Epworth Freemasons is one of the Melbourne hospitals offering maternal assisted caesarean

An evolution in caesarean birthing is seeing mothers help deliver their own babies, lifting their newborn from the womb.

The look on Ashleigh Confait’s face says it all.

Despite this being a caesarean birth she has just helped to deliver her baby girl.

The Ringwood mum is smiling through tears as she takes in her baby’s bloodied tufts of dark blonde hair, her rounded rosie cheeks and reassuringly loud cries.

“Hello darling, I’m your mum,” Ms Confait, 34, says as she gently lowers her new daughter to her chest for an embrace; her first cuddle.

“She looks like Poppy.”

Poppy is five and now a big sister to Rosie Mae Marsh who was born at 8.30 on Thursday morning at Epworth Freemasons, a healthy 4.2kg.

Ashleigh Confait helps deliver her own baby, Rosie Mae Marsh. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Epworth Freemasons is one of the few hospitals in Australia to offer maternal assisted caesareans.

Dad Byron Marsh, 33, nods in agreement. He is in awe of what he has just seen.

He was on-board with his partner’s decision to do a maternal assisted caesarean (MAC) from the start.

This is where a woman having a caesarean section reaches her gloved hands down to lift the baby from the womb to her chest.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” Mr Marsh said.

“Obviously whatever she wanted to do I was happy with, and she was pretty excited about it.”

Ms Confait said for her it was the opportunity to be more involved in the birth.

“I have grown this baby for 10 months and when you go in for a caesarean it is quite sterile and you don’t really get to be involved in the process,” she said.

“I think as a mum you want to be the one to put the baby onto your chest and have that first initial bond, which is really important.”

Byron Marsh and Ashleigh Confait ahead of the birth of their daughter.

Maternal assisted caesarean allows mothers to be more invovled in the delivery.

Ms Confait is part of a growing movement of mothers who, guided by their obstetrician, are embracing this evolution of MAC births.

The method allows mothers having caesarean sections to be more actively engaged in the birth and to have more control.

Her obstetrician Dr Joe Sgroi says he has been doing them since 2017 and now does about 10 MAC deliveries a month in Melbourne.

He says Australia has been a pioneer in the technique where mothers, hands scrupulously scrubbed and gloved, reach through a sterilised drape to place their hands underneath their baby’s armpits while still in the womb.

Carefully supervised, they then lift their babies onto their chests.

MAC needs some preparation by the mother and her doctor beforehand to not only discuss what’s involved, but also for the mother to learn the all-important handwashing technique she needs to do before surgery.

This is crucial to avoid risk of infection.

Obstetrician Dr Joe Sgroi does about 10 MAC births a month.

Ashleigh Confait being prepared for her MAC.

Dr Sgroi says the MAC method is a way for mothers to be more engaged and involved.

“There was always this disconnect,” he said. “The obstetrician would bring the baby up and you would see this baby.”

Dr Sgroi says this way it is the mother bringing her newborn to her for its first embrace.

“If it can be done for a woman having a vaginal birth why shouldn’t we offer it for a caesarean section?” he said.

Dr Sgroi cautioned MAC was not for everyone and that there were some medical situations where parents may be advised against it.

This includes when the baby is breach, or perhaps premature.

“Alternatively, if there are any concerns with mum such as placenta praevia (where the placenta lying over the cervix) we would not do it,” Dr Sgroi said.

“We are also not at a point … where we can do it for emergency caesareans and that’s partly because there is a bit of prep work that Ashleigh has done such as learning to wash her hands ahead of doing the MAC.

“At this point, baby steps.”

It’s a girl. A joyous Confait after the birth of Rosie Mae Marsh.

He said the risks of infection were “so small” as the mother would have already scrubbed beforehand.

“We also do another scrub on the table and the reality is she is coming down and picking the baby up and really only touching the baby and bringing the baby to her chest, so she is not in the surgical field.

“Certainly we haven’t seen any increase in the risk of infection, operative time is exactly the same, blood loss; all the things we worry about in terms of a caesarean birth are absolutely identical as if I was doing it, compared to the mother doing it.

“The only difference is that I am bringing the baby out just so it is above the shoulders and then mum is putting her hands underneath the shoulders into the armpit and then putting the baby onto her chest.”

Still smiling, Ms Confait said the birth was a beautiful experience.

“Being able to bring my daughter earth side will be something I’ll cherish forever,” she said.

Originally published as Epworth Freemasons is one of the Melbourne hospitals offering maternal assisted caesarean