Brand-new toys from Disney, Marvel and more!

Open menu

  • Video
  • Shop
  • Culture
  • Family
  • Wellness
  • Food
  • Living
  • Style
  • Travel
  • News
  • Book Club
  • GMA3: WYNTK
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your US State Privacy Rights
  • Children's Online Privacy Policy
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • Terms of Use
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Contact Us
  • © 2023 ABC News
  • Wellness

Hospital uses camera to let parents watch during C-section

VIDEO: Mom felt ‘reassured’ using hospital camera that let her see her son during C-section
1:22
Mom felt ‘reassured’ using hospital camera that let her see her son during C-section
ABCNews.com
ByKatie Kindelan
March 18, 2022, 4:07 am

A hospital in Michigan is giving birthing parents a new way to stay connected during a cesarean section delivery.

Spectrum Health Butterworth, a hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, allows parents to watch the birth on a monitor display next to the operating table.

That's how Amanda Koop got the first glimpse of her son, Charlie, when she gave birth to him at Spectrum Health Butterworth on Nov. 24, 2021.

"They turned the camera toward me right when they were going to pull him out," Koop told "Good Morning America." So, similar to a vaginal birth, I saw him come up and out, which was great."

Koop, 36, had an unplanned C-section with Charlie, her first child.

PHOTO: Amanda Koop was able to watch the c-section birth of her son via a camera and screen in a delivery room at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Amanda Koop was able to watch the c-section birth of her son via a camera and screen in a delivery room at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Amanda Koop

She said that once it was decided she would be undergoing a C-section, a nurse asked her if she wanted the option to watch the delivery, which she otherwise would have not been able to witness. As is typical with a C-section, Spectrum Health Butterworth uses a drape to separate the expectant parents from the surgical procedure.

Editor’s Picks

Twin sisters give birth on same day with the same doctor (plus one had twins!)

  • Nov 13, 2019

I wore a mask during 38 hours of labor. You can wear one too

  • Jun 30, 2020

Mom who nearly died after childbirth has a message for moms this Mother's Day

  • May 12, 2019

"I wanted to use the camera, because it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I didn't want to miss those moments, his first breath, that can be something that sometimes you could miss in a C-section," said Koop, who added that the camera also made the C-section "less anxiety-provoking."

"For me to be able to see him in those moments, OK, he's out and he looks great, that was extremely calming and reassuring," she said. "There's a lot happening in those [operating rooms]. They're loud and they're bright, and I could kind of focus right on him, which was really nice."

PHOTO: Amanda Koop was able to watch the c-section birth of her son via a camera and screen in a delivery room at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Amanda Koop was able to watch the c-section birth of her son via a camera and screen in a delivery room at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Amanda Koop

The camera and monitor system is the same one that doctors themselves use in other surgical procedures, such as laparoscopic surgeries, according to Dr. Cheryl Wolfe, a practicing, board-certified OBGYN and vice president and department chief of women's health at Spectrum Health, a Michigan-based health system.

MORE: Mom's C-section message aims to reduce 'shame or judgement' attached to giving birth

Wolfe said Spectrum Health Butterworth, which delivers around 7,500 babies annually, is the only hospital she knows of in the country that has applied surgical camera technology to C-sections.

"We're using this technology that's been around but using it in a different way, and that is not the norm across the country," she said. "I’m hoping that there will be more hospitals and labor and delivery units that opt to put this in place. I think their patients will be asking for it."

PHOTO: Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, uses a screen to let parents watch a c-section delivery.
Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, uses a screen to let parents watch a c-section delivery.
Spectrum Health

Nearly 32% of all births in the United States are done by C-section, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the majority of C-sections are not expected, it can often feel startling for expectant parents to go from the comfort of the labor and delivery room to the sterility of the operating room, according to Wolfe.

She said the goal of giving parents the option to watch the delivery is to "flip the script" and make it a more personal experience.

MORE: 'I had no idea how hard it could be': Maren Morris went through 30 hours of labor, emergency C-section

"Anytime you have something unplanned, especially around something as momentous as having your child, you're going to have some trepidation about, 'Oh, now I need a C-section. Now I need surgery. What does that mean?'" Wolfe said. "Now you're given an option where you can actually ... watch the process, something previously you were unable to do because the technology wasn't in place."

PHOTO: Amanda Koop, of Michigan, holds her newborn son Charlie, born on Nov. 24, 2021.
Amanda Koop, of Michigan, holds her newborn son Charlie, born on Nov. 24, 2021.
Amanda Koop

The medical team is able to move the monitor so that parents can watch what they want of the delivery, as was the case during Koop's C-section.

"I did not want to see the initial incision and getting down to the baby, so I just saw those parts that I thought were important," Koop said, adding that the monitor's location and flexibility also gave her husband the chance to stay by her side while choosing what he wanted to see.

"I think it can be kind of scary for people, what am I going to see, but the team does an amazing job of kind of blocking things that you don't need to see and really focusing on that little baby," she said. "I just thought it made such a difference in my delivery. I didn't miss a thing."

Editor’s Picks

Twin sisters give birth on same day with the same doctor (plus one had twins!)

  • Nov 13, 2019

I wore a mask during 38 hours of labor. You can wear one too

  • Jun 30, 2020

Mom who nearly died after childbirth has a message for moms this Mother's Day

  • May 12, 2019
Up Next in Wellness—

Bruce Springsteen postpones tour: What to know about health condition he's experiencing

September 28, 2023

New consumer warning about websites selling drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro used for weight loss

September 27, 2023

Mom whose daughter died by suicide says parents need to talk with their kids

September 27, 2023

What Oprah Winfrey said about drugs used for weight loss like Ozempic, Mounjaro

September 21, 2023

Up Next in Wellness—

Bruce Springsteen postpones tour: What to know about health condition he's experiencing

September 28, 2023

New consumer warning about websites selling drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro used for weight loss

September 27, 2023

Mom whose daughter died by suicide says parents need to talk with their kids

September 27, 2023

What Oprah Winfrey said about drugs used for weight loss like Ozempic, Mounjaro

September 21, 2023

The latest lifestyle and entertainment news and inspiration for how to live your best life - all from Good Morning America.
  • Contests
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Children’s Online Privacy Policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Your US State Privacy Rights
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • About Nielsen Measurement
  • Press
  • Feedback
  • ABC News
  • ABC
  • All Videos
  • All Topics
  • Sitemap

© 2023 ABC News
  • Privacy Policy— 
  • Your US State Privacy Rights— 
  • Children's Online Privacy Policy— 
  • Interest-Based Ads— 
  • Terms of Use— 
  • Do Not Sell My Info— 
  • Contact Us— 

© 2023 ABC News