Teaching about Caesarean Birth

Teaching about Caesarean Birth in an antenatal setting. An important topic to cover with rising caesarean rates worldwide.

Preparing expectant parents for the possibility of a Caesarean birth, sharing information about how to avoid a caesarean birth, educating them about their choices and birth rights are all part of what modern antenatal settings should be covering.

Offering parents-to-be evidence-based and up to date information will help your clients to feel more empowered during their pregnancy and birth.

In your antenatal settings you will come across expectant parents where a Caesarean birth is not on their radar at all and parents who already know that a Caesarean birth is their preference and anyone in between…

How to facilitate teaching about Caesarean Birth

One option is that you give each participant in your class a role. Ask for a volunteer to be the person prepped for C-birth. Then hand out some c-birth prep cards with clips and strings on them to be “pinned” onto the volunteer.

Discuss/explain each item where needed. It may be worthwhile pointing out that all of the prep items are the same for any operation and that only the foetal monitoring equipment is in addition for a Caesarean birth. Learning outcome here: Participants are aware that a lot of equipment is needed for theatre prep and reassured that this is normal.

Once the person is prepped, you can give everyone else a role play card of a person in the operating theatre. Ask the prepped person to sit or stand in the middle of the room. Then one by one have the medical staff roles step around the person. Again discussing and explaining everyone’s role. It is worthwhile to consider that this kind of role play with real people standing around a real person can feel very daunting and “too much” for some expectant parents.

For the past 10 years or so, I have been using some Playmobil, lego, and wooden characters for the “people in the theatre” role-play part. I deliberately added some non-scrubbed/medical-looking characters to keep it fun. I pass around the cards at random and ask clients to pick a random character out of a bag…

The parent-feedback has been very positive! I’ve received many messages saying how parents were feeling very prepared, remembering all the little people from the antenatal sessions.

I support the activity with epidural and Caesarean birth information handouts from the OAA, I send out a link to a gentle caesarean birth video, and have a Caesarean birth photo story available for clients to look at if they wish.

We also talk about preparing a Caesarean birth plan and how to make their Caesarean birth options and things to consider.

Overall, expectant parents are keen to explore the options and reasons and how to make a caesarean birth less likely. They value the time spent on this topic whether or not they have a caesarean birth or not.

Let me know how you facilitate teaching about caesarean birth in your antenatal classes in the comments or get in touch!