'A lot of shame': Laura Henshaw responds to backlash over her birth plan

When Laura Henshaw, who is preparing to welcome her first child with husband Dalton Henshaw, decided to share her birth plan on her podcast she received a slew of criticism from strangers online.

The fitness app co-founder, author and podcaster knew her decision to pursue an elective caesarean is one that can be surrounded by a lot of shame, so she wasn't shocked it sparked an online conversation.

However, she was surprised by just how many people had "such a strong opinion" about the birth of her baby.

Watch the video above.

"I just found it quite interesting, the amount of people that have such a strong opinion on how I give birth to a child they will never meet," Henshaw told Today Extra co-hosts Sylvia Jeffreys and David Campbell this morning.

"They will never know the child, they're going to have nothing to do with these people."

The backlash "was a really big mix, it's obviously a really polarising topic," she explained.

"Some people feel very passionate around the fact that the 'only' way – and I say this in quotation marks because I do not believe this at all – to give birth is vaginally," she continued, noting vaginal births have "historially" been called a natural birth, meaning caesareans by default can be considered "not natural".

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Henshaw says this kind of association is what can be harmful and she has seen, even in her own social circles, that the stigma around choosing to have a caesarian runs deep.

"For me, I knew when I had decided with my health care professional, with my obstetrician, that a c-section was the best decision for me, I knew that there was a lot of shame around it," she says.

"I felt it myself, but also I've had a lot of friends that actually haven't shared their birth plan with anyone if they're having a caesarean because they've felt like they would be judged or people would try and talk them out of it."

This being so, she expected some kind of backlash to come when she decided to share her birth plan but decided "it was a really important opportunity" to open up the conversation.

"The more we speak about it hopefully the less shame there is," she says.

According to the most recent statistics, around 40 per cent of women in Australia will give birth via caesarean section.

This proportian of women has increased signficiantly over the past decade and continues to rise.

Both vaginal births and caesarean section births carry their own risks and they are chosen by women and their healthcare providers to minimise complications and increase the likelihood of positive pregnancy outcomes, per the Department of Health and Aged Care.

Henshaw stresses the importance of making the choice that is right for you, in accordance with your medical professional, and trying to ignore external pressures.

"I think the biggest thing is it's your birth, it's your baby, it's your body and so you need to be empowered to make a decision for you," she says.

She adds that its "important to acknowledge" that there are certain risk factors associated with both vaginal and caesarean section birth and making "an informed decision" is crucial.

She adds that its important to take the facts into consideration and "then make an informed choice based on what you want, not what your mother-in-law wants, or what people on the internet want you to do or what your friends say."

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