Now that Viggo is about to turn three I have been spending a lot of time thinking back over the past 18 years, and especially their births, two epidurals, one home birth, one waterbirth and three active births with just gas and air, the maximum labour (my first) was 12 hours start to finish, and my third birth (Neva’s) probably only about an hour start to finish, but she actually stayed in longer than the others as she had already passed meconium and she had to be observed for 24 hours, thankfully all was well, I dread to think what would have happened if the midwifery team had not been reactive and just sent us home, she was perfectly fine, but the reassurance of being monitored overnight ensured everything was working as it should.
Working for the past two years with hundreds of pregnant women and listening to their ideals and wishes, then seeing them after the actual birth and hearing how their ‘ideal’ birth actually turned out, has made me realise that my seven births, were extremely straight forward!
Running a rigid birthpool hire business for the past three years, I understand that each and every birth is unique and sometimes the best laid plans, do not always work out.
There are many women whose births don’t go smoothly at all, luckily our local midwifery service has a fantastic debriefing service, which has helped many women to understand exactly what happened during their labour and birth and they find this a great comfort, it enables them to ask questions and get the desperately needed answers that they seek. If you are a mum who was not happy with her birth experience, investigate if your place of birth offers a debriefing service, or if their midwifery services liaison committee can assist you.
For some families the outcome is even more severe, a small number of births, do end up with serious complications and the outcome is not favourable, so it is important that there are people who can offer help and support during the difficulties, no-one wants to think about apportioning blame, or asking the what ifs, especially at such a difficult and emotional time, so there are specialists that can do it on your behalf, to find the answers and get the necessary help and support, First4SeriousInjury have a specialist team dedicated to pregnancy and birth claims.
It is important to remember that only a very small minority of births have major complications, and the majority of births just result in us questioning how such a wriggly, bundle of joy managed to fit into such a little bump (it still fascinates me how curled up they must be), or how am I ever going to go to the toilet again…
I guess there will be no more babies for me, but I still get that broody feeling every time I see a beautiful baby bump or a squishy newborn baby, I don’t think it will ever go away, I guess my next newborn cuddles will be when i’m a grandma, but not too soon kids, your dad and I would like a little time to ourselves xxx
This is a collaborative post
It is certainly not easy, at lrast it wasnt for me 🙁
It is nice to read about other experiences. None of my were easy or pleasant. My second I think was the worst. I am very envious of those that seem to find it a breeze. I wonder if they really did?