My Caesarean: Twenty-One Mothers on the C-Section Experience and After

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 21 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.