Author(s): Amanda Fields (Editor); Rachel Moritz (Editor)

Parenting

A deeply personal essay collection that explores the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of C-section births on motherhood and identity

My son's birth was not a test I needed to pass, not something I needed to do in a certain way to become a worthy mother . . .

An astute and vivid collection of personal essays about caesarean birth, My Caesarean features writing by decorated novelists, poets, essayists, and journalists. At a time when more and more women exalt the experience of vaginal childbirth, those who give birth by C-section are increasingly isolated.

My Caesarean deftly explores these perspectives and many others. At turns, the essays address the history and current surgical trend of the caesarean, its impact on the mother's body and postoperative realities, the psychological aftermath--which sometimes unfolds well after the birth of the child--and how to heal. A beautiful, much-needed meditation on the shared experience of C-section mothers, this collection pulls back the curtain on the quiet shame, social guilt, and possible trauma of C-section birth to offer comfort and acceptance through shared experience.

Contributors include: Catherine Newman, Judy Batalion, Nicole Cooley, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Lisa Solod, Misty Urban, Jacinda Townsend, Mary Pan, Robin Schoenthaler, Elizabeth Noll, Jen Fitzgerald, Tyrese Coleman, SooJin Pate, Daniela Montoya-Barthelemy, Cameron Dezen Hammon, LaToya Jordan, Sara Bates, Susan Hoffmann, and Alicia Jo Rabins.