TV presenter Lisa Ling has revealed why she regrets having a Cesarean section.
In her web series, This is Birth, Ling examines the way people choose to give birth in the United States.
And as part of the show, she tells how her one regret during her second pregnancy with daughter Ray, was having an elective c-section.
The 43-year-old told how it caused her to develop ‘an extremely painful infection,’ adding: ‘It was awful.’
Ling previously had no option to have a Cesarean with first daughter Jett, after an ultrasound revealed her umbilical cord was wrapped round the baby’s neck.
Back then she didn’t find the news upsetting, saying ‘as life was so hectic, the idea of scheduling my delivery was actually kind of nice.’
The journalist added: ‘The predictability of a planned delivery worked for me.
‘I had a date. I had a time. I knew exactly when I was going to be giving birth.’
Welcoming Jett into the world on March 8, 2013 went smoothly and without complications.
So when she and husband Dr Paul Song discovered they were expecting their second child, there was no question she would have another Cesarean.
Later, as she researched This Is Birth, Lisa discovered Cesarean rates in the U.S. are around double the target set by the World Health Organization.
But unlike her first c-section, her second in June 2016 did not go smoothly.
Ling noticed she wasn’t healing as quickly as after her first birth and she was crippled by pain.
The mother-of-two was prescribed antibiotics for an infection.
Ling added it took a ‘whole month for the wound to completely close.’
Her husband, a doctor, suggested she had picked up an infection from the hospital, with Lisa admitting she was ‘never really aware of just how rampant hospital infections are.’
‘In all honesty, I regret it,’ she admitted, though added that she is ‘grateful’ that she and her baby are okay now.
Ling also advises expectant mothers to ‘really, really take the time’ to understand the risks when considering having an elective C-section.