I'm Skylar Grant and welcome to Commune, where each week we explore the ideas and practices

that bring us together and help us live healthy, purpose-filled lives.

You may have already heard that I've curated a new course that launches this month

called Empowered Birth, and to that end, we've been digging into the culture of birth in the U.S. on the podcast.

And it's inspired all kinds of questions, some of which I hope I can answer on the podcast today.

Yesterday, actually, a student came up to me after class, and she said,

I've been listening to your

podcast about birth and I have a really basic question. What's wrong with just scheduling a C-section?

Seems like in some ways like that would just be a whole lot easier, right? And it made me realize

that I've been making a really broad assumption about the general

understanding of the benefits of a low intervention birth and a vaginal delivery. So I want to dig

into that a little bit before we get started with my interview. First of all, I just need to say

that, of course, we all need to count ourselves incredibly lucky that we

live in a time when interventions and surgery are available when we need them.

But why should we opt for the most uncomplicated natural birth possible?

What's so great about all the huffing and the puffing and the pain and the pushing

anyway? Following are a number of benefits of a vaginal birth for both you and your baby. First of all,

beneficial bacteria. We live in a time when gut health is a super hot topic. Your baby's microbiome

begins to form in the womb, but it is

supercharged as it passes through your birth canal where it ingests bacteria that contributes to its

lifelong gut health. Some studies have found that babies that are born by C-section are more susceptible

to health problems such as food allergies, asthma, hay fever, and obesity later in

...