I might say that choosing your care provider is the most important decision you’ll make. It’s the number one factor in how your birth will go, so it’s incredibly important to get a team that’s on the same page as you. Don’t just assume they are, or that they’ll respect your wishes when the time comes. And don’t be afraid to switch practices to get what you want, or think I’ll see someone else next time, because depending on that birth your options can be limited.
Nobody ever told me that sometimes breastfeeding is difficult. I felt like such a failure as a mother that I was having such a hard time with it.
A friend of mine had to go off of her epilepsy medicine to carry her daughter. During her entire pregnancy and so far (she’s still breastfeeding so still no meds) she hasn’t had a single seizure. She sometimes had a seizure once or twice a week, and that was with meds. But being pregnant and breastfeeding not one. It’s like her body knows and compensates. It is so amazing.
Just because you’re overweight doesn’t mean you will have a high-risk pregnancy. I was well over 200 lbs and I passed my preeclampsia and gestational diabetes tests.
Wait for those results before being talked into a high-risk delivery based solely on weight.
All of the post-birth stuff. Mesh underwear, not being able to go to the bathroom, rubber gloves full of ice to sooth the pain, bruising, that other people’s babies crying would make milk come out of your boobs. The whole aftermath is like this embarrassing thing no one tells you about. I mean, women have at least started talking about how you might 💩 but somehow miss explaining what your body goes through in the hours/days after.
All my pregnancy surprises were after, actually. As someone who likes to research and be prepared, I found tons of info on pregnancy and birth. The aftermath? Hardly anything. Almost everything was a shock! From the ugly green and purple vaginal bruising that lasted for months after my daughter was born to going up to a bra size 34 K while nursing, to the interesting phenomenon of projectile milk squirting while cumming.
I didn’t know that a really fast labor can be very dangerous my son and I nearly died as a result of my second stage being two minutes exactly.
I think many women don’t hear that birth can be a beautiful and transforming experience. They focus on it as a painful experience.
Everyone talks about that lightning strike of love when they first see their baby post-delivery. Sorry to say, that doesn’t happen all the time. The baby’s face can get quite swollen during labor (at least, in my experience). When I looked at my daughters for the first time, I kept thinking, “You look like a potato…” It was a few hours later, after the swelling had gone down, and I could start to pick out individual characteristics belonging to me or my husband … that was when I fell in love with them.
You might be able to avoid an episiotomy and a lot of tearing by asking for a perineal massage! I’d like to kiss my nurse at my second birth for performing it!