London - His tiny head rests on his mother’s tummy, before this newborn manages to wriggle into the world almost entirely by himself.
These incredible pictures show the moment Sarah Cooke, 31, gave birth to her son Leo by “natural caesarean” – which supporters say gives babies a calmer arrival and increases bonding.
She posted a video of her experience on YouTube to share her “amazing” experience with other new mothers.
The technique, also known as a “skin-to-skin” caesarean, involves the surgeon slowly bringing the head of the baby out after an incision is made in the womb.
The child’s body is left inside the mother and it is allowed to manoeuvre its shoulders and body out itself, mimicking the exit from the birth canal.Last month it emerged that the technique is due to be trialled at an NHS hospital for the first time this year. Doctors who have witnessed the advantages hope the trial will make it a regular birthing option offered across Britain.
In the three-minute clip, viewed more than 151 000 times, the surgeon can be seen making a small incision into Cooke’s abdomen, before slowly easing the baby’s head out and allowing him to rest on her stomach. Cooke and her husband Chris, 35, banter with medics about the sex of the child, before she asks whether the baby has hair and the doctor lifts his head up for them to see.
The doctors reassure Cooke that Leo is breathing by himself, before teasing out his shoulders.
After he cries, his body slowly emerges by itself and a midwife can be heard saying: “He’s delivering himself, he’s coming out, brilliant.” The process takes 30 seconds and, after the baby’s legs slip out, the doctor holds him up as Cooke exclaims: “It’s a boy.”
She tells her husband: “You were bloody right – I’ll have to take all those clothes back. He’s gorgeous.”
Leo weighed 7lbs 6oz (just over 3kg).
Cooke, of Plymouth, posted the video in February 2015, a month after giving birth at Torbay Hospital, Devon, where she is also an NHS worker.
Subramanian Narayanan, its clinical director of obstetrics and gynaecology, said he had been offering ‘”atural” caesareans to mothers for the past 18 months.
“Sarah was one of the first moms here to have a ‘natural’ caesarean when she gave birth to her baby last year,” he said.
“We now offer them wherever it is safe and the feedback we’ve had has been very positive.”
Mrs Cooke, who was unable to have a natural birth for medical reasons, said: “They had to help Leo’s head and shoulder out, then he literally delivered himself. I would have bonded with my son no matter what. But doing it this way does help, as I was the first to see him as he went straight to my tummy for a cuddle.”
Around one in four women who give birth in the UK have caesareans – double the 1990s ratio.
Health bosses are trying to reduce this rate amid concerns they have a higher risk of complications and are costly. Many mothers who undergo conventional caesareans say they are distressed that their child is “whisked away” or feel detached from the birth.
The natural caesarean procedure was pioneered at the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea private hospital in London more than a decade ago, but is mainly offered only in a few private clinics.
It will be tested at University College Hospitals in central London later this year. Natural caesareans are only offered to women who have reached the full-term 37 weeks of pregnancy without complications. The baby must be settled head-first in the womb, with a healthy heartbeat.
Daily Mail