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.

Oh wow, I didn’t know this. I find that so strange! I can’t imagine people choosing to go through recovery from major surgery when they also have a newborn baby. All of my friends who have had c-sections (either emergency or planned due to prior complications) have said how difficult those early days were due to their wounds and pain medication. A c-section is no small feat!

My first was a vaginal delivery with intervention. Waters broken for her. My second and third completely natural with zero interventions or Spontaneous vaginal delivery if you prefer.

No pearl clutching. My vagina, my choice whether it gets a mention.

That is shocking TBH.
C-sections are not risk-free, and can cause issues in subsequent pregnancies.

A vaginal delivery is the normal and natural way to birth a baby. C sections aren't normal or natural because you don't naturally develop a cut across your abdomen. That doesn't mean that c sections can't be an essential thing that saves lives. I know a couple of women that had to have c sections due to their health issues and it's brilliant that c sections are safer than they were in the past.

@GretchenWienersHair love your username! Very fetch😂

Elective c section is definitely a thing and not just due to preference of birth although that is absolutely valid. It can come from mum or professionals involved.

So for example my sil had a traumatic birth with first dd requiring resuscitation and Nicu, partly due to inadequate care. For second birth sil requested a different hospital and a planned c section.

If a baby is large, there's a health concern to mum or baby, or based on mums history/previous births a consultant may recommend a c section

A planned c section is much safer than an emergency one.

The only person I ever heard say out the sunroof was someone referring to her own two sections. You can't predict individual sensitivities around it all tbh. I wouldn't use the term myself.

I don't think you know what "elective" means in the context of surgery. It just refers to non emergency sections - planned ones. Doesn't imply anything about why the section is needed or desired.

I don't think I have ever been asked! They would just need to look at my war wounds (scars) and know I think!!

I think the phrasing can hurt as it's a sensitive subject. When I fell pregnant I visualised a 'natural delivery'. A lot of it is influenced these days by the mass amount of Instagram/tik tok accounts shaming mediacalised births and trying to profit from being some sort of coach or birth guru.

I was told a few weeks ago due to a fibroid I may be an elective c section. I honestly wasn't bothered in the end I just want the baby out safely.

All the ideas in my head of a natural birth was just something I personally made a big deal about. Non of my friends or family who have had babies have really spoke much about their deliveries (apart from either funny, gross, or scary situations) and it wouldn't occur to me to pass any judgement on their births, and they wouldn't to me.

So while "normal" / "natural" etc possibly could be better phrased, at the end of it I really couldn't care less how my delivery is described as long as I leave with a baby.

Haha thank you! It’s full of secrets.

Ahh I see, so more a safety precaution than just a choice. That’s understandable then. I would consider those cases to still be due to complications as opposed to “normal” though. I wouldn’t use the word “normal” for anyone’s birth however (because it’s simply rude), but I also wouldn’t want to see requiring major surgery as the norm.

No you’re right, I clearly didn’t know! I was thinking along the lines of “too posh to push”. If it’s needed, surely that’s because of complications though? Not necessarily with the birth but with the pregnancy itself, or with past pregnancies?

It’s great that a c-section is unnatural. There’s nothing more natural than dying in childbirth or infancy.

@GretchenWienersHair I guess you're right. I think when you said complications I assumed emergency c section as apposed to planned due to complications .

I think natural is fine. Normal is implying a judgment which is unhelpful.

This reminds me of when I was pregnant with DC2. My DD was three at the time, had asked about how the baby would come out, and I'd given her what I regarded as an admirably frank explanation. A few weeks later we had my PILs round and at the tea table she announced in the loud, ringing voice of someone delivering shocking news "Grandad! Guess what? The baby is coming to come out of mummy's vagina!"

You could have heard a pin drop.

*going to come out of

I guess it should be a natural or vaginal birth. I’ve not given it much thought.

I have a friend who had an elective caesarean and she referred to it as an ‘abdominal birth’, which I thought a bit unusual and I’ve not heard before.

I wouldn't say vaginal unless in medieval setting. Natural is a much better word.

We all know what is meant, are you looking for a reason to be offended?

Fwiw I have had 1 delivery (c section). Nothing natural about it!

@EdithStourton I agree it’s shocking! But the hospital claim it’s reflective of changing attitudes towards birth and their statistics aren’t significantly different from others across the UK (I think it’s something like 40% of births are c sections now, but unclear how many are emergency vs elective)

Natural used to mean no drugs.
Vaginal is v clear, as is C section. But if Natural has changed to mean vaginal, no wonder there's confusion. Normal not useful at all!

@anonhop not looking for a reason to be offended (I’ve had both types of birth!), just curious as to what other people think.

Part of me sees “natural birth” as a nude woman in a cave chewing through her umbilical cord 😆

Congratulations. Aren’t you fabulous.

Think natural is fine, though agree vaginal makes a lot more sense as can then sensibly be specified as requiring forceps/ventouse/no intervention required, etc.

If the baby comes out of the vagina then it's a natural birth.

It doesn't mean better or normal or anything like that. Its not an insult. It just means it came out the way evolution led it to.

We are lucky that we are the only species that has other options . It's great that women and babies that previously would have died now are safe. Interventions are a good thing.

(And we are fucking lucky we didn't get the bad hand hyenas got!)

She is! Anyone who carries and has a baby is fabulous. Women should build each other up way more for doing this. Not get offended when one person is lucky enough to have the birth they want.