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A New, More Gentle C-Section Experience Being Offered At Bryn Mawr Hospital

By Stephanie Stahl

BRYN MAWR, Pa. (CBS) -- Now, there's a new, more gentle way to perform C-sections being done at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Cesarean sections account for about a third of the four million babies born in the U.S. every year.

The experience can be traumatic. Now, some hospitals are making small, but significant changes to make C-sections more like a birth and less like a major surgery.

Three month-old Grace is the daughter Bridget Kavitski dreamed of having. She's also the first baby delivered at Bryn Mawr Hospital using a new technique called "gentle C-section."

"It was amazing. It was one of the most sacred moments I'll ever have," Bridget said.

"It changed it from having a surgery resulting in a baby to having a birth that took place on an operating table."

Bridget's two older children were born with traditional C-sections where blue draping keeps everything sterile, but also limits the mom's experience.

"You just feel very isolated, very disconnected from whats what's going on," Bridget remembered.

With a gentle C-section, clear plastic draping is used, one of many changes that allows a Cesarean to be safe, but more like natural childbirth.

Main Line Health obstetrician Margaret Burns agreed to try it with Bridget and Grace, and it was a big success that's now repeated as often as possible.

"The mom can actually see what's happening with the actual delivery of the baby. We actually pull the baby right up, just as we would with a vaginal birth, and then we put the baby directly on the mom's chest so they can do skin to skin in the O.R, which is something that really hasn't been done," Dr. Burns explained.

"I think it's fantastic."

Doctors say not all women are good candidates for gentle C-sections. They're usually not offered for twins or other high risk deliveries, or if the baby is in any type of distress.
It's still pretty new, and not being offered by a lot of hospitals.

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