When Raquel Renteria was pregnant with her second child, she was planning to have a natural, peaceful birth. However, she soon found out that her baby was in a breech position—instead of having her head positioned downwards in the uterus, the baby was poised to come out her bottom or feet first. And so, she had to make the difficult decision to have a C-section.
She told the whole story in an Instagram post that has since gone viral, Huffington Post reports.
‘I couldn’t be more proud of this scar. I couldn’t be more proud of myself’
“The last few weeks leading up to Alexa’s birth, I was scared,” she said. “I was terrified of this surgery. I was afraid of this scar and the long-term effects it would have on my body and my mind.”
Plenty of women who give birth to their baby via C-section are made to feel that their experience is somehow lesser than that of a vaginal birth. That played a part in her worries as well.
“This surgery was not an easy decision for me,” she added. “It pushed me to educate myself, to open my mind, to let go of my perfect expectations.”
Plenty of mothers encouraged her and told her that it would be okay, and it was. In spite of her having to let go of her original plans, Renteria got everything she wanted during her birth.
“Our baby was safe and beautiful and my doctor respected every decision we made,” she said. Renteria saw her baby daughter being born (she even has a video), she and the baby had skin-to-skin in the OR, her husband cut the umbilical cord, and her doctor delayed cord clamping.
‘[This surgery] pushed me to educate myself, to open my mind, to let go of my perfect expectations’
“I don’t feel as if I was robbed of a birth or like less of a badass. This scar proves that I am indeed a #badassmama!” she wrote.
Renteria had a positive experience during her C-section, proving to us that we don’t have to feel bad just because we couldn’t give birth to our babies naturally. To C-section mums: like Renteria, you should be proud of your scars!
“I couldn’t be more proud of this scar,” she wrote, concluding her post. “I couldn’t be more proud of myself. And all those silly fears disappeared as soon as I realized, I was having the baby I prayed for and the birth experience I hoped for.”
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