A woman has to be aware of what is within her control and what's not within her control.

That applies whether she's having a vaginal birth or a surgical birth.

I think it's a common misunderstanding and myth that women will elect to have a C-section because they want to protect their vagina.

They want to protect their perineum.

They want to save their vagina from They want to protect their perineum. They want to save their vagina

from being altered in any way. But the truth is that a C-section can have more of an impact

on your pelvic floor structure than a vaginal body. I remember telling my doctor when we were

having a conversation about my birth and she's like, well, you know you're having a surgery, though, right?

I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of hypniburthing of Connecticut, childbirth

advocate, and postpartum support specialist.

And I'm Trescia Ludwig, certified nurse midwife and international board certified lactation consultant.

And this is the Down to Birth podcast.

Childbirth is something we're made to do, but how do we have our safest and most satisfying experience in today's medical culture?

Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth.

Thank you. Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth. Hi, I'm Nicole Alfred, registered massage therapist and C-section recovery coach with over 18 years experience in the perinatal field.

I am here to share my story of having an

empowered cesarean delivery and taking control of my C-section recovery to have the best experience

that I could have imagined. Nicole, it's really wonderful to have you here because our community of listeners

are all kinds of women, both having physiologic birth and cesarean birth. But many women have

concerns about, especially if they're planning a natural physiological birth, what happens if I end up in the C-section

room? And then what does the recovery look like? So if you can start to talk to us about,

well, first you're going to share your story. And then we're going to go into what having an

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