09/09/2026
Language matters. And sometimes, in their effort to make cesarean birth feel softer, people accidentally send the message that the word cesarean is something we need to soften in the first place.
Aa birth workers, friends, family, etc… You don’t have to call it a “belly birth” to make it a birth.
You don’t have to call it a “sunroof birth” in an attempt to be humorous
And for the LOVE, a woman isn’t a body that was “sectioned,” or a vessel a baby was “extracted” from.
They gave birth. By cesarean.
There’s nuance here, of course. If you had a cesarean and “belly birth” feels empowering to you? Use it. If “sunroof baby” makes you laugh and brings joy to your story? That language belongs to you. We will never tell someone how they should talk about their own experience. ( I (Lily) actually say sunroof exit sometimes when describing my experience lightheartedly.)
But as birth workers, providers, educators, friends, and family members, we don't need to assign cute nicknames to someone else's birth in an attempt to validate it. Let her name her birth.
Because cesarean and C-section are not dirty words.
Cesarean birth isn't less of a birth.
And we don't have to make it sound more like something else for it to count.
