Celebs Go Dating’s Anna Williamson has praised private elective caesareans after having a ‘terrible’ natural birth with her first child.
Anna Williamson and partner Alex welcomed their first child Enzo in 2016, but she suffered a ‘traumatic birth’ at the time.
Speaking to OK!, she revealed, "I’ve been vocal about why I wanted an elective caesarean because I had such a terrible natural birth with Enzo. It was a forceps delivery and I sustained a lot of blood loss so, for safety reasons and mainly for my mental health, I wanted an elective.
“I wanted to guard as much against having postnatal depression and birth trauma again as a result of having that control.”
Anna is known for her honesty when it comes to her struggles, especially around the postnatal depression she experienced with Enzo. The presenter also suffers from generalised anxiety disorder.
Anna welcomed second child Eleanor in December 2019, where she opted for a private birth at The Portland Hospital in London. Speaking about Eleanor’s birth, Anna said, "There were a few tricky bits. She basically shot up high into me mid incision so our consultant had to rummage around to find a limb to pull her out!
“The only way to guarantee some form of control over the birth was to pay for it. We went without a new car and family holidays, and we had a private birth at The Portland."
She added, "It is the best money we’ve ever spent. I couldn’t afford to have the same mental health fallout as I had with Enzo."
Husband Alex commented on Anna’s decision to have an elective caesarean, saying that there's a stigma around private births and that is good to break that stigma - especially when that care works better for the mum and the rest of the family.
