Call for essay contributions to anthology -- Reconciling the Unexpected: The Intersection of Homebirths and C-Sections

full name / name of organization: 
Samantha D. Gottlieb, California State University, East Bay

Seeking personal essay contributions from mothers or partners of women who have had a c-section after a planned homebirth.

Please submit a 250 word abstract and brief author bio by October 15 to samantha.gottlieb@gmail.com

Description of anthology:
The practice of homebirth, going through labor and delivery in the comfort of one's own home, has become increasingly common in the U.S. Although it's still considered a novelty in much of the U.S., in many other western countries (and for most of human history), it remains an integral part of women's birth processes. At the same time, we live in a country that has seen the rate of caesarean sections skyrocket, with recent World Health Organization figures suggesting that more than a third of U.S. births are c-sections. These two practices of birth and delivery are, as many of the homebirth mothers would be quick to note, fundamentally opposite practices.

The caesarean exemplifies the transformation of childbirth into a medically managed experience, in some cases urgently necessary, but the current rates of U.S. c-sections do not reflect an increase in medically necessary interventions. What, then, about the women who have chosen to prepare for their child's birth with midwives, expecting a home delivery, and who then find themselves in the midst of a highly medicalized birth, suddenly required to undergo a caesarean? After months of homebirth classes, midwife check-ups, and a deep-seated confidence in their own bodies' potential to deliver a healthy baby, finding oneself in a hospital is not just unsettling, it can elicit feelings of failure, disconnectedness, and even trauma.

In this anthology, mothers reflect on their c-sections after expecting that they would have a homebirth. There is not a lot of space in the homebirth movement to grapple with the medicalized, surgical approach to birth, and many new mothers don't have time to really reflect on the experience of a surgical birth, when they are confronted with the needs and quotidian demands of a new child. And in a moment of so much joy and much anticipated arrival, some women find it hard to reconcile the loss of an expected birth process with the pleasure and intensity of the new person in their lives.

This book will provide other parents-to-be some perspective. For women who have already had an unexpected c-section, this book will give voice to their experiences.

Editor information:
Samantha D. Gottlieb is a medical anthropologist, trained in public health. She is a lecturer at California State University, East Bay, and a mother of a very enthusiastic two year-old. She has published in Medical Anthropology Quarterly and is revising a manuscript on the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Her current work looks at the intersection of health and technology, including self-tracking practices among type 1 diabetics.