What is a ‘normal’ delivery or ‘normal’ birth? Does such a thing exist? If there is a ‘normal’ birth does that mean there is ‘abnormal’ birth?
The term ‘normal birth’ or ‘normal delivery’ is commonly used to refer to a vaginal birth. I have been completely guilty of using it myself.
Obviously it’s the way our bodies were built to birth however, the problem with using the phrase ‘normal birth’ in place of ‘vaginal birth’ is that it leaves C-section mums feeling as though they are not normal. If vaginal equates to normal than C-section equates to abnormal.
This is further exasperated as a result of society latching on to this notion that a vaginal delivery equals a normal one and therefore C-Section births are not normal and to be avoided at all costs.
The end result being that any woman having a C-section may end up getting a hard time from the self-righteous about their birth method. Sometimes as far as suggesting that women who have C-sections did not actually give birth (more on my thoughts on that notion here) or that they took the easy way out.
So can we try something. Assume that all birth is normal; provided a baby human came out of the woman’s body. Birth is birth. Of course, within this there are many different permutations and combinations of birth.
At a general level there is the vaginal delivery and the C-section delivery. Then, if we drill down further there are breakdowns of those too.
For example the vaginal delivery can be medicated or un-medicated, it could be assisted or unassisted, it could be in a hospital or at home; the list goes on because at the end of the day in the same way that every human is unique, their entrance into the world is unique too. No birth is greater or lesser than any other.
Once we get out of that womb, we are all humans enjoying our precious time on Earth. When our time here is done we die, and there are many modes of death that we can possibly face.
Can we imagine for one minute that we argued that a person didn’t really die because of their mode of death?
So why would we accuse C-section Mums of not really giving birth because the baby didn’t arrive in a certain way?
Death is death and birth is birth.
Every birth is unique.
Every birth is normal.