KOCHI: Pastoral Orientation Centre at Kochi will witness an unusual gathering on Sunday as a movement of laity women of the Catholic Church who have undergone upto eight caesareans are set to meet here at an event titled Blessia’19.

As many as 60 mothers who have undergone over four C-sections including 15 mothers who have undergone over six C-sections and one mother who have undergone eight C-sections will be part of the gathering, organized to offer support to mothers who wants to have more children but are dissuaded without reason. At the event, Bishop Jose Puthenveetil will honour doctors who have been supporting the group and the mothers.

Organizers say that even as the majority of mothers want to have more children as they are considered as gifts of God from a Christian perspective, many undergo multiple C-sections simply because they like to have more children.

Suma Gylson, a paediatrician and a mother of six children who has undergone as many caesareans, is one among the organizers.

“Usually what happens is that after two C-sections, the patients are dissuaded without any reason by the hospitals. Women are scared into sterilisation after two or three C-sections. There are many who regret this after they lose one baby to death. There is no need for this and we are a group which supports each other,” said Suma adding that the numbers in the youth population is actually coming down.

She added that the possibility of a complication was more or less similar to any other delivery. “Our group members themselves are proof that it is possible. The complication for a third or fourth caesarean has not made much of a difference to the first. There is no point in stopping, fearing this risk, which is there in other walks of life as well. We are monitoring the mothers and are giving them proper medical advice as well,” said Suma adding that many do not know that this is possible.

Jini Lobo, mother of six children who has undergone six C-sections, said that no doctor would promote a C-section if there are any actual complications. “Once I had my sixth baby the doctor pointed out my age and the possible complications. Also, even as I am open to welcoming a life, I am a responsible mother. I didn’t conceive again after my sixth baby as it would have been difficult to handle more than four small children. So, it is not about conceiving without any planning or preparation,” said Jini.

She added that she had to face stigma and discrimination from the hospital when she attempted her third C-section. “Hospital circles used to treat us like we were ignorant and ill-informed and I had to go through rude discouragement. We can understand if we face such stigma from the society but when you face it from hospital circles it become intolerable. So our group is to provide medical advice and moral support. I used to get calls about having more C-sections and when I started getting frequent calls, we made a WhatsApp group and started to organize. Now, we have over 100 such families in the group,” said Jini.

