery were angels and made the transition into motherhood a lot easier. However, I feel that the follow-up regarding a c-section specifically, stopped at making sure I was healing well physically. There was one token “How do you feel about the c-section?” question at the ten-day checkup. I really feel like women who deliver particularly via emergency c-section should at least be offered a chance to debrief and to better understand why things happened as they did.

4. What’s your #1 piece of advice/encouragement for a new c-section mom?:

Everything you feel about your birth experience is valid. I feel like people were really quick to say that I should “Just be grateful that you and your baby are OK” whenever I mentioned any sort of disappointment regarding my birth experience, and of course, I am. That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t allowed to grieve the experience that I planned and looked forward to for nine months.

5. How do you believe having a c-section birth(s) made you stronger?:

My birth truly showed me that some things are out of my hands and that’s totally ok. There’s something empowering about finding it within yourself to still care for a newborn after being literally cut open and I definitely have a resilience that wasn’t there before.

Name: Kelsey Baldwin

Your Profession: Disability Employment Consultant

How to Connect With You on Social Media: @kelsey_baldwin on Instagram