My Caesarean

Twenty-one vivid, moving essays on caesarean birth. No one talks about C-sections as surgery, writes SooJin Pate. They talk about it as if it's just another way--albeit more convenient way--of giving birth. The twenty-one essays in My Caesarean add back to the conversation the missing voices of a vast, invisible sisterhood. Robin Schoenthaler reflects: A C-section for us meant life. And yet, women who don't give birth vaginally--by choice or necessity--often feel stigmatized. My son's birth was not a test I needed to pass, writes Sara Bates. As if growing a human inside another human for nine months then caring for it the rest of its life isn't enough, adds Mary Pan, herself a physician. Alongside their personal stories, the writers--decorated novelists, poets, and essayists--address the history of the C-section as well as its risks, social inequities, impact on the body, and psychological aftermath. My Caesarean is a heartfelt meditation, offering much-needed comfort through shared experience.