Birth, Birth, Birth
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Tuesday, June 02, 2009 6:00 PM
I’ve been thinking a lot about birth lately. I’ve been writing the story of my son Blaise’s birth on my own blog (it begins here) and as I mentally relive the experience, it’s brought the topic to the front of my mind.
I used to be uninterested in birth. My mom - who gave birth six times, four of them at home - liked to read books about birth and midwifery and all things related, and I couldn’t understand the appeal.
To me it seemed like the process by which a baby makes its way from the inside to the outside had to be awful. I thought giving birth must be, far and away, the worst part of becoming a mother.
Then I had Camilla, and the experience of her birth was incredible. Yes, it was painful, but I’ve found many of the other sacrifices that are the privilege of motherhood to be more difficult. And going through labor and birth, seeing what my body could do, and seeing my baby for the first time was transformative for me.
Since then I’ve become really interested in the topic of birth. I like to read about birth and discuss it. I follow blogs by labor and delivery nurses. I compulsively read every birth story I come across.
But I’ve been fortunate: both my labors have been relatively short, the deliveries have gone smoothly, and the results have been happy. I know that not everyone has similar experiences.
Last fall when we discussed here whether you would rather go through pregnancy or birth, it was fascinating to hear all the different perspectives.
So, to help sate my current obsession with the topic of birth, can we go there again?
Have you given birth? What was (or were) your birth(s) like? Do you have overwhelmingly positive or negative feelings about birth in general or your own experiences in particular? If you’ve given birth more than once, has your perspective changed with your experiences?
Maybe I’m crazy, but I’m going to be reading every comment with intense interest!
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