So what is it about motherhood that has kept women having babies for ages. I mean yes, the process before the pregnancy isn’t so bad, but there’s one thing that has made me ask the question – and that is the pain we experience during childbirth! It’s not like we wouldn’t have been warned, the tales of labour pains make the better part of our oral history, they are passed down from generation to generation and they are never pleasant.
I have heard stories of women literally pulling out chunks of their hair, screaming at the top of their lungs, some even vowing to never have sex again! I know I sound crazy saying this, but I actually enjoy hearing the hilarious stories of what goes down in the labour wards, and am already looking forward to the comments to this post. Please be nice and don’t tell me to get a life….
Before I had a baby, in my naivety, I believed that a C-section was the easy way out. No one I knew had ever shared with me how it really was like. I must say though that I still wanted a natural birth and did not imagine myself have a baby by any other means. I remember how disappointed I was when my doctor told me that given my bad obstetrics history and the fact that my blood pressure was no longer stable, I would have to have an emergency c-section. I remember I argued with him and it took me a while to give in. That’s how much I wanted a natural birth. But a C-section it was and boy was it painful!
You know during the op you don’t feel a thing because the anaesthetic will be working wonders. I had a local anaesthetic and so was awake through it all. I had opted for this because for some reason I had a fear of not waking up to see my baby. I remember during the op seeing a leg in the air, and it took me a moment to realize that it was MY leg up there. So yeah, it was done and I still can’t believe what a short time the actual procedure took, it’s like cut, baby out, sew, all in ten minutes!
Then it was back to the recovery ward and that’s where the real drama started. At first it was like a distant pain, then it slowly grew, and before I knew it I felt like the devil himself was burning my torso with on of his 2-pronged forks! Dude! I couldn’t move an inch, I couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t cough, any sort of minor movement was accompanied by the sharpest pain I had ever experienced. I’ll forever be grateful for the nurse who kept the painkillers coming, and these were the suppository types. Ha! Did I ever think I’d be grateful for someone shoving something up my you-know-where?
I wonder then why I am wishing for another baby, seeing there is no easy way of popping one out. I guess that’s what makes us women. It’s the maternal thingy in us. We cannot help it. We were created to carry life in our wombs and give birth to babies. That’s the order of nature and that is God’s will. To those without babies yet, take heart, the pain will all be worth it when you look at you baby and are overwhelmed by the love you feel for the tiny person.
