After a long labour, Shannon Connors had her first child by C-section. A planned VBAC with her second didn?t work, and she ended up with another Caesarian. Connors was awake for both procedures but upset that the babies were taken across the room as she was being stitched up. ?I felt really detached from the whole experience.? When she was expecting her third, Connor?s midwife told her about ?skin-to-skin C-sections??where the baby is placed on the mother?s chest immediately after birth. Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto was about to offer the first Caesarian sections like this in Canada. Connor was in. Her son, Leif, ?came right from my belly into my arms,? she says. ?I held him; we breastfed on the operating table. It was amazing.?
Connors? OB/GYN, Jon Barrett, pioneered the option at Sunnybrook. ?It?s a more beautiful experience for the mom and for everyone in the room,? he says. This isn?t the only way Caesarian sections are being reborn. If you?re preparing for a C-section, here are some of the developments to ask your OB/GYN about. 1. Go skin to skin
Holding your new baby on your bare chest sounds simple, but it?s the most widely offered advancement in C-sections and the most medically important. Studies have found that it encourages breastfeeding, reduces crying and likely helps bonding (although this is hard to measure). It also improves babies? temperature regulation and blood sugar, says Barrett, which is especially beneficial to C-section babies, who are mor...