After a very long day with the kids and excitement at the local hospital for hubby's sinus surgery, I landed on this blog posting from an Australian mommy.
Might I say...did it ever strike a chord with me, considering my own birth experiences. Even when Matt cringed at the pain of getting his IV started, I told him he could have an epidural instead ;)
I remember mourning my child birthing experience with Nolan for most of my 8 weeks of maternity leave. I was not happy to have failed to show any signs of impending labor for the second time around the block, requiring an induction. Even though I had kept in the back of my mind that a cesarean was always a possibility...I didn't think too much of it and felt like I still could give birth the traditional way again, despite a second induction experience.
I knew Pitocin all too well and the harder labor pains....Cervidil prep the night before...etc
What I didn't know was how horrible it would be to try and get an epidural in my spine and work effectively....
That my son would get stuck after 4 cm and stay that way for 5 hours until my OB had gone his highest ever on the Pitocin and left the decision up to me as far as to what Matt and I wanted to do...
But the biggest, was my OB standing up for me in the OR to the 3rd anesthesiologist who thought, "I can get this, just give me a sec...." (no I can not stay still during a contraction) which ended up with me being knocked out for the birth of my son and my husband absent from the OR.
I remember asking myself, if the c-sec rate is so high, why am I reading about all the natural ones on social media? In the area that I live in, our medical resources are very limited, especially when it comes to duellas, water births and other pregnancy alternatives.
We as women, whether we have been aware of doing it intentionally...need to just shut our mouths about some things and think about the truly important things in our reproductive life. We need to stop adding to the maternal pressures placed upon us when it comes to this area. I remember thinking that my friends and/or FB contacts would think I was weak because I didn't try every other option, or become a pain to my OB and say "no" to common practices.
Never have I heard this before at a graduation ceremony
"This years valedictorian is Walter White, who by the way was born in water and mother had no medical interventions/pain relief, AND even had his umbilical cord cut until AFTER it had stopped pulsing..."
Parenting does not come with a sash to be adorned with merit badges. There is no cash prize for enduring the most pain ever in labor because you put your foot down hard enough. In the case of my daughter, getting pain relief actually helped my body relax so I could let labor progress...and much faster I might add.
...Because every woman's body and labor experience is never the same, can't we just be as satisfied with a healthy baby to announce and not feel any less of a mother because of the method of entrance into the world? Think of how many more happy new mothers we'd have if we changed our words! Thoughts could be instead, directed to a new creation...and where on earth did the nurses put the instruction manual ;) There will be plenty of time to second guess your parenting choices and methods.
So can't we just hold off for a little bit?
***Please note, I am not putting any mothers down for doing any of these things or if they are right or wrong practices, as this is what they chose.I am happy to simply celebrate the new life, just not the glorifying/bragging of the mechanics of it on social media.
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