Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh has opened up about her experience of Caesarean sections – and why the narrative around them, and the prevailing belief that they’re “the easy way out”, needs to change.
The 33-year-old – who has two young daughters, Sienna, who is almost three, and Aurelia, one – said her eldest daughter had to be born via C-section because she was breech, where babies are positioned bottom first or feet first in the womb.
“I really enjoyed the experience so I chose to have another one with Aurelia – we even opted to drop the curtain and watch her delivery,” Mackintosh said in an Instagram post to mark Caesarean Awareness Month (April).
But while she feels “lucky” to have had positive birth experiences, she’s spoken to women who were told they needed to have a C-section and felt “scared, upset and feel the birth they wanted has been stolen from them”.
“I feel really strongly that the narrative around C-sections needs to change, they are almost seen as the ‘easy’ way out, or at times, an inferior way to give birth,” she said.
Around one in four women in the UK end up having a C-section birth.
The TV star said she prefers to refer to this method of delivery as an abdominal birth “because you are still birthing your baby”.
“It is obviously very different in each situation, sometimes an emergency C-section is unavoidable so I can only speak from my own experiences,” she added.
When childbirth doesn’t go to plan – perhaps because of an emergency C-section or the need for interventions like forceps or pain-relief drugs – it can lead to birth disappointment.
Unrealistic expectations of what birth should be like can feed into this – and vaginal, drug-free births are often lauded as the “natural” way to deliver, implying any other method of birth is not.
Hundreds of people commented on the star’s post, agreeing the narrative around C-sections does need to change.
Emily Houltram, founder of The Sleep Chief, responded: “Yes 1 million % the narrative around C-sections needs to change. And women need to actually be informed that they can ask for one!!! So many don’t realise.”
Parents in the UK can choose to have a planned C-section on the NHS, however only after discussing all the risks and speaking to health professionals about it.
NHS advice even acknowledges the reluctance among some doctors to allow this, as it reads: “If your doctor is unwilling to perform the operation, they should refer you to a doctor who will.”
Influencer Em Clarkson said she ended up needing an emergency C-section after her induction didn’t work.
“In the lead up [to birth] I was so sure I wanted a ‘natural’ birth and really pushed for this induction so that I could at least try... I felt loads of random pressure that I might somehow be failing with a C-section which looking back makes NO sense!!!”
Now, nine weeks postpartum, she reflects she wouldn’t change a thing about her birth.
“My whole experience was so positive and I don’t feel any less of anything to have had an abdominal birth! I’m so proud of how I brought my baby into the world and the stigma can do one cos [sic] we’re all epic however we do it.”
One parent who had two vaginal births commented: “I think abdominal births are the toughest! Women have a major operation then have to look after another human directly after. Any other major operation, people would be laid up for weeks. I think women are absolute warriors that have an abdominal birth!”
Another mother added: “I salute anyone who chooses an abdominal birth over a vaginal. I’ve had one of each and in my experience a C-section is no way the easier option.”