How Will my Little One's Birth Be?

My gynaecologist is a very nice person. About 10 weeks before my due date, he decided to sit me down and tell my husband and I all about labour pains and the options that I can take. Needless to say, the pain options didn't sit very well with me. I could feel myself going seriously green and just silently pray that the labour pains would be short, quick and fast.

He told me of the usual that one can read up in books and on the Internet. The natural birth, the Cesarean, usage of laughing gas, when is the appropriate time to use the epidural, how the position of the baby such as if she will be looking up or facing forward will affect the delivery and such. As he went into details, I could feel my face freezing into a "Oh-my-Gawd. Is there ever a painless way? Why? Why? Why?!". As expected of a first-time mom-to-be. Needless to say, I was starting to bombard him with questions that many first-time mothers will ask,"I heard exercise will help! Will it help if I do walking everyday? How about pineapples? Or Cranberry juice? Is there anything? Anything?!?!" Yes, the simple visit to the gynaecologist was turning into a dramatic situation that he wished he hadn't initiated.



So far, there is a saying that no two births are the same. I'm not sure about that. All I know is that there is a lot of pain involved and a heck lot of screaming. Stories told by experienced ones usually hinge around the time they spent (so far, no one told me they took only 2 hours... most somehow landed in 8-12 hours), how planned natural births suddenly calls for an emergency cesarean, how some discovered that they have fibroid or cysts while delivering and had them removed at the same time.... I'm not sure if I can withstand such eventful births.

So I hopped around to the library and found a book that I never thought would exist. It was entitled "The day my baby was born: The joys, wonders and surprises of the day you'll never forget" by LaNita McMeekan-Cates. Like the author, I was never interested in babies or pregnancies until I fell pregnant. When others were talking about pregnancy (before I got pregnant), I would just smile politely and wish the subject would switch. Not anymore, after the experience I went through, I am finally glad to be reaching the end soon and yet nervous how the little one plans to make her arrival!

I devoured the book in a second! The stories are raw, fresh and feel like how one would be chatting with a friend. Some of the stories are hilarious such as how some mothers went through the pregnancy thinking it was a girl but ended up with a boy. Some were painful as they described vividly of every medication and injections they took just to deliver the baby. Some gave me hope as they delivered easily even though it was their first pregnancy. Some made me nod vigorously in agreement as their husbands behaved exactly how I suspect my husband would behave on that day. I celebrated when mothers with past miscarrigies teared when their babies finally arrived.

A simple book but I learnt several things. Main point is that birth plans usually do not go the way they plan. I may harp and sing all about natural births now but I may opt for an epidural or a cesarean at the last minute.  I only hope that everything will go well that day!