Danielle Elwood
With the initial question of our survey, we did not opt to allow any questions, so the numbers and information obtained were pretty cut and dry.
Question # 1 : How many Cesarean Births have you had?1 Cesarean – 67.4% 580 mothers
2 Cesareans – 23.5% 202 mothers
3 Cesareans – 6.5% 56 mothers
4 Cesareans – 2.6% 22 mothers
1 mother skipped this question
From the comments in subsequent questions we can see that many women who have had
just one cesarean experienced it with their first birth. This also provides some insight as to why 'traumatic' and 'disappointing' were the words most participants used to describe their experience. Many women go into their first birth with expectations that may not be met and having it end in a cesarean or in an emergency situation can be very scary and upsetting.
Interestingly, many women who had subsequent cesareans for various reasons
(see question #3) described the experience as calm and even empowering. Many of these comments come from women who chose a c-section or felt they were very much part of the decision with their physician. We discuss more of this in
Question #5: Would you describe your birth experience as...?
The Cesarean Feelings Survey was created by two cesarean moms; Danielle Elwood, birth advocate, doula, and aspiring childbirth educator,
Momotics.com and Theresa Shebib co-founder of
www.healthybabynetwork.com