C-sections, though increasingly popular, can for many mothers come loaded with guilt.
Serena Williams gave birth to her daughter Alexis via C-section last year and has called the experience “devastating”.
She revealed to People that because the baby’s heart rate was dropping during labour, the decision was taken not to deliver vaginally – to Serena’s disappointment.
“The doctor walked in, she looked at me and she said, ‘Alright, we’re gonna have to give you a C-section,'” Serena said.
“I was like, ‘Alright, cool.’ And I didn’t flinch. There was a weird sense in me (that) knew that I was going to have to have a C-section, so I wasn’t too surprised even though I didn’t want it.
“I was still devastated. I think every woman, a part of them, wants to have birth naturally… when you get a C-section it’s different.”
She quickly moved past these emotions, though, to focus on a safe birth for her baby.
“Once she was okay, everything for me was okay,” said Serena.
“Even though everything wasn’t okay.”
Another celebrity mum who has expressed guilt at this is Denise Van Outen.
The presenter admitted last year that after hearing of her own mother and a close friend’s struggles in childbirth, she chose to have a C-section with her daughter Betsy.
Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women, she admitted that she was concerned with what other people thought about her choice.
“You do still, to this day, feel like people are judging you.
“Even now, if I were to fall pregnant again, I would want to have a natural birth beacuse I still feel guilty.”
