New mom calls out those who claim c-sections are an 'easy' experience

Mothers know that there's no easy way to bring a baby into the world, but new mothers are also acutely aware of the judgements others pass on pretty much every element of parenting.

Though the cesarean section is quite common -- it accounted for 32.2% of U.S. births in 2014 -- it's a surgery with its own set of challenges just like any other. Raye Lee, a new mother from Springfield, Missouri, shared her anger with the notion that her c-section -- that any c-section -- was an "easy" alternative to vaginal birth.

She vented her frustrations in a Facebook post that's since been shared more than 19,000 times.

"This was the most painful thing I have experienced in my life," she wrote. "I now belong to a badass tribe of mamas with the scar to prove that I had a baby cut out of me and lived to tell the tale."

Raye detailed her challenging recovery, from the "ripping pain of a body cut apart and stitched back together" when attempting to get out of bed, to learning that it will take more than 6 weeks for her core muscles to heal on their own.

"I am the strongest woman, that I know," she writes. "Not only for myself, but for my beautiful son... and I would honestly go through this every single day just to make sure I am able to see his smiling face."

The post resonated with thousands of people, many of whom shared their own c-section experiences, and thanked Raye for her honesty.

"Thank you for sharing your story," one woman writes. "It's sad that people think that a c-section is an easy way out. I didn't grow up saying 'I hope I have a c-section when I have a baby'. I never thought I would have one, but my 1st child got stuck and we both almost died so an emergency c-section was needed. Anyone that puts down a mother for having a c-section, has no heart."