Childbirth is always going to be one of those subjects that we all disagree about. It's just about the most subjective thing we can do and the experience is different for everyone...
I had been in hospital for three months with pre eclampsia for my first birth. I was ready. Then natural childbirth was advocated for us all. So I was jubilant at the first pains. The midwife sighed...I was much too happy for it to be imminent!
It was a short labour and I experienced the wonderful over whelming joy of holding my son in my arms in the very early morning...long before any father's were up and moving.
For the second baby four years later I had again been in hospital. Unexpectedly on a Saturday afternoon I went into labour and was wheeled off down a long corridor full of visitors waiting for admission.
In the labour ward I was pronounced ready. I had only been in labour for a few minutes! My husband appeared in the doorway wondering where the trolley had taken me and fainted away at the sight.
The nurses left me and went to pick him up! My daughter was born a few minutes later.
We all have completely different stories of having our babies....we are complex individuals....I get very anxious when I hear authoritative voices telling us what the right thing is for us!
My experience was life giving and life enhancing. For some though it is not....and as individuals we have the right to chose what the right way is for us.....
Fashions in this field simply don't apply....in the end it's what works for you and your family that matters...and although some men may be great in this situation many are not so my advice would be to take a good female friend to be your birthing partner...they are unlikely to faint!
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2 comments:
Not sure that birthing partners were accepted when my children were being born in the early seventies. And being in strange places, away from home and family with the Army, meant that female friends were a country or so away. So, the birthing partner on both occasions was myself and a privilege it was to see my daughter and son enter the world was a gift. And, I didn't faint, I didn't look away, I saw it all and also got the words of abuse and blame which arose from the pain my spouse was in.
Thankfully, that's long in the past and I have now got grand children, and no doubt there were birthing partners involved, we just sat at home and waited for good news.
I read recently that giving birth in modern hospitals can be just as risky as it was 50 or 60 years ago, due to shortages of staff and lack of resources. So, perhaps I'm grateful that children were born in fully staffed, service hopsital units, rather than the NHS?
Well done Earnie....I am sure the xperience was good for both of you!
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