AIBU to think that the term 'natural birth' might cause upset to others?

[Mitzicoco]

I had two water births. One fairly straightforward and the other not so (thank god I was in a hospital). When chatting to other mothers through NCT or baby groups I noticed that a lot of people referred to their births as natural. Nothing wrong with that, but I just wondered if I might feel upset by these comments if I had had a c-section, or some other delivery. Surely every birth is natural? What do you think?

There is nothing natural about being sliced open to have your baby pulled out of your womb. Thank God that option is available to us though, otherwise many more mums and their babies wouldn’t survive childbirth. You need to give your head a massive wobble if you think that the fact that people might think less of you because you didn’t give birth naturally i.e vaginally is more important than that.

I had an emergency c-section, although I was always going to have a section anyway(placenta praevia), and I’m not in the slightest bit bothered that I didn’t have a natural birth. Because my baby and I wouldn’t be here. So yeah not at all offended by that term.

I had one natural birth- it was a textbook quick, water birth. And one (my first) that was quite frankly hideous- lots of intervention, took 3 days. I remember the Nct lady being so disappointed I’d had an epidural and lots of drugs. She heaped praise and attention of the lady that had had a water birth. I can tell you know though that no.2 was a pile of piss compared to my first one. I worked far harder to have a difficult birth and had I been in a different era one or both of us would have died (I had a PPH). I’m also rhesus negative and was quite happy to take the unnatural anti-d to make sure my body didn’t reject my babies.

My husband was born so prematurely that his survival would still more or less be classed as a medical miracle today thirty years later.

It wasn't natural. It was something far more special than that.