Throughout my pregnancy I have been told many white lies.
You look so glowing! You’ve hardly put on any weight you lucky thing!
These 9 months will fly by and baby will be here in no time!
The list just goes on and on.
What I have been surprised to find lately, as I am in the final few weeks before my baby arrives, is the people who no longer hold back on their stories and telling it like it is. It kind of feels like people are thinking: well not long now, best tell it how it is, there’s no backing out now.
Recently I caught up with a lovely friend of mine who had just given birth to her first baby 2 weeks ago for lunch. I hadn’t even sat down before she instantly blurts out “It hurts like a mother f******, get the drugs!! Worst pain in my life, I still can’t sit down, don’t do it! I won’t be going back for another one.”
I was unsure if I wanted to sit down and continue lunch after that statement but I did and was joined by other women during the lunch who are also mums. This was when then real horror stories began. It was like being welcomed into a childbirth nightmare delivery club from which I could have no escape. I survived the lunch and was glad to get home and got to thinking of what lies ahead.
I have been inside the delivery room 3 times with my best friend, watching her give birth to her children and I know it’s not an easy ride. I have never expected that labour is going to be a picnic and I will breeze through it like a piece of cake.
Each labour was different, yet the reaction was the same once our eyes locked on that baby that had just taken its first breath in this world, everything melted away.
I choose to believe labour will be painful (I am squeezing a watermelon through something that’s the size of a lemon for goodness sake). I will indeed get through and the end result/reward of seeing my baby for the first time will make it all worth it. Women have been giving birth for many centuries and they will continue to do it for centuries to come. I’m sure if it was up to men to repopulate the world and they went through labour many families would begin and end with one child.
I once read somewhere that labour pain is the equivalent of 20 bones being fractured at the one time. I’ve never had a broken bone but I’d imagine it certainly doesn’t tickle. (My man might end up have one after holding my hand through the delivery process)
I have done a lot of reading up and watching shows/videos on birth and just exactly I am up for. While I am uncertain on how it will all unfold for us, such as if my man being out at work when my water breaks, will he be able to make it home on time? Will I be close to the hospital or still at home?, needing to drive 2hrs to the hospital, whom will I call to help me if my man isn’t here? Will my labour be long, or short and sweet? Will I cope without using my extensive vocabulary or will I swear like an absolute sailor and embarrass myself? As the time edges closer I find myself, excited and longing for it to all hurry up and I guess all the nerves and anxiety may show up when it all finally happens, call me silly but I can’t wait until it is here!!
