Jessica Biel Opens Up About Her Perfect Birthing Plan Gone Wrong
The birthing plan: Whether it’s set at home with a doula or in a hospital surrounded by family members, many expecting women have their perfect version in mind. And the location and company one keeps during delivery are just the beginning—with highly curated extras like pressure-relieving birthing balls and soothing "push playlists" growing in popularity. But the reality is that when it comes to child birth, there's only so much you can control.
In Vogue's February issue, tennis champion Serena Williams bravely opened up about her emergency C-section during the birth of her first child Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. "That was an amazing feeling," she recalled of holding her child for the first time. "And then everything went bad." And now Jessica Biel is pulling back the curtains on her own experience with the same unplanned surgical procedure, which took place during the delivery of her and husband Justin Timberlake's two-year-old son Silas.
"We had two midwives, one doula, one meditation birthing class, a ton of hippie baby books, and a lovely home in the Hollywood Hills that we had turned into a labor training facility we called The Octagon," writes the couple in celebrity nanny Connie Way's new book The Nannie Connie Way: Secrets to Mastering the First Four Months of Parenthood. "When all our plans fell apart and the serene, natural childbirth we had envisioned ended with a transfer to the hospital and an emergency C-section, we arrived home exhausted, disillusioned, and totally in shock."
In the U.S., about one in three births happen by C-section, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And despite how quickly this rate is rising, few realize how taxing the procedure and recovery are for a new mother both physically, from not being able to lift the baby to experiencing acute digestive discomfort, and psychologically. "I was obsessed with everything organic, toxin-free, natural, and homeopathic for our kid, who came into this world in an operating room through an incision," writes Biel. And she's not alone in her shock and grief. "In many cases, when a woman sets out for a natural birth and then has to have an unplanned surgical birth, there's this innate, or even suggested, feeling of failure," explains Erica Chidi Cohen, a doula, author, and co-founder and CEO of Loom, a center for pregnancy, parenting, and reproductive wellness in Los Angeles. "Feeling this way on top of everything you're facing as a new mom can set off a cascade of emotional psychological states that aren't positive or reinforcing."
From lack of mobility and sleep, to experiencing hormonal imbalances, physical sources of emotional trauma can be easy to pinpoint. But others, such as the psychological hump of having to take pain medication when you've been instructed not to for the past nine months in order to keep the baby safe through breastfeeding, are not. "The recovery of a cesarean birth is so nuanced because there's the more clear exterior experience and then a more subtle, interior one at the same time," says Cohen.
When you consider the societal pressures placed on expecting mothers—such as the idea that how your baby comes into the world could set the tone for their lifelong wellbeing—as well as the inherently unpredictable nature of child birth, it's clear the hierarchy surrounding how one brings a child into the world needs to be dismantled. "The psychological obstacles post cesarean birth have a lot to do with our culture's glorification of unmedicated vaginal deliveries," says Cohen. "It's so important for the culture and language around this very common outcome to shift to being more inclusive and supportive." And there's no denying that when celebrities like Biel go public with their harrowing health experiences, it not only raises awareness, but inspires others to be more compassionate and open-minded.
