Do you mention c-section in birth announcement?

[prairie girl]

Today DH asked whether we'd include the fact that we're a medically necessary scheduled c-section in our birth announcement email going to family & friends. His thinking is that it avoids any 'how was labour', 'how long was labour' reply emails. We've kept the c-section date a secret as we'd like to give people the surpirse they'd normally have. Any opinions on whether to mention the c-section?

 

FirstName MiddleName LastName

Born date via scheduled caesarean section at time, weighing *lbs, *oz, * inches.

vs.

FirstName MiddleName LastName

Born date at time, weighing *lbs, *oz, * inches.

[fayebond]

Everyone who saw our birth announcement (who had kids) knew that it was by CS because of the baby pic we included.  Baby's head was round as can be!    There were alot of, "so, you had a CS then?  Why?"  The labor part got skipped completely.  

[MeepyCat]

I think this one's really personal. 

To me, it feels weird to put it on a birth announcement.  It's not that hard to say "oh, we had a planned c-section" when people ask how labor was, but if you feel it would hurt to field that question, maybe being upfront would help?  Or would it hurt to read it on the announcement every time you look at your scrapbook?  There's so many potential issues and angles that the best I can say is "do what feels best to you."

[34me]

I had one emergency and one that was planned 2 days before (and a previous natural birth) nobody knew how I have birth just from reading the announcement.

[CoBabyMaker]

I think this one's really personal. 

To me, it feels weird to put it on a birth announcement.  It's not that hard to say "oh, we had a planned c-section" when people ask how labor was, but if you feel it would hurt to field that question, maybe being upfront would help?  Or would it hurt to read it on the announcement every time you look at your scrapbook?  There's so many potential issues and angles that the best I can say is "do what feels best to you."

Yeah that.  I personally wouldn't include it.
 

[JoyFilled]

I told people right away because it was scheduled at 9 days over due, but I had been telling people I wanted a VBAC from 37 weeks on.  I think it depends how verbal you already were about it.

I called work from L&D to tell them to start the weight guessing pool because I was about to have a c-section.

[MsDolphin]

I think either announcement wording it okay, it's up to you. How do you feel about having a C-section? People most likely will ask about the labor and delivery, so it will come out that you had a C-section. If you don't feel comfortable talking about it, putting it in the announcement might stop some people from asking questions (or not!).

Personally we didn't include it in our announcements.

[Youngfrankenstein]

I don't know why you'd put that on a birth announcement.  I have never seen "method baby came into the world" on a BA except sometimes people mention a surrogate which is pretty rare.

It sounds like you feel the need to "prove" that it was medically nec.  You don't have to justify anything to anyone.

[rnra]

To me, the purpose of a birth announcement is to announce the truly important thing--the arrival of your child.  The method the arrival took place is really not of concern to anyone besides yourself.  There's nothing to prove, nothing to legitimize, nothing to make a statement about.  I wouldn't include it (and that goes for people who add 'born at home' to their announcements as well--I think it's ridiculous).  The baby is here!  That's what matters.

[Youngfrankenstein]

But I did put born at home on my FB announcement...it was important to me.

[McGucks]

Personally, I wouldn't...but we didn't do birth announcements anyway.  You can share or not share that information; nobody expects to hear about the method of delivery on an announcement, but if it is important to you to mention it, it's your decision.

I tend to defer the matter when asked, probably because I am a pretty private person when it comes to birth and medical issues.  I was completely astonished that my MIL expected to be in the room when I was in labor.  I had a nurse get her out.

I might have answered the "How was the labor?" question by saying "short," or "things went well."

You also might find the answer to this question after your baby is here.

[fayebond]

I tried to not have announcements but because we had a surprise CS I was too to of it to stop my kid brother from posting the news to the internet at large.  :)  We did send cards to the family who weren't around, there are three of them, and I just told a little bit about the birth along with the vitals.  I included the CS because it was more of a newsy family note than a formal announcement.  

[MichelleZB]

It's a personal choice, but I don't think it's at all necessary. If people ask questions, you can answer them as you like!

[marigolde]

I think it's a great idea.. I wish i had thought of it. Every time anyone asked it was like a tiny dagger in my heart, as i felt cheated by not being able to experience labour.

I answered the 'How long was Labour?' questions by giving them the hours I waited before my scheduled CS. 'labour' for me started at 7am when i was told to check in, and it ended at 1:05 when my LO was born. It was very painful.