'Natural caesarean' becoming more and more popular in UK

May 24, 2016  17:46

A new method of caesarean section deliveries is on the rise, believed to give the baby a less distressing entry into the world and assist with mother and child bonding.

Sarah Saunders, from Devon, has posted a video of her 'natural caesarean' on YouTube.

In the clip, filmed at Torbay Hospital's maternity ward, Ms Saunders' son effectively 'delivers himself' by wriggling his body out of his mother's womb. 
Ms Saunders wrote on the viral Youtube clip, which has over 54,000 views: 'If you are unable to give birth naturally'...having a natural caesarean is the next best thing!'

Ms Saunders writes on the video that she has shared it on the Internet because it is a 'birth experience I will cherish forever'.

She advises people to share the experience with anyone they feel might benefit from watching it.

Natural caesareans are becoming increasingly popular, because they are said to give babies a slower and calmer entry into the world.

The procedure allows the baby to partly emerge from the womb by itself rather than being rapidly removed by doctors and ‘whisked away’ from the mother. 

Doctors make an incision into the womb and bring out the baby’s head. It is then left to manoeuvre its shoulders out alone in a way that is similar to natural birth.

As Daily Mail reported earlier this month, it can take up to four minutes for the baby to be born during a natural caesarean, before it is placed on the mother’s chest, which is thought to help the bonding process. 

Many of these stages are visible in Ms Saunders' experience. 

She remains extremely calm as a tiny head slowly becomes visible, before the baby boy starts crying and wriggles his way out of her womb by himself.

Consultant midwife Belinda Green, who is leading the trial, told The Daily Mail in May: ‘So many women say the bond with their baby is stronger after a skin-to-skin caesarean, and there is evidence to suggest it reduces a number of complications after birth.

‘The demand for this type of birth continues to increase and I am constantly being contacted by women who want it.’

Jenny Smith, a senior midwife at the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, said: ‘It is about the mother. After the incision is made the mother is able to see her little baby wriggle out. It is a special moment that is missed otherwise.

‘The baby remains in the abdomen for up to four minutes and the mother can look at it, see its little face and when it wriggles out it is the parents that first determine the sex.’ 

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