Levi McConaughey delivered via emergency C-section

by Jennifer Jordan (Subscribe to Jennifer Jordan's posts) Jul 27th 2008 12:00PM

Categories: Newborns, Pregnancy & Birth, Health & Safety, Celeb Parenting

Matthew MConaughey is enjoying his new life as a daddy, but it's a life that got started with a bang: son Levi was delivered via emergency C-section. The Sahara actor claims little Levi, recently born to Mconohottie and girlfriend Camila Alves, had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.

After two days of labor--yes, TWO DAYS--doctors stepped in and performed the emergency Cesarean. Both MConaughey and Alves had wanted a natural birth. Alves says she wanted whatever was best for her and the baby, so a C-section it was. What a dramatic way to enter the world! Thankfully, mom, new baby, and daddy were all ok and are doing well. In other reports, the actor claims that being a father is natural to him and something he's wanted--and chronicled wanting--since he was a kid himself. How cute is that?

Interestingly enough, it seems like more and more celebrity moms are giving birth via C-section. And, more often than not, there is some health-related explanation attached to it. Do you buy it or do you think it's just an excuse?

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Comments (8)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

cassandra 7-27-2008 @ 1:16PM

I think a woman should be allowed to give birth however she likes, whether it's via c-section or in her home. So long as there's a healthy mother and baby, then who really cares? I think it's unfortunate that women who chose to have c-sections under anything less than medically harrowing circumstances are often judged so harshly.

ivory 7-27-2008 @ 1:33PM

Well, considering that well over 30% (closer to 45% in some hospitals in my area!) births are csections, its not a surprise that some of those people would be celebrities. It's accepted that 5% of all births ARE emergencies (and thank God that modern medicine is there to step in) but you have to wonder what is going on with that other 25%. In my opinions, and many others, it is that the US model of maternity care is not conducive to normal birth. As a leader in so many medical advances over the last 50 years, it doesn't make sense that the USA should be behind Cuba in terms of infant and mother mortality rates. We have to look at the system and ask what we are doing wrong, that the leaders in infant and mother health are doing right.

I hope a speedy recover to Ms. Alves, and that she and her partner are enjoying their new little guy.

mamaloo 7-27-2008 @ 7:01PM

Two days of active labour? Emergency cesarean surgery? Umbilical around neck? Sounds like a short cord around the neck was preventing the baby from descending.

Emergent surgeries are life saving treatments to be respected. But, unlike Cassandra, I don't believe healthy women and their doctors should be choosing treatments that are meant for sick women/babies/pregnancies. Choosing non-medically indicated surgery is a dangerous game. (I wrote about one of the little considered consequences of cesarean surgery - hysterectomy - here: http://www.hamiltondoula.com/?p=103

But, the word around the birth scene is that maternal choice surgery is far rarer than the media likes to let on. The media likes to focus on it, but far more surgeries are the result of iatrogenic effects (the way women are forced to labour and the interventions forced on them cause circumstances the only remedy for is surgical delivery) and practitioner convenience (rates of surgery rise just before dinner, just before dawn, before weekends and before major holidays leading analysts to believe many OBs manipulate patients into surgery for their own reasons and not for health related reasons).

I hope Alves, like all non-celebrity mothers, recovers in a timely fashion and that she and the baby are healthy.

Tara 7-27-2008 @ 7:32PM

I dont think that C-sections are something that should be done unless there is a medical reason for doing so and these drs who agree to do this are unethical. These people who CHOOSE to have a c-section should pay out of pocket. Yes- child birth hurts- but what would you expect from squeezing a 13" head out a quarter size opening. C-sections have many risks that are taken when these surgeries are opted for over traditional child birth and they also increase recovery time and hospital stays. Insurance should not cover this procedure unless it is medically necessary.

slowburn 7-27-2008 @ 10:57PM

Two days? For a cord around the neck? How did they go that long without figuring out that the cord was wrapped around the neck? I'm not a doctor, but really, that's baffling. I understand wanting to go natural, but after a day they're usually checking to see what the problem is.

mamaloo 7-28-2008 @ 9:33AM

This isn't unusual. Having the cord around the neck, in and of itself, isn't necessarily dangerous. However, if the cord was short and further shortened because it was wrapped around the neck, when the baby descended it would only be able to go a little ways before it couldn't descend any further. Eventually it would become obvious that the baby just wasn't descending no matter what chemical or non-chemical interventions one tried (like positioning, walking, water, or pitocin, epidural, etc.) and an OB would recommend surgery.

Sometimes long labours are due to a posterior baby that needs to spin into position before being born, sometimes there are other, non-emergency, things going on.

Noone would know, until baby was born, whether the cord was around the neck and therefore causing problems. And, cords around the neck happen in something like one third of all births the majority of which never become problems for mum and baby.

Heather 7-31-2008 @ 5:56PM

I can so sympathize. I was induced on a Monday and ended up with a c-section on Wednesday afternoon after I failed to dialate and labour stalled. I hope they are all doing well.

Amy 7-28-2008 @ 9:49AM

It's funny to me that I read that and thought, "they gave up after just two days?" Healthy, normal labors can last a LONG time. And healthy normal babies can come out with cords wrapped around them, if birth attendants know how to manage a normal birth. But that's not convenient for hospitals, so they have inadvertently (or not?) created an impression that birth must happen within a certain unnatural time frame and under a certain small set of circumstances.

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