Milkbank Blog
Labors of Love
One of our closest friends had the most beautiful little girl last Monday afternoon. We rushed to the hospital to sneak in before visiting hours were over and I was lucky enough to get to hold her when she was just four hours old. As I stood there basking in all her little glory, my friend looked at me over her hospital bed and said “So Em, you’re next!” It actually took me a couple of minutes to realize what she meant and then the full reality of having to get my equivalent of her baby out of my body hit me hard.
I’ve done my best to avoid thinking about labor and delivery until now. I knew we’d cover it in our prenatal classes so I guess I was waiting to be presented with the information rather than seeking it out. My only early brush with labour was when the midwife misguidedly gave me a copy of Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. I’ve tried but I really can’t put into words the traumatizing effect this book had on me. I don’t think I have ever been so terrified by the written word in my life.
So at this week’s midwife appointment I ‘fessed up that I was struggling with the whole idea of labor and birth. As Husbando put it, I am the Queen of Anecdotal Evidence and a lot of my friends had difficult or long births with their first children. The midwife suggested that I seek out more positive birth stories and as we looked through the books in their library she handed me Labor Day: Shared Experiences from the Delivery Room. Now obviously I was a little gun-shy after the Ina May fear-fest but as I desperately don’t want to let my fear get the better of me I decided to give it a try.
Well I love the book! Its a collection of 35 birth stories by very different women from Canada, the US and Europe all with different attitudes and approaches to labour. A couple of the stories are written by fathers which provides a really different insight into the whole process and I’ll be passing those ones along to Husbando. None of the stories have scared me and I love how honest these women are about how they felt and what they experienced. Although the book hasn’t cured my fear entirely it has definitely made me feel more capable in my ability to cope with whatever labor throws at me and if you are looking for a little encouragement or inspiration as you make your own way towards birth I highly recommend it!
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