Should it be called a “natural” delivery?

[CaptainJason]

I’ve got two DC, my first was an emergency c section and my second was a VBAC, so I’ve had both types of delivery.

I have noticed the use of the phrase “natural birth” or “natural delivery” (one doctor asked if I’d had a “normal delivery”), and I wondered what people think of it.

I personally think it should be referred to as either a c section or a vaginal delivery.

I theoretically understand that a vaginal delivery is “natural” in that it is what nature intended, but I also think if you’ve had any form of intervention at all, “natural” doesn’t seem to fit.

I'm with you OP. I write a lot of reports about a child's early history and often write vaginal delivery instead of 'natural' birth. I may be biased though as I had my babies via csection.

I've had two natural births. One vaginal and one c section.

I’d agree with this too. My youngest was a (very much accidental) unassisted home-birth. If a healthcare professional had asked if the birth was ‘normal’ I wouldn’t have just said yes.

People are too prudish to say the word 'vaginal' so they say natural. That's all there is to it.

I prefer natural to normal because I wouldn't know what to say - with DD1 yes I had a vaginal delivery but with ventouse so not normal? And with pain relief so does that count as natural?
Vaginal is less ambiguous I think!

It should be vaginal or c section. Maybe unassisted vaginal rather than “natural” as natural is too vague and doesn’t really give detail.
I wouldn’t like the term “normal” as that implies an abnormal… which is a bit rude. But then most people say “oh was he a C section?” When i say how heavy my last baby was… and then wince when I say he wasn’t!! So I guess childbirth is always a bit weird to discuss as people aren’t used to thinking about other people’s vaginas I guess…

I’ve had both. Csection definitely felt 100% unnatural and abnormal to me compared to my vaginal deliveries. No complex emotions about it, we did what needed to be done, but I don’t really rank it with my births as it was more of a removal. 😆

Perhaps it should be natural or surgical. Baby either came out via the route nature intended (even if help given) or they came out via surgery.

I think natural and normal are completely different terms, not necessarily related.

The baby I knelt down and had in my living room? Absolutely natural and normal.

The baby I knelt down in my bathroom with and massively bled after? Completely natural definitely abnormal.

Never had a c-section but it is neither natural or normal. However, you could have a normal c-section, where it is straight forward and nothing unexpected happens.

I don't find abnormal offensive. Something either is normal or isn't.

Maybe they should just ask, 'Tell me about the birth.'

Natural is vaginal, and I don't see the problem with calling it that - it's as nature intended. If someone has 'natural' boobs, it doesn't become unnatural just because they're wearing a bra to assist support? A boob job like a c section is not natural. Or if someone has naturally straight hair vs chemically straightened. Just because the woman with naturally straight hair wears an Alice band to support her hair, doesn't make it unnatural.
Normal I think is anything that goes to plan so a planned c-section is normal, an emergency isn't. A natural birth with assisted delivery is not normal. Similarly you can have natural boobs with wonky bits or a third nipple making them abnormal or fake books exactly as planned that are normal.

Someone described my DS as a ‘sunroof baby’ and it gave me the fucking rage because it felt so flippant when I had had the worst time of my life trying for a vaginal birth for six days, only to end up with an emergency C-section. I had been in induced labour for the whole six days so had all the pain of contractions, interventions and endless vaginal examinations, just to then go through the pain of a C-section recovery. ‘Sunroof’ indeed 😤

Absolutely nothing about my birth experience was ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ but the beautiful little boy I was handed at the end would have been the same however I gave birth, so I suppose I shouldn’t really give a shit how people want to describe his entrance to the world!

I would still consider it natural tbh. Natural doesn't mean everything goes perfectly. Even in the old days before surgery, women were given tonics and potions to get the baby out faster. There's witch doctors who'll use their hands to pull a baby out if stuck, with helpers and spectators crowded around in remote villages. Natural doesn't mean no assistance or support - it means you are still pushing a baby out through your vagina (as nature intended), and it's not being cut out of your stomach.

Tbh I think that C-Sections are 'natural' for humans - we are unique in having the big brain/bipedal-pelvis-to-allow-free-hands-for-tool-use combo that screws up default mammalian birthing and also simultaneously the language use/intergenerational learning/tool use/co-operation skills to invent effective medical care to overcome it.
Humans are absolutely characterised by using problem-solving techniques to alter their environment to reduce threats - which is what a maternity ward and a C-Section is - and to provide care for each other, right from the very first evidence of our clade.

60% of the births in my local hospital are via c section.. vaginals not the 'normal' here then!😂😂

I'm due my section next week and a few midwife's have asked why I'm not trying the 'natural' way. Birth is birth to me doesn't matter how they come out!

Just because more people are having c-sections, it doesn’t make a c-section natural. It’s a medical procedure. If one was completely unassisted for whatever reason- or if we are extreme and we imagine that we are in a village away from Western medicine somewhere - the natural thing that would happen is a vaginal birth.

I don’t see the point in changing the language - natural means “existing in or derived from nature”. Our default (as much as many find unpleasant) is vaginal.

Normal, I would actually take that to mean no complications - whenever a doctors asks me “did you have a normal birth/delivery” they tend to swiftly follow with “No complications” - and I wouldn’t be offended if an abnormal birth = complications. I would also think that a planned c-section with no complications would fall under “normal” birth. Whereas an emergency c-section of course is unexpected and perhaps not as planned and maybe not normal for the mother that expected a V birth, For instance I would agree that a V birth wasn’t normal if I needed assistance, tools, lost blood, developed sepsis - you get the drift.

That’s just my opinion. And based on how I would answer/interpret the question in a medical setting.

Humans are absolutely characterised by using problem-solving techniques to alter their environment to reduce threats - which is what a maternity ward and a C-Section is

Hmmm, a c-section doesn't come with less risks, some might say it's even more risk as it's major surgery. A natural birth has certain good bacteria in a vagina that pass on to the baby during birth, and the process of being squeezed out has some other mechanisms of helping clear baby's lungs. The c-section doesn't replicate the design nature has created, it's just an alternative where the natural design of pushing through a vagina isn't working for an individual. Like someone breathing through a tube isn't a natural process, even if human beings have solved a problem for someone not being able to nose/mouth/lung breathe. Someone can use an inhaler and still be breathing naturally because they're not on a tube..

Women need to stop feeling like failures if they can't have natural birth! We have artificially dyed hair, artificially enhanced lips/Botox, eat processed foods - so I never understand why natural birth is held in such high esteem. I blame the archaic beliefs within the nhs of natural being better for everything - as a cost cutting measure.

I prefer the term natural delivery instead of vaginal. I would feel comfortable mentioning I had a natural delivery if the topic came up in a mixed group but would avoid saying vaginal because I wouldn’t want to be conjuring up images of my vagina amongst the group. I much prefer the softer terms, it feels like a polite, conversational level of privacy. No im not ashamed of having a vagina, I just prefer to keep the image of it off the table 🤣
Luckily I had a c section.

Every delivery is a natural delivery, the baby comes out of the mother's body. Regardless of which method. Women's bodies are amazing and can go through two things (both of which can be huge to the mum) to safely deliver babies, they can also suffer complications at any given stage. I abhor the differentiating between for safe delivery. Yeah I had a VB. Doesn't mean the labour was without difficulty or intervention. And I'd be much more likely to choose a CS as a result if I got to do it again. Mums deliver their babies in different ways, that does not mean one is superior to the other. I wish more women and health care providers would take that into account. A healthy mum and a healthy baby is what is most important!

Yeah but the point here is that mums who have c sections are denied saying natural delivery. Where and how often in conversation in front of several people would you be asked about your method of birth? "Normal" might be for you but what about the ladies who might be in the same situation who can't say "normal" because people think C Sections aren’t?
You don't have to say yeah, I pushed my kid out of my vagina. Just say that the birth went well! Mums should support other mums. Is that not easy to understand?

I still count my dd as a vaginal delivery but it was with forceps so certainly not a "normal" delivery. What did the doctor mean? Would that count as "normal"? I guess mine was technically an assisted vaginal delivery?

I can’t get worked up about this tbh. Some people judge. It’s a reflection on them more than anything else.

What a bitch! I can't help suspecting that some midwives actually hate women.

I hate talking about my births for this reason. Mine were both vaginal, 1 assited with forceps and 1 without. 1 with gas as pain relief, 1 with an epidural. People have different meanings for the term "natural" birth anyway!

I wish societies obsession with knowing how the baby got here would die down a bit. Once baby is here and both the baby and the mother are happy and healthy, why does it matter if it came out my vagina or out a large incision made by a doctor? It's bizarre. And it's almost always a nosy neighbour or far out relative that needs to know every detail 🙄

Yes, it should be called a natural delivery. People are so offended by factual language, this isn't something that would ever cross my mind to be upset about. There's nothing wrong with having a C-section but it's obviously not the natural way that babies come out.

@salemcooper the stats that my local hospital put out have “vaginal delivery”, “assisted vaginal delivery” and “caesarean delivery”, which baffles me, as in my head an assisted vaginal delivery is still a vaginal delivery? They also don’t count it as a VBAC if instruments are used despite the baby still coming out of the vagina!