A MUM has shared a video of the moment she delivered her own baby via C-section.
While pregnant with her third child, Lyz Evans, from Sydney, Australia, decided she wanted to deliver her own baby.
"It’s rare to hear a caesarean described as ‘beautiful or magical’ but that exactly what my birth was," the physio said.
In May 2021, Lyz underwent a maternal-assisted cesarean (MAC).
The procedure is like a typical cesarean, where the baby is delivered through surgical incisions made in the abdomen.
Usually, these are only performed when vaginal birth isn't possible or safe, such as when the baby is in a dangerous position.
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MAC offers a more hands-on approach.
Once the incisions have been made, the mum pulls the baby out of their own womb, instead of the doctor.
The baby is then placed onto mum's chest for immediate skin-to-skin contact.
The procedure was was first offered in some Australian clinics as early as 2017 when doctors found many women were craving a more involvement with births.
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In 2021, the Government of Western Australia released a memo stating that hospitals were getting increased requests for the procedure.
However, the health service did not recommend the operation because local hospitals struggled keeping the mother's hands sterile.
MACs are not currently offered in the UK.
Lyz said having a C-section can make you feel "like your body's not yours", because of the epidural, which numbs the lower half of your body, and the privacy drape, which obscures your view of the surgery.
But her MAC left her feeling empowered.
"That moment of reaching down to pull my daughter out was one of the most incredible moments and made it all worth it," Lyz told Insider.
"I was really the first one to touch my daughter, to pull her out into the world," she added.
Sharing a collection of clips of the unique birth on Instagram, the mum said: "This is a pretty personal video but I wanted to share it to help redefine what a caesarean has the potential to be."
"It’s definitely not for everyone, but in the right circumstance I truly believe it the way forward," she added.
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Studies have suggested MACs have potential health benefits such as exposing the baby to the microbiome of the mother’s skin directly after birth, and increased rates of breastfeeding because of this.
The procedure can also lead to a delay in umbilical cord clamping which research suggests decreases the child's risk of death or major disability.
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