What is a gentle C-section?

Most moms can agree that going into labor and giving birth -- while an amazing experience-- is no picnic. That is why a new form of caesarian section aims to make the process a little more comfortable.

I went to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York, to learn more about a new birthing trend that's called the gentle C-section.

Baby Andrew is almost a year old, now. But during delivery, he had some trouble coming out. So his mom Erika's doctor said she would need to get a C-section. It's a common birth method. In the United States, one in every four babies is born caesarian. But many women describe the process as traumatic.

That's why Dr. Angelo Cumella at Northern Westchester Hospital suggested a relatively new approach to cesarean called the gentle C-section. The incision is the same. What's different is what happens after the baby is delivered. Hospital staff uses a clear drape, keeps the room quiet and comfortable, and puts on whatever music the mother wants. They put the baby by the drape so that the mom can hold him or her for a moment or so.

Dr. Cumella brought the gentle C-section to Northern Westchester after reading about it in a medical journal. Since then, he has delivered dozens of babies that way and he says the procedure has gotten so popular mothers are now requesting it.

Although cesarean wasn't Erika's first choice as a first time mom, she says the gentle C-section was as close as it gets to what she had always imagined it would be like to bring her child into the world.

Since gentle C-sections are still pretty new, not many hospitals are offering them. But doctors say most women are eligible, unless she is delivering multiples babies or the infant is in any type of distress.